'Camp site' litter mysteriously removed from Waterford beauty spot

Litter that was discarded and later cleaned up by an anonymous person.

Waterford Council and residents in An Rinn have been left puzzled after a large volume of rubbish was suddenly and mysteriously removed from a scenic spot in the west Waterford Gaeltacht.

The mess was discovered in a green section of the Cunnigar, a sandy, peninsular landscape that stretches about 3km from the Gaeltacht region to Dungarvan’s Abbeyside.

The strewn mixture of discarded tents, bottles, cans, disposable barbecue paraphernalia and embers, suggested a ‘mini-campsite’ had been partying in a green area of the coastal route overnight.

Early morning visitors to the sparsely populated exercise trail were left shocked and disgusted by the debris.

Waterford Council provided clean-up materials to a community group from the region who volunteered to remove the litter.

The strewn mixture of discarded tents, bottles, cans, disposable barbecue paraphernalia and embers, suggested a ‘mini-campsite’ had been partying in a green area of the coastal route overnight.

“But when they arrived at the site it had all been removed already”, according to Waterford Council senior environment officer Ray Moloney. “We have no idea who took it away”.

While the county’s many beauty spots, including the Comeragh mountains, are regularly compromised by littering, Mr Moloney says such large-scale dumping generally “tends to be isolated incidents”.

However, locals say the littering was a repeat of similar littering on the Cunnigar in recent weeks.

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An Rinn-based Cllr Conor McGuinness is fearful of further repeats when summer brings “an increase in people camping or barbecuing on the sand spit”.

The Sinn Féin representative says “the Coinigéar is a wonderful and very popular amenity. I cannot understand the level of disrespect and indifference that leads anyone to think its acceptable to leave their rubbish for someone else to clean up”.

The councillor says anyone found littering on beaches or in the countryside “should be prosecuted and receive the toughest sanctions”.

The mess was discovered in a green section of the Cunnigar, a sandy, peninsular landscape that stretches about 3km from the Gaeltacht region to Dungarvan’s Abbeyside.

Cllr McGuinness praised “a small group of locals who carry out regular clean-ups in the area” and acknowledged the council’s role in disposing of the collected rubbish.

However “given the scale of littering and the distance to the nearest car park”, he is also calling on the council to “co-ordinate the group with the national Clean Coasts initiative to provide more hands-on assistance” with clean-ups.