Limerick Council looks at proposal to keep Georgian core clean

LIMERICK City and County Council is considering secure storage bin areas for city businesses which have to leave their refuse collections in laneways.

The information came to light from a question by Independent councillor Elisa O'Donovan, who wanted to know if the local authority would consider identifying suitable locations for secure bin storage in order to comply with the presentation of waste by-laws.

In a written response, Sean McGlynn of the design and delivery department wrote: “As part of the Living Georgian Quarter project, lanes have been identified for potential upgrade works including housing or storage units for bins. This is still at concept stage and will be developed in conjunction with the various stakeholders.”

Cllr O'Donovan's call was also supported by Cllr Daniel Butler and metropolitan leader, Cllr Sarah Kiely.

It comes after council metropolitan district manager Kieran Lehane warned changing the by-laws to remove bins from laneways in Limerick city centre would impact 150 businesses and 50 apartments.

He also pointed out that in these lanes across the centre, there were on average 17 bins each.

Labour councillor Joe Leddin also saw a notice of motion passed at this month’s metropolitan meeting, which called on local authority bosses to “implement and enforce” the existing by-laws to prevent the placement of wheelie bins in laneways, and “advise offending businesses to consider alternative waste arrangements”.

He said: “A lot of us are seeing potential laneways which could really help contribute to the night-time economy as we move into more pleasant weather in the weeks and months ahead. If we are to utilise the potential of these laneways in terms of decorating them and lighting them, or upgrading them in terms of the facades, if that's applicable, in essence, we need cleaning them up for people to facilitate footfall.”

Cllr Leddin said: “This would make the city centre more attractive for people to come in and walk around the city.”

The motion was seconded by Cllr O’Donovan, who said: “There seems to be a laissez-faire approach to enforcement of by-laws in the city particularly when it comes to the presentation of bins. That is concerning. There are laws there for a reason and they need to be enforced.”

While Cllr James Collins warned the presence of litter bins was causing pest control issues and illegal dumping.

“It’s not fair on the businesses adjacent to the laneway to be a site of storage for the refuse of both streets,” he said.

With some food businesses not allowed to keep their bins in their premises, Cllr Fergus Kilcoyne – who runs a pub – suggested a communal bin could be put in place and emptied each morning.

Mr Lehane said while it’s an offence to store refuse on a public road, under section four of the bylaws, permission can be given to store bins in the laneways.

He said if Cllr Leddin’s proposal was acted upon, it would have “grave consequences” for many businesses and their ability to re-open once public health guidelines allow.

“This would go against government policy aimed at encouraging the hospitality sector to re-open successfully and would severely impact job creation and the livelihoods of business owners and their staff. Limerick is heavily reliant on the food sector to both drive footfall and attract customers,” he stated in a written reply.

Mr Lehane said he would look at the issue again, saying on a walkabout of the city, there were 25 bins in Augustinian Lane, and 30 in Limerick Lane, just off Little Catherine Street.

But, he added: “The bins are there because they need to be.”