Sir, – I wish to respond to the recent editorial comment on the state of our capital's streets ("Dirty old town", July 4th). To suggest as you did that Dublin City Council is complacent fails to recognise the scale of the challenge we face in seeking to keep the city's streets clean, the enormous resources we deploy in this area and, more importantly, the collective responsibility of those city residents who dispose of litter and rubbish illegally on our public streets.
You were also selective in quoting Senator David Norris. His entire comment was as follows: “The cleaning of O’Connell Street is quite extraordinary because we are a genuinely filthy nation. We are a filthy race of people, but that street is kept really clean and wholesome all the time.’’
Dublin City Council employs a number of environmental cleansing measures to keeping our city’s streets clean. Huge resources are deployed by Dublin City Council to keep our city clean seven days a week, 365 days a year. City council cleansing crews clean the city streets intensively each day from 6am to 10pm, and thereafter as required during the night. We do wash streets and remove graffiti. We also work closely with the Dublin Town business group, which deploys cleaning crews in areas of high footfall.
Illegal dumping is an international urban phenomenon and is not unique to Dublin. While there are no simple solutions to this, Dublin City Council is seeking to address the problem through a range of initiatives.
All Dubliners must take responsibility and play their part in keeping our great city clean. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN WALLACE,
Executive Manager
Environment
and Transportation,
Civic Offices,
Wood Quay, Dublin 8.