Councillors fume over misuse of public bins

More needs to be done to stop people from using public waste bins to dispose of their household waste.

That was the view expressed by councillors elected to the Cavan-Belturbet Municipal District area.

Fianna Fail’s Patricia Walsh said that, in some places, illegal dumping had “got out of control”.

She commended the work of local Tidy Towns groups, but stated they could only “do so much”.

Cllr Walsh said “every night” people misuse public bins to dispose of their household waste.

She voiced upset too that Cavan had fallen in the recently released Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) rankings.

Cavan lost its Top 10 ranking in the latest iteration of the IBAL litter league, but still remains ‘Clean to European Norms’.

The survey presented a snapshot of cleanliness levels across Ireland as the peak summer tourist season commences, and IBAL adjudicators found Main Street seriously littered.

“People need to have a conscience,” stated Cllr Walsh, who asked if CCTV could be used to better monitor dumping blackspots.

She noted that a breakthrough had been reached in relation to future operation of community CCTV systems, and suggested that too could be used to catch litter louts.

“It important that the public know it won’t be tolerated,” she continued, with support for the motion also from party colleague, John Paul Feeley.

Cathaoirleach Aine Smith believed that using CCTV as a deterrent was a “great idea”.

Cllr Feeley said the use of public bins for domestic waste was not just happening in Cavan Town.

His frustration was heightened given the council had invested significantly improving bring site access in recent years.

Cllr Feeley suggested that a “stronger effort” was needed to catch culprits. “They need to be held to account.”

There was support too from Fine Gael’s Peter McVitty, from Madeleine Argue (FG), and Independent Brendan Fay.

He said there was a house in Belturbet that, when the tenants moved out, it was then used by others to dispose of rubbish.

Illegal dumping is a “massive problem” he said.

He himself experienced it as a publican leaving bins at his back gate. At night he found persons using them to dispose of bags of rubbish. Once CCTV was installed, the problem abated somewhat, he said.

Responding to the concerns Director of Services Brendan Jennings said that one of the most important interventions the council could make was in terms of educating people about better waste management.

He though accepted there was “no excuse” for illegal dumping, and said he would arrange for a presentation from the waste management section at their next meeting.