GALWAY is set to declare war on illegal dumpers who are scarring the countryside with the County Council, Gardai and local communities set to join forces to nab the fly-tippers.
Grants will be provided for the installation of covert CCTV cameras while Gardai have also pledged to start introducing checkpoints near litter blackspots such as isolated roads and bogs.
The Supermacs restaurant chain and the GAA are also coming on board in an effort to ‘clean up the county and keep in clean’ over the next twelve months.
Cllr. Moegie Maher, Chairperson of the Joint Policing Groups Anti-Dumping Committee, told a meeting this week that it would be the most concerted effort ever undertaken, to tackle a problem that had worsened over recent years.
“We want to get the anti-litter message out there with everyone such as schools, local communities and GAA clubs – we are hoping that the network we establish with those people can deliver real results.
“I am also greatly heartened at the attitude of the Gardai from Chief Superintendent Tom Curley down to the members of the force we meet on the ground on this issue.
“They have pledged to throw their weight fully behind our efforts to prevent and to catch people who blight our countryside by dumping illegally,” Cllr. Maher told a meeting in Abbeyknockmoy on Monday night.
Galway Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Pat Flanagan, told the meeting attended by about 50 local people, that an inspector (Tom Waters) had been assigned to co-ordinate the Garda response to the illegal dumping issue.
He said that four rural areas – Abbeyknockmoy (bog), Poolboy (Ballinasloe), Carra (Loughrea) and a bog near Inverin – had initially been identified as particularly bad black spots for illegal dumping.
Sgt. Flanagan promised regular patrols, checkpoints and a co-ordinated approach with the community wardens to tackle the problem over the coming months.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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