A whole strecch of road strewn with litter.
The whistle has been blown and the candidates are out of the traps for 24 days of intensive canvassing for the General Election which will take place on Saturday 8th February after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar asked President Michael D. Higgins this Tuesday to dissolve the Dáil. The final list of candidates is yet to be announced, but several have already hit the ground running, namely Niall Collins (Fianna Fáil), Tom Neville and Patrick O’Donovan (Fine Gael), Claire Keating (Green Party), and Cllr Richard O’Donoghue (Independent). Seighin Ó Ceallaigh is expected to be selected for Sinn Féin at a convention in Newcastle West this Friday, and further candidates will be putting their names forward in the coming days.
The election is being held on a Saturday for the first time since 1918. The last election was held in 2016 where Niall Collins topped the poll in the Limerick County constituency, and the remaining two seats were filled by Tom Neville and Patrick O’Donovan.
The road between Nolan’s Cross in Tournafulla and the Old Road Cross in Templeglantine has become something of an eye sore for anyone travelling along that way. People have observed the amount of rubbish thrown along the ditches accumulate in recent months to mammoth proportions.
Initially, it was thought that single use coffee cups and fast food wrappers thrown from the windows of passing cars of late- night revellers were to blame. But more recently, the illegal dumping of rubbish along the route has taken a more serious twist. On Wednesday last while driving on the road in the morning, the usual rubbish was strewn along the ditches. On the way back less than two hours later, a black plastic refuse bag had been dumped. The birds had torn it to shreds and the contents lay all over the road surface. On Thursday last, I also drove by to see an alarming amount of household rubbish including empty milk cartons, cardboard boxes, empty sweet boxes no doubt from Christmas, nappy bags and more once again thrown about. But more disturbing was the fact that a couple of hours later, on my way back, a couple of dirty discarded mattresses had been unceremoniously dumped by a gateway on the same road. These were a double size and were of a considerable weight. They couldn’t have accidentally fallen off a trailer, or indeed a roof rack. They were placed there, and in broad daylight. The culprit or culprits are obviously becoming more brazen.
Along this stretch of road, the local council has erected warning signs about illegal dumping, but no heed is being paid to them unfortunately. But residents and locals are rightly infuriated by this behaviour and are making a stand. The authorities have been notified on numerous occasions and have committed to solving the problem. Watch this space.
Both Tournafulla and Templeglantine have wonderful Tidy Town committees that work hard to maintain the area. Every year there’s hoards of people out with black bags and rubbish pickers in an effort to clean up every corner of their communities. Huge efforts are made to keep our places looking the best they can, so it’s very disheartening to realise that not everybody feels the same.
It’s safe to assume that large items such as mattresses aren’t just thrown from passing cars willy-nilly. There’s a premeditated effort at play here.
We all make every effort to dispose of our waste in the proper fashion. We have reputable refuse collectors taking household waste, recyclables, and organic matter. We also have a highly dependable waste disposal plant in the area for many years. There’s no excuse for dumping.
Waste disposal licences are easily granted so we should take care that our rubbish is being properly disposed of.
Updates of the situation will be published.