Offaly Bring Bank to close because of illegal dumping

AMIDST the escalating crisis of illegal dumping at the Bring Bank on the Daingean Road in Tullamore, the Municipal District has taken the decision to remove the facility temporarily.

At the January meeting, councillors expressed disgust and disappointment at the amount of indiscriminate dumping taking place all over the town.

One area in particular was highlighted as a black spot and that is the Daingean Road, carpark site where there are a number of recycling bins.

Director of Services, Tom Shanahan acknowledge the severe problem and the work of the Tidy towns, and the council's own staff, who he said have to deal with this.

He said the only solution is CCTV. However, he added that there are data issues. ''We are awaiting the commencement of legislation to allow us to use CCTV in black spots. Also a code of practice. We can't put CCTV everywhere but we can do the best we can,'' he said.

Mr Shanahan said the Whitehall carpark has been a black spot for a long number of years and there is dumping happening there every week. He said new lighting was installed at the facility late last year but the dumping has continued. He said the bring banks will be removed until legislation is passed to allow for CCTV to be installed.

''It's unfortunate for people who use it properly, they will have to go somewhere else. It's something we have to face,'' he added.

The Cathaoirleach of Tullamore Municipal District, Councillor Declan Harvey, said it was very disheartening for members of the Tidy Towns committee who he said put their hearts into keeping the town clean.

Councillor Sean O'Brien who is a member of the committee said,

''It's everywhere. It's outrageous. People are not respecting their neighbours, their local community, they are not respecting their towns. It's an actual shame. It's a small group of people and individuals, and then you have people supposedly collecting rubbish and then dumping it in other areas. I think we have to get very tough with it.''

Cllr O'Brien said letters should be sent to households and if they do not have a collector then they should be fined. I would encourage people to name and shame they should report it to the council. We have got to get on top of this otherwise we will have an absolute mess of a town.''

Councillor Tony McCormack said, ''people say maybe they don't have the money to pay someone, but from the rubbish I see lying around the place they have loads of money for wine, cigarettes, and takeaways. It's very unfair to their neighbours. In a lot of cases people know who is doing the dumping but unfortunately they are afraid to put their names forward because of the consequences. I think the only way is through CCTV. There are two pieces of legislation which will allow the use of CCTV in the future. To catch people in the act, bring them to court and then the local papers can report on it.''