There was much discussion at Monday’s Drogheda Borough District about the increasing levels anti-social behaviour and illegal dumping which is giving the town a very bad image.
Senior Engineer Mark Johnson told of workers having to sift through bags of rubbish that have been dumped to find any addresses that might help to identify the culprits. He explained that the legislation has still not been passed to allow for the use hidden cameras to catch illegal dumpers.
“Before, when we had the cameras operating, we were issuing 700 penalty notices a year but without them we have issued none” he said.
Independent Councillor Kevin Callan who is also Chair of Drogheda Tidy Towns said that action must be taken now to stop the behaviour which is having a very real negative impact on the people of the town.
“We have just made strides in improving the appearance of our town and this work is being seriously undermined by high levels of illegal dumping” he said.
“We have also seen projects like St Dominic’s Bridge where thousands of taxpayers’ money had been spent and now we see people dumping plants in the river, ripping up lighting and threatening people who use the route as a walking and running circuit”.
“The levels of anti-social behaviour are escalating and we must start to treat this as a serious policing issue. Between the Council, Tidy Towns, Drogheda Chamber and Love Drogheda BIDS, we will continue to push to improve how our town looks but we simply cannot keep up with what is going on.
“When we have Garda Cars being damaged as Gardaí are attending community meetings, we have a problem and this is only going to get worse if we do not stop this now.
“We must coordinate with the Gardaí” he said, “because people are afraid of crossing these people when they blatantly break the law.
Cllr Callan said that despite all of the work of the council, volunteers and bodies like the Implementation Board and the Gardaí, the rates of intimidating behaviour, dumping in broad daylight and fly tipping are on the increase.
“So much of our time is spent on cleaning up after these people when we could and should be planting and painting.”
The Council’s Director of Services, Paddy Donnelly, said it was very disheartening for individuals and groups who are doing such great work to improve the appearance of the town that so many households seem to think it is okay to dump their rubbish.
“People are paying for electricity and heating but won’t pay for a domestic refuse collection service even though it is a legitimate cost to the household that has to be paid.
