This article is from page 6 of the 2013-07-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
LAHINCH – a nice town except for all the rubbish. That is the message from a group of local people who are attempting to change attitudes toward litter in Clare’s premier resort town – and make it a nicer place to visit and live.
According to the group, the village was left in a “disgusting” state after last month’s unexpected sunny weather and they are calling on visitors to be more litter conscious and Clare County Council to do more to keep the village clean.
The group formed after the a local clean-up organised large levels of dumping during the June bank holiday weekend and now intend to form a formal group aimed at working to make the village cleaner.
“It was very really disgusting – you name it, it was dumped on the beach after the [bank holiday] weekend. It was great – about 15 of us went out on Monday evening and picked up more then 30 bags of rubbish – it was disgusting,” said Louise McCormack of the group.
“We need more bins on the prom that is for sure. I know there would be some dumping anyway, but if we can set a higher standard and work to keep the place cleaner then visitors will think twice about dumping themselves.
“There are two men [from Clare County Council] who are very helpful and do some clean up work – but it’s just too much work for them. One tourist said to me last week that we had a lovely village – it’s just a shame that it is so dirty.
“The council makes a lot of money from the car park in Lahinch and that money is supposed to be invested in the village – but that isn’t happening. It would not take a lot of money to fix this problem.”
A spokesperson from the Ennistymon Area Office of Clare County Council said, despite the economic downturn, the local authority have maintained rubbish collections at Lahinch.
“After the bank holiday weekend a group contacted Clare County Council to tell us they were organising a clean up and requested to assist in removing and disposing of the waste they collected. We agreed to the request,” said a spokesperson from Clare County Council.
“At no time did the representative of the group raise any questions about litter management with Clare County Council. With regard to Lahinch, Clare County Council provide a seven day service all year round.
“Due to the downturn in the economy, funding for local authorities has been cut dramatically over the last number of years. The embargo on public sector employment has led to a huge reduction in staff resources available to carry out the functions of the local authority.
“However we have maintained the same level of service on the streets and the promenade of Lahinch despite the lack of resources. All bins have been deployed for the summer season.”