Illegal dumping at top Laois tourist destination

Illegal dumping at one of the top tourist attractions in Laois over the weekend has been condemned.

A number of boxes of old broken tiles were dumped on the roadway leading to the Rock of Dunamase. 

Images of the dumping were posted online by Dunamase Community Alert. 

“Crates of tiles dumped just meters from one of our most important heritage and tourist sites. This is just shocking and whoever done this should be ashamed of themselves. please share this post because someone  has to know where these came from,” they stated in a post. 

Cllr PJ Kelly said the issue of illegal dumping remains a big problem in the county that needs to be tackled.

“The Rock of Dunamase is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Laois,” he said. 

He wants new approaches taken in order to tackle the ongoing issue of illegal dumping.  

Cllr Kelly said a load of rubbish had recently dumped at Rathdaire Lake. After it was dumped someone went to the trouble of gathering it up in a half tonne bag.

Cllr Kelly spotted the bag which he had planned to collect and bring it to the dump but when he passed the spot again he saw the bag had been slashed open. 

“I was passing the other day and here the bag was slit. They cut all the way around it,” Cllr Kelly said.  He couldn’t explain why someone would behave like that. 

Pictured above: Illegal dumping at Rathdaire Lake

Cllr Kelly believes a lot of roadside littering comes from fast food wrappers discarded either from passing vehicles or by pedestrians. He believes large fast food outlets should be required to print identifying labels on wrappers so customers can be traced. 

“If patrons thought their identification was going to be on this material they would bring it home,” he said.  

Cllr Kelly believes people dump illegally to avoid paying for it and also because they are getting away with it. He said the increased cost of living inevitably leads to increased dumping.

He believes lowering the cost of bin collections should be looked at in order to reduce the levels of dumping.