Calls made for more CCTV camera to combat illegal dumping in Tipperary

Calls have been made for more readily available CCTV cameras in Tipperary, in an attempt to combat littering and dumping.

The issue was raised at the most recent meeting of the Thurles Municipal District of the Tipperary County Council by Cllr Sean Ryan.

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Cllr Ryan raised the issue of dumping and the seriousness of the problem, calling for more CCTV cameras to be erected.

He stated that many towns across the county are currently preparing for the Tidy Towns competition, and the cameras would prove to serve great benefit to those involved in the competition.

In response, the Environment and Climate Action department stated that they are currently running through a pilot phase on two projects.

They remarked that there should be an uptick in spots for the placement of CCTV cameras over the coming weeks.

Illegal dumping has been an issue in Cllr Ryan’s local Littleton for quite some time, with the issue highlighted to the Tipperary Star last year.

A local resident who lives in the area contacted Tipperary Star concerning her growing frustrations with the lack of action being taken to remove litter from the area, and prevent people from starting fires.

She stated that she had been in contact with the Tipperary County Council several times over the last year, but was either told to contact another department, or that the person she was trying to contact in some respective departments no longer worked in those departments.

“I'm living up here a long time in Littleton. It's at the end house, we'll say, and beside me is a tarmaced area. It serves absolutely no purpose, but for the last five or six years, there's been nothing only fires lit out there. The fire brigade has been out numerous times to quench the fires. So there's a house across the way that's after being boarded up. The person living there is no longer living there anymore. But it's an absolute eyesore and for the last 12 months, there's been rubbish out there and I've been on to the County Council hundreds of times trying to get them to come out and clean it up.

“Now, they have come out several times before in the past and they came out lately with the sweeper after three or four phone calls, and they swept up all the glass out here, but they have not come back for the rubbish. It is an eyesore out here. It's scandalous to see it in a built up area. And anybody even driving in here, they’re saying ‘oh God, it's very rough looking up here,’ when in fact, it's not, like.”

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Speaking at the time, Cllr Jim Ryan said that he had raised the matter with the Council on numerous occasions, however very little has been done to resolve it.

“This is an ongoing problem for the Derrynaflan Drive and Derrynaflan Avenue areas in Littleton where there is continuous illegal dumping going on. There are illegal fires taking place, the burning of rubbish and a lot of broken glass, so it’s a huge inconvenience to the residents in the area who are really sick and tired of this happening, and I have raised this issue, as have a number of residents, with the County Council down through the years, with very little progress being made, so I would call on the relevant bodies within the County Council, particularly the environmental section to come and tackle this issue head on.

“It’s just not fair on the residents in there to see this going on. They really believe that the Council are turning their backs on them in relation to it, so I just think severe action needs to be taken, the area needs to be cleaned up, if possible CCTV cameras to be put in to try and catch the people responsible for this anti-social behaviour and illegal dumping, and I think this is the only way this is going to be stopped going forward.”