Kilkenny’s local politicians were left suitably embarrassed this week, as their own contribution to littering the town was displayed at city hall for all to see.
Hundreds of plastic, non-bio degradable, cable ties, collected from the street lamps and poles of the city, filled three large sacks left in the Tholsel. The majority of the cable ties are the remnants of previous local and national elections – apparently left there with indifference by the politicians and their campaign teams.
Despite taking the time to remove campaign posters – as the law obliges – those tasked with the job were seemingly unconcerned with removing the cable ties that held those posters in place.
In a week where borough councillors were lamenting Kilkenny’s poor showing in the ‘litter and overall tidiness’ category of the Tidy Towns competition, it was two local people who took it upon themselves to highlight the politicians’ own transgressions.
Sean Curwick and Elaine Bradshaw, both members of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, spent more than 14 hours removing the cable ties from various locations around the city. Despite the voluminous haul, the pair estimate that they only managed to get to around one sixth of the poles and street lamps around the city.
Rules governing election posters state that all posters must be removed within seven days of the latest day of polling.
“These are almost exclusively political cable ties, although it is not possible to identify from which political parties,” said Cllr Sean O’ hArgain, who asked that a date be set for the definitive removal of all the remaining offending articles.
Cllr Joe Reidy then suggested that, in addition to cable ties, posters for Fine Gael presidential candidate Gay Mitchell might be removed already.
Keep Kilkenny Beautiful has its annual awards presentation on Tuesday night this coming weekend.
