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AN EMOTIONAL ENDA Kenny led the tributes to the late Minister of State Shane McEntee today.
Kathleen McEntee was formally welcomed to the Dáil visitors gallery by the Ceann Comhairle this morning as the chamber heard expressions of sympathy. The deceased’s children Vincent, Sally, Helen and Aoife also attended the session.
Kenny opened his address saying “if it seems all wrong to find ourselves here in the first days of spring”, it is because it is “all wrong”.
He said Shane “brought a great life and joy” to both the House and Fine Gael, which feels his loss acutely.
“He did wonderful work for Ireland, for Government and for the party he loved.”
On his appointment as a Junior Minister in the Department of Agriculture, the Taoiseach said he was “impatient, anxious to get going and to get doing”. He praised his ideas, energy and enthusiasm for work.
“He was great in his sincerity, compassion and gentleness – qualities that are perhaps devalued in this world.”
“In being himself, he spoke and acted from the most powerful place of all – his heart. He gave effortlessly and extravagantly. He gave his life to people. This country is better for having known the presence of Shane McEntee.”
He added that he was honoured to call him a friend. Sometimes in life, he said, the greatest battles are those we fight with ourselves.
The 56-year-old took his own life in December 2012.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said there were lessons to be drawn from his death and practices should be changed.
He added that the “age of deference is passed but not the need for decency” as he called for those engaged with politics to “think through the consequences of what we say”.
Bigger bins would help maybe.. that said, some people are filthy. I was at the beach and saw families walk away from piles of litter including beer bottles, leftover food and dirty nappies. It was well below the tide line too so all the leftovers were floating after they left.
We can come up with all these excuses bigger bins,bigger fines etc etc.It takes a special kind of irresponsible moron to litter and dump stuff. Ps I have proof read my comment at least 50 times because once you accuse someone of being a moron,the grammar nazis will be out in force. Anyhow here it goes submit comment and brace myself.
Grammar nazis will have easy pickings there Stephen.
My own fault for bring attention to myself.
The grammar police are plebs.
Bigger rates for fast food outlets to fund more people to empty bins would be the way to go. In the photo, take out the fast food products and you have a near empty bin !
Civic pride is really lacking here in Ireland. Go to Switzerland, Germany etc. and you have to search hard to find any litter. They’ve been brought up to respect their country and the environment
Singapore have the right answer. 10 lashes and a huge fine.
I look at Dublin and then compare it to a 30m metropolis like Tokyo. Spotless.
They are,but I think you’ll find that plebs is spelt with a capital P.
The rubbish is around the bins in the street there, where are the Council to empty them.
Correct. That’s not litter in the photo. That’s people doing their best to leave rubbish close to an overflowing, inadequately serviced bin. So if you want to fine someone, fine the council for not emptying the bins often enough!
Totally agree – this isn’t litter at all- It is just a clear demonstration of pathetically inadequate waste facilities.
I’m an environment officer. Part of my job is dealing with litter, so I’m authorised as a litter warden. How exactly does this political fool think someone is going to react if I tell them they have an on the spot fine of a € 1000?
Prosecutions can be taken under the Litter Pollution Act if needed- the €150 is a spot fine for minor stuff (cig butt, chewing gum etc), and may well be excessive as it is.
Finally, how the hell am I meant to trace the person who dropped the capri sun and nappies in the picture? An unenforceable law is worthless…
Morning George, how many fine would you issue over a year ? Doesn’t matter what they are for, just the number of litter fines you issue. I was at a conference with work and litter was a topic and I remember the litter warden saying how tough their job was but between nine litter wardens, they issued on average 16 fines each a year!
About 40. In defence, it’s not my primary job. Getting evidence is the issue.
Appreciate it’s not your primary role but fair play to you as you issue more than most litter wardens whose sole job is giving out fines where applicable but in theory that doesn’t happen. We are a dirty nation and the feeling of ‘entitlement’ to everything needs to change too.
Why is every politicians answer always about bottom line and money. We have half the bins of any other European city with a space the size of a grape to fit it in and no one likes to have to touch the bins. Make more bins with real size spaces to fit actual litter in. And educate people better. Stop trying to fines solution and start to FIND a solution.
Sacha, it’s nothing to do with touching bins. The sad fact is that a significant minority in this country think that it’s someone elses job, and their right, to get everything done for them. This includes their own messes. Pay for bins? No. Pay a charge for local authority services? No. Etc. A culture of entitlement, and no idea that with rights come responsibilities. ..
Dublin City Council have spent money to REMOVE half the street bins in the city.
This was in response to people stuffing them with domestic or commercial refuse.
If somebody wants to illegally dump, removing a street bin won’t stop them.
On the other side, if a pedestrian would like to do the right thing and place their coke can or cigarette stub in a bin, but cannot find such a bin, then some will give up and drop it in the street.
