Portmarnock litter problem tackled with new bins

By John Manning

A LITTER problem at High Rock in Portmarnock is to be addressed by the installation of two new bins and the council has asked for public support in keeping Portmarnock’s coast clean

Cllr Peter Coyle (Lab) raised the matter at a meeting of the Malahide/Howth Area Committee where he asked for extra bins at High Rock and a greater frequency of litter pick-ups along the coastal walk-way between Portmarnock and Malahide.

Cllr Coyle also asked that litter laws be more aggressively applied and that offenders be fined for littering.

The council’s Environment Department agreed to install two new permanent bins at High Rock to facilitate the growing number of cars parking in the area.

However, the Environment Department said that the coastal walkway was on a weekly cleaning schedule at the moment and the department considered that sufficient.

Department officials said it would, however, be prepared to review the cleaning schedule of the walk-way if the current system was not working

On the issue of prosecuting litter louts, the department said it needed public backing to successfully make a prosecution.

Members of the public, according to the department, were often willing to report a littering incident but were not prepared to follow-up with testimony for a prosecution.Cllr Coyle said it was important to keep the walk-way clean. He said: ‘It’s a very important walk. So many people do that walk every day of the year and every hour of the day.’

‘The actual beach was superb during the summer but this walkway wasn’t and I got a lot of complaints about it,’ he added

Cllr Alan Farrell (FG) agreed that a greater frequency of cleaning the walkway was needed, particularly during the summer months and said he had also got a number of phone calls on the issue during the summer

Fingal Independent October 21/2005