Litter warden needed

Appointment of town litter warden would be ‘self-financing’, says Kilcoyne


Michael Duffy

CASTLEBAR Independent town councillor, Michael Kilcoyne, has called for the appointment of a litter warden specifically for the town of Castlebar, an appointment he said would be self-financing as the warden would have plenty of opportunity to issues fines due to the amount of littering taking place in the county town.
Cllr Kilcoyne said this was the only way the problem of littering could be policed properly and he felt the management of the Council did not pay enough attention to the matter.
“Sometimes I feel like I am talking to the wall when I am talking about the problem of litter, but the only way to make people sit up and take notice is to make sure plenty of fines are issued and those breaking the law are hit in the pocket,” said Cllr Kilcoyne, whose proposal was seconded by Cllr Brendan Henaghan and supported by Cllrs Eugene McCormack and Blackie Gavin.
However, Cllr Aidan Crowley said it was unfair to lay the blame for littering at the door of the executive.
“I think we are ignoring the elephant in the room in relation to this issue. What we need is people to be more conscious of their own town. Enforcement would not be such a big issue if people were civic-minded and did the decent thing,” said Cllr Crowley.
Mayor of Castlebar, Cllr Kevin Guthrie, said he too supported the main thrust of the motion but the reality was that with the Government having an embargo on recruitment in the public sector, there was little possibility of a new traffic warden being appointed.
Director of Services, Mr Seamus Granahan, refuted the comment that the Council executive did not pay enough attention to littering.
“All our outdoor staff do an excellent job and we were very proactive in 2008 on this issue. It will remain a priority for this Council in 2009 to tackle the litter problem but we must also remember that people need to change their mindset for there to be a real visible change,” added Mr Granahan.