Sir, - Noel Dempsey, Minister for the Environment and Local Government, declared (March 27th) that his role and that of his Department in relation to litter was "in the area of policy and legislation" and that the Litter Pollution Act was to be enforced by the Garda and local authorities.
How hollow this declaration rings! Sure, one can legislate until the cows come home, but if one does not ensure that the legislation is fully implemented, to what purpose the legislation?
It is obvious from the cris de coeur in many letters from citizens committed to a cleaner Ireland, that neither the Garda nor the local authorities are carrying out the Minister's wishes. Moreover, neither do they seem to care a traithnin about the condition of our towns and villages, now a national scandal.
In a part of Navan that I visit regularly (the Minister's own bailiwick), there is, in the vicinity of St Oliver Plunkett's Church, an extensive grass area which the residents endeavour to keep mown, clean, tidy and free of litter. This is an uphill, frustrating and apparently thankless task, since a stream of trash, papers, plastic bags, cans and bottles is continually strewn there, by some people who frequent the small shopping complex in that particular area. Nor is there a single litter-bin or receptacle for rubbish to be seen, apart from one small open provided by a shop, despite all the rosy promises from the powers-that-be.
How can civic-minded - and by now angry and disillusioned - citizens contend with this side of filth without the practical and whole-hearted support of the local authorities? And where are these authorities and the Garda carrying out the Litter Pollution Act? It has gone past a joke. It is an impossible situation that Mr Dempsey might care to see for himself. - Yours, etc.,
Vera Hughes,
Moate,
Co Westmeath.