A man who threw his household rubbish on to a Ballina street was convicted and fined €800 at Ballina District Court this week.
The court heard that residents at Kilmurry, Castle Hill, Ballina, experienced huge difficulty last year with rubbish being dumped on their street and therefore took it upon themselves to monitor such activities.
On October 26 2010 at 9.25pm, two residents observed Eamonn Callaghan, The Boreen, Crossmolina, drive by the area and throw his household rubbish on to their road. These two locals decided to follow Callaghan for a distance of 25 to 30 miles before gardaí stopped Callaghan.
The defendant admitted that he dumped this litter and had previously dumped other rubbish.
In court, the defendant said the reason for his actions were due to the fact that he was “annoyed” when he heard a radio interview with a council employee who said that people could not burn any rubbish anymore in their own fire or land.
The unemployed man, who has previous convictions, was convicted and fined a total of €800.
Judge Mary Devins commended the local residents’ “civic actions” which “paid off”.
