Updated 20.20
A VIDEO FILMED by a resident and business owner in Dublin’s north inner city area shows the scale of illegal dumping there.
Garvan Gallagher, who runs a guest house on Summer St North, told TheJournal.ie that the rubbish in the area is “pretty unbearable” and that he is concerned that for many of his guests it is one of the first things they see in Dublin
(Summer St North/Vimeo)
Gallagher said that the vast majority of his guests would be from out of Ireland, and that he has had guests ask him “what is with all the bags and the rubbish and the smell” in the area.
“When we moved in here 10 years ago we did a lot to clean up on Summer St North,” said Gallagher, explaining that they worked with landlords and residents to clean the street, put in period style lighting and hanging baskets.
He said it is “demoralising to walk down the street and look at what is there” due to the illegally-dumped rubbish.
Finding a solution
Gallagher said he doesn’t “know anymore where the blame lies” and that he feels it no longer lies with the council: “I don’t really blame the council, they do what they can but it’s just not enough”.
Asked if he feels there would be a difference if there were more bins instead of bags for dumping rubbish, he said: “I think dumping will still happen whether they have bins or not”.
Gallagher said that he had even witnessed a man come out of his house and throw a small plastic bag of rubbish onto the street – so he then threw the bag back at the man’s door. It is this sort of mentality that he thinks will continue despite moves to cut down on illegal rubbish.
However, he does think the answer may lie in legislation, saying that he and others involved in campaigning on the issue have been pushing for landlords to become more accountable.
He believes there are lots of problems with litter in Dublin, which can vary depending on the area.
Dublin City Council has set up a North Inner City Litter Action Group, which is working on finding solutions to the issue, and Gallagher said that he and others will continue to keep up their contact with the council.
They will also continue to send their photographs of illegally dumped rubbish to the council and to the Dublin Litter Blog.
We are going to continue doing that. We have no other choice – we have been living here for 10 years and this has been happening for 10 years and it’s getting a lot worse. We are done waiting and we are going to do whatever is necessary.
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