Sir, - Your edition of March 4th reports on the results of a litterleague table by Irish Business Against Litter, following limitedsurveys by an Taisce. Dublin City Council expressed strong reservationsabout the Coombe/Liberties area being included in this project, as itis an inner-city rejuvenation area, whereas the other areas surveyedare provincial towns.
The Coombe/Liberties area is undergoing economic, social andinfrastructural redevelopment and while it still has environmentaldrawbacks, we do not accept that it has a widespread litter pollutionproblem as was portrayed by the presentation of the survey results. RTÉfeatured Meath Street in a recent evening news programme as a follow-upto the survey results and found it to be almost litter free. Theprogramme also highlighted local residents' anger at the image of theircommunity created by the league table. We believe such tables aredivisive and serve very little purpose in tackling litter pollution.
Two of the four locations responsible for the area's low marks arenot under the control of Dublin City Council and a third location is amarket street that is swept every evening after the markets close.
Dublin City Council is continuing to work closely with residents andbusinesses in the Coombe/Liberties area to enhance its environment. Weare also intensifying our anti-litter activities throughout the cityand in the current year are committed to significant increasedexpenditure on new anti-litter and street-cleaning initiatives. We arealso leading participants in the National Litter Pollution MonitoringSystem which is aimed at identifying litter blackspots and takingappropriate remedial action. - Yours, etc.,
M. TWOMEY,
Assistant City Manager,
Dublin Corporation,
Civic Offices,
Dublin 8.