Councillor Kevin Callan has said that shopping trollies being dumped into the Boyne has reached its worst ever level and that action is required from the supermarkets to have them returned to their premises to prevent further environmental and safety issues.
Councillor Callan was at the Boyne Fishermen’s Rescue Group’s boathouse on the Marsh Road at the weekend to help them on one of their regular clear-ups which involved boats and crews physically removing trollies from the banks and centre of the river channel.
“This is a really serious issue as these trollies are practically invisible to divers when they are involved in recovery operations and are a serious risk to life” Callan said.
“Further to this, trollies in the river channel at low tide can cause serious damage to rescue vessels and crews if travelling at speed to assist a person in distress.
“The levels of dumping have increased and this absolutely irresponsible action needs to be targeted and those involved face the full fines and penalties.”
Praising the efforts of The Fisherman’s Rescue Group, Cllr Callan said that he would be placing a notice of motion on the agenda of the June Meeting of the Borough to call on Louth County Council through its litter and environment sections to sit down with the supermarkets to address this issue and their responsibility to account for their property.
“These volunteers who already do such amazing work for our community are totally disrespected by those who put them at further risk when they navigate the river to help in difficult circumstances” Cllr. Callan said.
“With over 30 trollies removed from the river in one day, it is evident that each trolley posed a risk, that each trolley was taken at effort to locations like Dominic’s Park and were then fired into the river or at bridges.
“This is not an easy thing to do and in many cases it’s clear this was done passing the Garda Station, we need to get tough on this anti-social behaviour but we also need the shops who own these trollies to act, it’s not acceptable that it’s left to volunteers to clean up their property.”
