From Portlick and Coosan Point to Mullingar Town Park, the litter louts were out in force across the county over the recent stretch of good weather, to the disgust of councillors at Monday’s county council meeting.
Speaking as a set of bylaws were approved for Mullingar Town Park, Cllr Mick Dollard expressed frustration at the state the town park had been left in the previous evening [Sunday].
“At 9pm last night I went into the park and the place was very untidy and littered, and staff were out tidying it this morning. We need to have a very stringent implementation of the Litter Act. It is a tremendous facility which cost €1.5 million and it shouldn’t be littered. I feel very angry about it; is it an Irish thing?” wondered Cllr Mick Dollard.
Meanwhile Cllr Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran said he felt sorry for the council workers who had to “clean up the dirt and the filth”.
“From Portlick to Coosan Point, with the amount of littering you’d think there was a festival in town. The amount of rubbish being taken from these areas is phenomenal,” he said.
“We couldn’t do more for people in Westmeath with parks and amenities. These 30, 24, or 20-year-olds are no longer kids, they know what they are doing. At Coosan Point there were showers kicked in and toilets broken. We need to get the Gardaí involved and try to work out a format. We don’t have the resources in the council to keep cleaning up.”
Cllr Denis Leonard added that the council needed to raise awareness around the county’s amenities through an awareness programme in schools.