The mindset of people who use a coffee as a constant companion but never think of its disposal no matter how many times they buy one ! Then it suddenly dawns on them and they suddenly get the urge to get rid of it. Same applies to bottles of water, coke etc. and they all end up on the ground or wherever they were last placed. The gas thing is these deluded people do not see this as littering. They just “leave” it there !
We have enough laws and little enforcement .No point increasing fines just try to get people to behave more responsibly
The first picture is loads of rubbish around a bin….maybe the government should spend money on more bins and get the bins that compact the rubbish throughout the day and are solar powered.
Increasing the fines? What a load of rubbish.
Maybe they should start emptying the bins so people can put their rubbish in them!
Dublin is filthy, rarely see streets being swept!
Some people are slobs with no respect of others or the city they live in, you can double the fines, get bigger bins, or have the council on armed 24 hour litter patrol and they’ll still drop rubbish due to their poor upbringing and sense of entitlement.Pigs live in sh*t cause that’s the way the like
Doubled is not enough,quadrupled atleast.
Bad lead photo, Journal. It looks like individuals cared enough to carry their litter to the bin, only to find it full. I admit to placing my cola can neatly next to a bin rather than carry it with me. How about extra pick up on busy days? Look in Supermac and Burger King. They manage to do it.
The bins are clearly full… where else can they put the rubbish??
Ash they could bring their rubbish home with them if the bins are full. Any responsible person would do this.
Ohh the bins are full,so I’ll just f@ck my rubbish on the ground beside the bin,seems like the logical thing to do.
Act like a responsible citizen and bring the rubbish home with them or find another bin that’s not full. People who litter are filthy articles. There is no excuse for it.
There was a bin on Tara St that was removed when the queen came to town. It was never replaced afterwards.
Which queen?
If she concentrated on the really important things in this state there might be some reason to keep the retirement home called the Senate.
In Howth at weekends, in response to complaints, the council now sends a truck around to empty bins regularly.
However 90% of the contents of the bins is packaging from a fast food outlet; why don’t they provide and service bins? Why is it always the taxpayer?
As a business they pay business rates to Fingal County Council, they would also pay a private contractor to remove their waste from the chipper. It’s a popular chipper and it does very well and a lot of rubbish is generated by it but does the street collection of litter and bin emptying come under their rates and your Local Property Tax funding?
As long as we don’t go down the same slippery slope as the UK.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/106719/Fined-50-for-dropping-a-tenner
We have and we did. I don’t have a link but a few years back there was a court case.
A man was eating some chips in Stephens Grn and threw one down for the ducks to eat (which they did).
Litter warden issued a fine.
He let it go to court. The convincer for the judge was when he asked the warden to produce the evidence.
Obviously, the duck did not want to part with its already eaten lunch.
The very same as that happened a few years ago in the UK.
Quackers: Mother fined £75 for feeding ducks
Mainstream media Frank? Maybe it’s a z ionist plot to see who would pick the £10 up – maybe there is a tracker in it?
They’ll probably just throw the fine in the bin ..
Catherine Noone is no one!
That photo doesn’t show littering, it clearly shows inadequate bins.
It’s pretty simple- If you are going to let Dublin turn into a giant tacky shopping centre full of fast food joints etc., you have to put in the waste services to deal with it. This is just whinging about your own bad urban design and bad management.
In Sydney and other cities they have started to trial having the bin waste stored under the pavement. This kind of design idea would seem to fit.
Or just have bigger bins and empty them more? Pretty simple really.
Love the shops in Dublin, as for fast food restaurants Dublin is no different to any other city.
There is systemic littering going on all across the city owing to greyhound’s incompetence. Sort that mess out first, please.
A file photo of litter in Dublin and a photo taken of rubbish in Roscommon by a Cllr. These photos are ancient, that rubbish has been picked up by now, great, job done.
Increasing fines won’t make a blind bit of difference without enforcement. There is also a huge problem with the number of bins available. There are people who will use a bin if it is available but don’t care enough to carry their rubbish with them if it’s not. Doing the right thing should be the easy option, not a chore.
I highly support this, a lot of my friends constantly litter and don’t care about it. It drives me nuts every time and they just laugh. I always wish there were guards around to fine them.
Anything Catherine Noone says ends up on the journal. Seriously are ye friends with her or what ? Btw, if you look at the picture it is clear that people tried to put rubbish in the bin but it was full. More collections or bigger bins are the logical solution not more or bigger fines. How much does Noone get paid a year ? Prob enough to fund 3 full time clearers to deal with the mess. Solution – fire Noone.
That doesn’t look like Boyle.
Setup a task force n ensure littering fines are forced . Inspectors are going around in the city giving fines . That’s how they did it in singapore . Very affective system.
Another politician who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing!!!
Name and Shame the litter louts.
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