Scrapping town councils may mean more litter — campaigners

Anti-litter campaigners have warned that the impending abolition of town councils could have a negative impact on the cleanliness of urban areas.

Irish Business Against Litter said it was expanding the number of areas nationally which form part of its litter league, to try to increase awareness about the positive impact of rubbish-free areas, particularly in terms of attracting tourism.

Some 40 areas across the country, from Letterkenny in Co Donegal to Cork City in the south will partake in anti-litter initiatives as part of the Anti-Litter League.

Cobh and Farranree will join Cork City and Fermoy in the league this year. Around four-out-of-five of all the areas that took part in the initiative last year were deemed to be ‘Clean to European Norms’ following inspections, with Kilkenny being named the cleanest.

IBAL spokesman Conor Horgan said there would be a fresh focus this year on the cleanliness of routes into and out of urban areas and warned that the phasing out of town councils could undo some of the progress made in recent years.

“Town councils have been at the heart of the improvements to the cleanliness levels of towns, with cleaning procedures tailored to local needs and swift response when the need arises.

“It’s worth remembering that just a few short years ago the majority of our towns were heavily littered and we don’t want to return to that.”

On the expansion of the boundaries that will be inspected this year, he said: “Visitors’ impressions of a town are clearly influenced by the environment they pass as they make their way to it. Also, in the case of many business visitors they may not even enter a town, but stay in a hotel on the outskirts and do their business in an industrial park outside the town’s limits. For these reasons there is a need to extend our work beyond the strict boundaries of any given town.” He said this expansion of the league will “heighten the need for town council and county council to work hand in hand in ensuring the work done in keeping the town centre clean is not undermined by litter on the main roads into the town”.

The Anti-Litter League initiative is now in its 13th year and IBAL’s work was recently acknowledged by Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the Irish Hotel’s Federation annual conference.