Visits to civic amenity sites across Tipperary are up by between 20-25%

Despite the fact that visits to civic amenity sites across County Tipperary are up by between 20-25% on this time last year, illegal dumping remains a major problem for Tipperary County Council.

Members at this week's Thurles Templemore Municipal District meeting highlighted a multiplicity of areas where illegal dumping continues to take place and the cost of cleaning up afterwards and removing the items is falling back on the local authority thereby diminishing funds which could be put to far better use.

Environment Official Marian O'Neill informed members that some 3 tonnes of waste had been removed from the Thurles area in recent times, while a whopping 50 tonnes had been removed from the Roscrea area.

However, she was pleased to note the increase in the numbers of visitors to the civic amenity sites across the county and said that this bodes well for the future.

There had been 214 complaints of illegal dumping with 151 of those resolved, but she did acknowledge the problems being experienced and agreed with members that prosecution of offenders is the only really effective way to deal with them.
Cllr Seamus Hanafin reported fly tipping at Cabragh Court and Rosemount green areas, while Cllr Sean Ryan referred to a series of bonfires having been lit and people disposing of rubbish in this manner.

Councillor Eddie Moran referred to problems at Killoskehane and Barnane and he wondered where the survey of homes with bins had ended up - this, he said, is the only way of identifying who is disposing of rubbish in a proper fashion.
Cllr Noel Coonan described the amount of fast food wrappings which are being thrown out of car windows on all roads while Cllr Micheal Lowry said that programmes in schools aimed at raising awareness of keeping the environment clean seemed to have been doing very well and he wondered where the breakdown in communications is now happening - this is something the council needs to look at, he added.

Meanwhile, there was also many complaints about horses and dogs roaming freely about estates and fouling the streets, with Councillors highlighting instances where nobody seemed to be taking any responsibility for the animals whatsoever.
Cllr Sean Ryan mentioned one incident in Littleton where a horse wandered straight into the front garden of an elderly occupant and other areas mentioned during the course of the debate included Templemore Town Park, Derrynaflan Avenue and Derrynaflan Drive, Gortataggart and Lady's Well to mention just a few.

Marian O'Neill informed the members that a number of mobile cameras are in operation in fly tipping hotspots to try and detect illegal dumping, while the areas referred to for horses and dogs will be noted and action taken.