Dundalk litter league results deemed ‘disappointing’ as town slips nine places

By Olivia Ryan, The Drogheda Independent

Dundalk’s “disappointing” ratings in the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey highlighted the need for increased CCTV to tackle illegal dumping, councillors heard at the monthly Municipal District meeting.

Dundalk has slipped down the national league from a previously clean ranking and was placed a lowly 34 out of 40 towns and cities.

The An Taisce report for IBAL declared that “only three sites were deemed clean” and focused instead on three litter blackspots.

Speaking at the January meeting Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Robbie Nash, said it was “very disappointing” to see Dundalk had dropped nine places in the national league.

"I am sure other councillors have received representations about a lot of dumping over Christmas, especially in the aftermath of Christmas.”

He highlighted CCTV cameras which were operating on the Racecourse Road, adding that once they were removed the number of dumping incidents increased again.

"Who monitors these cameras, and are they being moved around?” he asked.

Cllr. Antoin Watters agreed, saying the cameras had been a deterrent to dumping on the Racecourse Road.

"It was working so well for so long, it’s as if they are waiting for the cameras to disappear before they go again.”

He added: “Let’s get them back working as soon as we can as they are obviously working.”

The success of the CCTV initiative had caught the attention of other councils, he said.

"A councillor in Newry Mourne and Down, Cathal King, is pushing to do something similar to the solar powered cameras here.”

He said the Newry based councillor is planning to write to Louth County Council, possibly through the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the two councils have signed “to ask how we did it.”

Patrick Callan, Executive Engineer at Louth County Council, said the IBAL results were “disappointing” for Dundalk.

He said the local authority had a meeting with a number of local groups, including Tidy Towns.

"We are hoping to have more regular meetings, and to prioritise the issues that have arisen, and try to get back to where we were,” said Mr. Callan.

He added that the CCTV on the Racecourse Road was part of an initiative run by the environment section at Louth County Council.

The cameras are not in place permanently, he said, as it is part of the initiative that they are moved around.

He committed to reverting back to councillors with more detail.