By Dan Walsh
Illegal roadside dumping has always been a major challenge for the local authority, but in recent times, the issue has escalated to epic proportions and was described as “an absolute disgrace” at last Monday’s January meeting of Wexford County Council held under Covid-19 guidelines by Microsoft Teams.
Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy told the meeting that after Christmas every year rural roads and urban areas are absolutely destroyed by dumping and fly tipping whether it is a bag of rubbish from their Christmas turkey or a bag of rubbish from their shed dumped all over our towns and villages and rural roads. “It’s an absolute disgrace,” she thundered and questioned whether fines or legal activity is happening in this regard.
Cllr Murphy felt that contacting householders and asking how they are disposing of their rubbish has been done and has been effective, but more needs to be done.
“Every householder should be asked what they are doing with their rubbish and be able to prove what they are doing with their rubbish because it is our countryside that is being destroyed and it is causing Wexford County Council a small fortune to clean it up,” concluded Cllr Murphy.
Cllr Pat Barden said the dumping and fly tipping had worsened since he joined the Council a year and half ago. “Then you might see a bit of dumping on a back road or a side road or at the edge of a forest. Now every road in the county is absolutely destroyed.” Cllr Barden suggested getting a special committee together to ‘think outside the box’ to see if we can do something about this terrible blight on the landscape.
CEO Tom Enright said he understood the members frustration about the matter, but he felt it was unfair to say that nothing was being done about it. “A lot is being done about it. People have been prosecuted and fined and costs awarded in our favour. We try to use public awareness and take strong action where we have identified who the culprits might be.”
Cllr Barden felt enough is not being done. “I was on the road from Clonroche to New Ross a couple of days ago. It is a dump! On the N25 going from Adamstown to New Ross there is fly tipping everywhere. It is a massive problem!”
Cllr John Fleming recalled the previous week that his local road had a fridge freezer and cooker and half the road was blocked. He reported the matter to his local Garda Station, but felt that GDPR was causing problems in identifying the culprits.
Cllr Fleming noticed that after Christmas the bottle banks was full and people were leaving clothes and other rubbish beside them. He suggested that maybe a different approach were needed or some company could come in with a barcode system!
Cllr Bridín Murphy asked that the Council increase the frequency of collection particularly in rural areas during the current lockdown as more people spend time at home. Overflows are quite a significant issue over Christmas and New Year and I was in contact with the environmental department to have the banks cleared.
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