Another ‘Very Good Result’ As IBAL Judges Commend Works At Halting Site
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Cllr Sinead Dooley, Cathaoirleach, Tullamore Town Council, Dr Tom Cavanagh, Chairman of IBAL and Ruth McNally, Town Clerk, Tullamore Town Council.
AN 'overall marked improvement' in the area around the halting sites at Kilcruttin was noted by the judges in the Irish Business Against Litter [IBAL] report, the results of which were released on Monday.
Tullamore was ranked 25th out of 53 towns and cities across the nation and was once again found to be 'Clean to European Norms.'
The result was down from the 9th position which the county town achieved in 2010 but the adjudicators stressed that it was 'still another good result for Tullamore.'
‘Three out of the four approach roads into Tullamore were top ranking - the only moderately littered approach was Clara Approach Road which has seen big improvements,' said the judges.
They also noted a noticeable improvement at Dunnes Stores (Church Road) and said that William Street was in very good order.
‘There were no bad sites,' declared the An Taisce judges who are engaged by IBAL to carry out the survey.
The result has been hailed by the Chairman of Tullamore Tidy Towns, Cllr Tommy McKeigue who said that the Town Council had been very pro-active in trying to resolve the littering issues associated with the halting sites.
Last year, in the wake of a critical IBAL report highlighting the halting sites as major problem areas, Cllr McKeigue called for immediate action to be taken by the council.
Speaking at a meeting of the council, he said the body could not just keep 'forking' money in to the halting site area.
‘It's not fair on Tullamore and the people living in the area,' he added stressing 'the law is on our side'.
The FG man said all anyone coming into Tullamore on the train could see was rubbish. 'Two lorry loads of stuff were moved a few months ago and now it's as bad again . . . I'm vexed at the whole thing,' he outlined.
Also speaking at that meeting Cathaoirleach Cllr Sinead Dooley said the state of the halting site was a bone of contention with the public and each and every councillor.
‘This is the first impression you get of Tullamore when you are coming in on the train . . . people say look at that dump and I don't apologise for using that language.'
Cllr Dooley and the Town Clerk, Ms Ruth McNally attended the IBAL awards ceremony in Dublin on Monday last.
The national overall winners in the competition was Trim, which has been litter free since 2005 and it was one of nine towns to collect a Sustained Excellence award for being litter free for five years in a row, the others being Killarney, Cavan, Youghal, Fermoy, Castlebar, Ballina, Monaghan and Dundalk.
Local authority representatives at the ceremony heard from Prof. Dr Elke Arendt of University City College Cork of advancements made in degradable chewing gum, which, unlike conventional gum, decomposes when deposited on pavements.
IBAL Chairman Dr Tom Cavanagh spoke of such a breakthrough as 'a potentially critical milestone in urban litter prevention, and one that needs to be accelerated by a favourable tax policy, be it a tax exemption on the degradable product, or a higher tax on conventional gum.' Meanwhile, Cllr McKeigue said a combination of the recession and increasing costs was making it more difficult for the council to tackle litter issues.
He revealed that the body had spent a whopping €384,000 on street cleaning last year but it was proposed to reduce this by €100,000 at this Thursday's Budget meeting.
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