A Claregalway couple were convicted and fined at Ballinrobe District Court this week after a number of rubbish bags which they disposed off in Mayo were detected by the litter warden.
Mr Francois Rossi, Mayo County Council’s litter warden, received a call on January 23 of this year reporting that there was a large amount of litter strewn on the Kilmaine Road at a junction to the Neale, and as it was a windy day the rubbish was becoming dislodged from the bags.
Mr Rossi told the court that “it took quite a while” to sift through the bags. A document was found in the bags by Mr Rossi, who deciphered the names and addresses of Lina Rostas and Bobby Covaci with a listed address of Loughgeorge, Claregalway.
Solicitor for Mayo County Council, Mr Michael Browne, said that the defendants were contacted on September 18 this year, but they were not in attendance in court.
Neither of the defendants had previous litter offences. Judge Mary Devins jointly convicted and fined the defendants €2,000 and ordered that €650 be also paid to the council by way of clean-up expenses.