The Mayor of Castlebar, Cllr Ger Deere, is to personally go through late night CCTV footage to identify people responsible for late-night littering on the streets of the town centre and have them fined for their actions.
According to the Mayor, littering in Castlebar has been problematic for some time and it received renewed impetus last week when a Galway visitor to the town wrote to town councillors expressing his ‘horror’ at the litter which he says swamps the town, stating:
“Every citizen, employee, councillor and business should be ashamed at the dirt, filth, litter, bottles and rubbish that lies all around the small town centre. Every metre of footpath had some litter on it, many corners holding up bags of litter, rubbish, bottles or cans of alcohol.
“I can’t recall visiting any other civilised town and seeing such an appalling mess. I doubt I will ever visit again,” wrote the visitor.
Mayor Deere, who is also chairman of Castlebar Tidy Towns, has long been a vociferous opponent of littering and has asked for people to take some civic responsibility on this issue.
“Often the blame for the proliferation of litter in the town centre after pub closing time is aimed at takeaway owners and the council. But every person in Castlebar ought to have a civic pride in the town and to litter the town is a matter of individual responsibility, first and foremost.
“This type of behaviour has been tolerated for far too long but that is not going to continue. I am going to look at street CCTV footage and identify those responsible and fine them. Cleaning up this type of mess is placing a huge drain on council resources. Council staff were busy enough trying to deal with the problems caused by the weather conditions without having to deal with this on top of it.
“Last year it cost the town council nearly €400,000 in litter control and street cleaning. That is a crazy figure and people can point the finger in every direction but until everyone in this town takes pride in the appearance of Castlebar, at day and night, the problem will persist. It is also important to point out that most of the litter on the streets late at night is caused by so-called responsible adults.”
Meanwhile, the Irish Farmers Association has accused local authorities of only cleaning up urban areas while letting the countryside fill with litter.
IFA Deputy President and Countryside spokesman Eddie Downey criticised the authorities ‘for their inaction and failure to seriously tackle the scourge of littering in the rural areas, by passing motorists and users of the countryside.’
He added: “The awards given out to clean towns and cities around the country are part of the Irish Business Against Litter campaign. However welcome this initiative might be, it disguises the fact that fly-tipping and dumping along roadside verges, particularly on the outskirts of towns and villages and along main roads have become a serious blight on the countryside.
“The Department of the Environment, Local Authorities and the EPA have failed abysmally to identify littering culprits, and to show they are serious about tackling the problem. Ireland has an immense natural heritage and environment which attracts 6.6 million tourists to the country every year. The problem must be addressed immediately to control the significant impact that littering is having on the countryside.”
