Shock in Kilkee over rubbish-picking ban

KILKEE Chamber of Commerce secretary Paul Williams has expressed shock at Clare County Council’s instructions, citing health and safety concerns, that the chamber not collect rubbish strewn around the resort last weekend.
The directive was issued despite the fact the chamber claims that the council provided no cleaning service in the resort town for the duration of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
“The Chamber of Commerce had requested that some cleaning be done over the Easter because it was a long holiday and the town was absolutely packed for Easter,” Mr Williams told The Clare Champion.
“We were told by Clare County Council that no cleaning would be made available in Kilkee. The Chamber of Commerce then said to them that we would take it upon ourselves to do the cleaning. The response that came back was ‘not to touch the rubbish. It’s a health and safety issue. You should leave the rubbish there’. What shocked us most was the email coming back saying to leave the rubbish there because of the health and safety issue,” the chamber secretary added.
Kilkee Chamber, however, decided that they would collect the rubbish.
“Needless to say, the Chamber of Commerce ignored that and some members collected the rubbish themselves on Sunday. There were 19 bags of rubbish, which took an hour to collect. We feel the rubbish gives a really bad impression especially to overseas tourists. We had a number of those, from several countries, in Kilkee. It doesn’t give a very good impression when they see the rubbish strewn around on a major holiday weekend. The Chamber of Commerce simply had to take it on themselves to do it. You could not have the rubbish sitting there for three or four days,” Mr Williams maintained.
He says visitors couldn’t be held responsible for leaving rubbish on the streets.
“The bins were overflowing. But you can’t really blame people. If they have a chip bag in their hand, what can they do with it if the bins are overflowing? We would hope on a major holiday weekend, due to the fact that we all pay rates, that some form of cleaning would be made available, just for a couple of hours. I don’t think it’s too much to ask. We’re not talking about every weekend. We’re simply talking about major holiday weekends,” he suggested.
Mr Williams noted the Strand Line was amongst the areas most littered.
“It tends to be more visible on the main promenade, where there are most people. A lot of areas of the town were relatively litter-free but the main areas were where the litter was. It’s a Catch 22 situation; there are more people, therefore more litter and more people see the litter. Emails were sent to several people in the council. Local public representatives were sent emails as well but I understand they can’t mandate cleaning. Certainly our communications from Clare County Council were quite simple. There was simply no possibility of getting any cleaning done for the Easter weekend,” Mr Williams reiterated.
In response to some of the criticisms levelled at the local authority, Clare County Council said it has not altered the street-cleaning arrangements in Kilkee since 2010 “when it became necessary to review all local government services due to severe financial cutbacks in both national Road Grants and the Local Government fund”. 
Later in their statement, the council said several Clare towns have had their cleaning services curtailed as a result of cost cutting measures after a reduction in funding.
“There is a seven-day week street-cleaning programme for five months of the year; May to September inclusive and a five-day week street-cleaning service for the remainder of the year. In addition where significant events are planned for Kilkee and where prior notice is given to Clare County Council, arrangements can be made to complete street cleaning during these events,” Clare County Council’s statement added.
Meanwhile at last week’s meeting of Kilkee Town Council, elected members requested details of who was employed by the county council to collect rubbish in Kilkee. Councillors also sought a schedule of when the council employees were on rubbish collection duty.
In reply, the then town manager Nora Kaye said it was the responsibility of two people to keep both the town and the beach tidy.
“It’s the workers on the streets who are getting the grief,” Councillor Paddy Collins remarked, while Kilkee Mayor Elaine Haugh Hayes suggested the council send a letter to Kilkee business owners, suggesting that they help out with tidying up Kilkee.

“There is a seven-day week street-cleaning programme for five months of the year; May to September inclusive and a five-day week street-cleaning service for the remainder of the year. In addition where significant events are planned for Kilkee and where prior notice is given to Clare County Council, arrangements can be made to complete street cleaning during these events,” Clare County Council’s statement added.
Meanwhile at last week’s meeting of Kilkee Town Council, elected members requested details of who was employed by the county council to collect rubbish in Kilkee.
Councillors also sought a schedule of when the council employees were on rubbish collection duty.
In reply, the then town manager Nora Kaye said it was the responsibility of two people to keep both the town and the beach tidy.
“It’s the workers on the streets who are getting the grief,” Councillor Paddy Collins remarked.