Madam, - Is it not time that we, members of the public, took the initiative to spearhead a campaign to deal with the escalating problem of littering and dumping? The responsibility for detection and prosecution lies with the county councils who are often fighting a losing battle against the dumpers. But, I would argue, it is up to all of us to join the big clean-up.
No one, in my experience, dumps between 9am and 5pm - the normal working hours of litter wardens - so it is obviously hard to catch the perpetrators in the act (usually the only way to guarantee a conviction). If it is left to members of the public to report registration numbers of dumpers' cars, they are open to retribution if seen and recognised by those whom they reported.
So perhaps the most we can do is help clear the mess ourselves - or at least move the rubbish to a place where it can be collected by litter wardens on the roadside rather than behind some ditch.
To this end, I have removed from my locality over the past four years countless large bags of dumped rubbish as well as clothing, prams, bikes, fridges, cookers, builders' waste, armchairs, settees and beds - to say nothing of cans, bottles, food packaging, etc, which I regularly bag for collection by the local litter wardens.
Until we have a national refuse collection service paid for through direct taxation bolstered by revenue from the plastic bag tax, the problem will not go away. Meanwhile, measures can be taken to alleviate the situation. One of these could be the restriction of vehicle access to popular illegal dumping areas by padlocked gates or removable locking posts similar to those used in pedestrian walkways.
Recycling collection areas should be set up in every village and urban ward to cut down the distance people have to travel with their newspapers, bottles, cans and plastic.
And, with a limitation on landfill sites, State cash should be made available to university chemistry departments for research into totally dioxin-free rubbish incineration.
As to the litter-louts themselves - if caught and convicted, they should face costs and community service orders, shaming them publicly and involving them in litter clearance.
Perhaps if we concerned ourselves as much with human obligations as we do with human rights - the obligation of respect for each other and for the environment - the problem would disappear.
But then, it is only a minority of us who are litter-louts. - Yours, etc,
JOE NEAL, Castlebridge, Wexford.