Madam, – Passing through the litter-strewn streets of Maynooth and Naas recently was depressing enough, but the M7 westward from Naas was worse still, spoiled by miles of soft-drink bottles and fast-food containers. However, the bedraggled nature of Kildare is probably not unique.
Worryingly, educational campaigns have failed, as evidenced by the trail of plastic bottles and sweet wrappings that mark the routes from schools to homes. Penalties are far too low and unenforced: gardaí worry little about litter and Kildare county’s two litter wardens are too busy to tackle the individual litterer.
The fact that tourist figures are the lowest in 12 years may not be unconnected; after all, who wants to visit a country whose inhabitants seem to care so little about it that its countryside is fly-tipped, its towns graffitied and its streets littered? One might have hoped for a better legacy from the Greens than a dysfunctional system that charges the conscientious disposers of rubbish in the bin or at the dump but bothers almost not at all with those who dump free of charge in our bogs, lanes, ditches and streets. – Yours, etc,