Tag Archives: litter

THE latest nationwide survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter shows Ennis retaining its position among the five cleanest towns in the country. According to the survey of 40 towns and cities, the great majority of Ireland’s towns are clean, but two-thirds of city areas still littered. The survey presents a snapshot of cleanliness levels across Ireland as the peak summer tourist season commences. In a statement An Taisce, who carry out the surveys for IBAL, commented: “Remarkable consistency from Ennis, with another top 5 position in the IBAL rankings and again free of heavily littered sites. Eight out of the ten sites surveyed were top ranking, among them O’Connell Street (an exceptionally clean main shopping street), Lidl (Gort Road), Clare County Museum and Tim Smythe Park – the latter is an extensive survey area and despite plenty of activity on a very sunny afternoon, it was very much deserving of the top litter grade.” Over 90% of towns …

Motion to compel food businesses to affix car registrations to food bags likely to fall foul of GDPR A PROPOSAL to oblige Ennis takeaways put the car registration on bags of food ordered from them in a bid to tackle illegal dumping would appear to have had its chips. A meeting of the Ennis Municipal District has heard there is no legislative basis for the plan, proposed by Councillor Ann Norton, while concerns about GDPR were also highlighted. Councillor Norton had urged that the local authority to investigate the possibility of putting the registration of the car on the bag at takeaways and drive-thrus. “When it’s tossed out the window, it can be delivered back to its owners with a fine for littering. This could be a pilot project to deter people from littering,” she proposed. Responding to the motion, Cyril Feeney, senior engineer, stated, “I note the merits of introducing such a scheme but unfortunately I do not believe …

DUMPING and littering in East Clare have prompted calls from community organisations for more to be done to tackle the issues. While the Tidy Towns competition has been called off for this year, community leaders say they are still determined to address persistent littering in their areas. In Mountshannon, which scooped a national Tidy Towns title in 1981 and a Bronze Medal last year, large-scale dumping of household waste has been a recurrent issue. Joanne Dunphy-Allen, Co-Chairperson of Mountshannon Community Council said that a recent incident had generated anger locally. “It is very maddening, particularly because the Scariff Recycling Centre is just down the road,” she pointed out. “We’ve had refuse scattered around the pier and someone even managed to dump a significant amount in at the back of the bottle banks. That would not be an easy thing to do. The community has been very quick to go in an clear up, but this shouldn’t be happening in the …

A total of €63,000 has been allocated to help the county clean up its act when it comes to littering and illegal dumping. A total of €40,000 in funding has been approved to tackle illegal dumping in Clare, with a further €23,000 pledged to crack down on litter, dog fouling and graffiti. Minister of State Breen said the aim of this funding, allocated by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment under the Anti-Dumping Initiative, is to reduce illegal dumping and nuisance litter by providing finance for projects tackling the problem. “The idea is to develop an integrated and effective combined approach with local authorities, communities and other state agencies. “This funding will empower people across Clare to take action against those in society who commit criminal acts against their communities by wilfully and irresponsibly dumping their waste and spoiling the most valuable asset we have – our natural environment,” added Minister Breen. “A wide range of clean-up and …

THE Mayor of Ennis said the announcement that the county capital is Ireland’s Cleanest Town is “testament to the year-round effort” by volunteers, Ennis Tidy Towns Committee, Clare County Council and the business community. Councillor Paul Murphy said, “Ennis is a vibrant tourism town and a popular shopping destination, which benefits greatly from the collective efforts of residents, visitors, the local authority, businesses and voluntary groups to keeping the streets and public spaces free of litter. The greatest example of this work was seen during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann when the streets were kept clean, as more than 400,000 people visited the town,” he said. He added that the recent naming of Ennis as a Coach Friendly Destination and as winner of the Retail Excellence Ireland Friendliest Place Award is “a vote of confidence in the partnership approach adopted by Clare County Council, Ennis Chamber and the local community to developing and promoting the Clare county capital”. Meanwhile Minister of …

DRONES could soon be flying over the skies of County Clare in a bid to combat the “scourge” of illegal dumping. Clare County Council has confirmed it is considering using drones as part of efforts to tackle dumping. The council is investigating the potential of working alongside the Civil Defence, who already have a drone. Details of the plans emerged at this week’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District, where Councillor Johnny Flynn stated, in some cases, that the dumping is part of “a well organised criminal activity”. He urged the use of “smart technology” including drones to catch those responsible. He said the drones could be used to identify areas where dumping is being carried out, and “hopefully identify the culprits”. “We need to improve our use of smart technology to catch these people; a lot of these people are mobile. This dumping is not just anti-social behaviour, it is criminal activity and, in many cases, it’s organised criminal …

The latest survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) shows Shannon to be among the cleanest towns in Ireland. Shannon is positioned sixth in the ranking of 40 towns and cities and deemed Cleaner than European Norms. Ennis also recorded one of its best results in years, in 14th position. While nearly all of Ireland’s main towns are now clean, pockets of our major cities continue to suffer from significant levels of litter, The study, conducted by an Taisce, showed only two of 25 towns surveyed to be littered, but 7 of the 8 bottom places in the rankings to be occupied by city areas. IBAL says councils need to concentrate on those specific areas where the problem is worst. Of Shannon, An Taisce reported: “Shannon has scored very highly, with eight out of the ten sites surveyed getting the top litter grade. The N19 Approach from Shannon Airport and Exit 8 on N18 coming from Limerick were …

Clare County Council is urging visitors to Clare’s beaches this June Bank Holiday Weekend to take responsibility for their rubbish by bringing it home with them. The Council has employed additional resources to deal with the increase in litter that has resulted from the rise in visitor numbers to beaches such as Kilkee, Lahinch and Spanish Point. The local authority says it is also installing additional refuse facilities at Clare’s Blue Flags in an effort to minimise littering while litter wardens have been deployed to monitor littering activity. “Our beach is a fantastic resource for the wider community and it’s up to us all to ensure that we take home what we bring to the beach”, said Cyril Feeney, area engineer with with th council. He added, “The council wishes to acknowledge those who have used the public bins to dispose of their litter. These bins are emptied regularly each day but often reach their capacity due to the unprecedented …