Dundalk election candidate encourages people to help out Tidy Towns this May

Dundalk Tidy Towns have completed their April schedule for the National Spring Clean 2024. A good crowd turned up for the Newry Road clean-up and this enabled good progress to be made along the road and up the Lisdoo Road and Doylesfort Road.

Local Independent Council Candidate for Dundalk-Carlingford and Tidy Towns Volunteer, Ciarán Fisher, said: "The work the Tidy Towns Volunteers do is incredible. This clean up is the seventh big clean this month. There are four more big litter picks in May to follow, as well as, all the individual efforts out there too."

"Many volunteers, like myself, opt to 'Adopt a Patch'. Pickers and bags are provided so people can clean up their own localities at times that suit them. 

"Like a lot of Dundalk people, I was shocked and saddened to see that Dundalk came 39th out of 40 towns in the most recent IBAL Litter League survey. This isn't a reflection of the fantastic work being done by Helen Byrne of Tidytowns and the volunteers. It's reflective of bigger problems in governance.

"There needs to be more funding, support and recognition of the work Tidy Towns do, from Louth County Council. We are volunteers, and can only achieve so much without adequate help. Otherwise morale can falter as it feels like fighting a losing battle.

"That said, today's [Saturday's] pick-up went really well. The road was cleaner than expected and we got beyond what we had hoped covered."

There are clean ups in May for the following dates and locations: Residents of these areas are more than welcome to join:

• Wed 1st, Castletown Rd, meeting at Lennon's.
• Sat 4th, Inner Relief Rd, meeting at Woodie's.
• Wed 8th,  Inner Relief Rd, meeting at Quay.
• Sat 11th, Armagh Rd, meeting at Lisdoo. 

All start at 10AM, last an hour and are weather depending. Check out Dundalk Tidy Towns on Instagram and Facebook for more updates.