Sir, - Kevin Myers's Irishman's Diary (May 20th) is to be applauded and his views on litter pollution are most welcome. His direct references to Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) are worthy of some additional comment.
Since IBAL, was founded just 18 months ago, it has undertaken many initiatives to bring litter pollution to the forefront of public debate in this country. These included two market research studies; one assessed Irish people's attitudes to litter; the other found that most tourists who visit this country believe we have a very serious litter problem.
Last November IBAL also hosted the country's first International Litter Conference, where some of the world's leading experts on litter prevention put forward opinions on how best to tackle a problem which our organisation believes is costing this country jobs and threatening our future potential for tourism and economic prosperity.
Earlier this month, IBAL launched its latest initiative, in conjunction with local authorities in Co. Waterford, whereby we have agreed to build a £1 million advance factory in the county if it succeeds in becoming litter free within 12 months. This is designed to show the direct relation between litter prevention and economic regeneration, as we are convinced that any county which can describe itself as litter free will have greatly enhanced its prospects of attracting quality investment.
In his recent article, Kevin Myers congratulates IBAL for its work to date, but criticises us for welcoming the recent Litter Bill introduced by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin. He also challenges us to become even more aggressive in our approach to the problem by demanding more meaningful action from the Government.
We welcome Mr Myers's comments and we fully intend to accept the challenge. Yes, IBAL has done much to advance the issue of litter prevention in a short period of time, but we also welcomed the Minister's Bill in good faith as a further step, albeit a small one, in the right direction.
However, we also accept that, in overall terms, the Bill contains many flaws, the most serious of which is the lack of determination to ensure that local authorities provide sufficient litter wardens to improve enforcement of the new litter laws.
IBAL believes that the Government has only begun to scratch the surface in its efforts to tackle this problem, and the large scale promotional campaign launched by the Minister last year screeched to an ineffective halt with little or no impact on the general public.
We fully intend, as Mr Myers recommends, to continue to "go face to face" with the next Minister responsible for the Environment. The time for political platitudes on the litter issue is over. The time for action is now. Yours, etc.
Chairman,
IBAL,
Dublin 2.