Home News Environment Southside of Limerick City used as dumping ground despite improvements

Southside of Limerick City used as dumping ground despite improvements

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January 15, 2023

Sarah Kiely Galvone — Cllr Sarah Kiely at the Roxboro recycling area.

WITH Limerick last week falling to 37th position in the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey, Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely has hit out at that the Southside of the city is still being used as a dumping ground.

The final litter survey of 2022 by business group IBAL revealed last week contrasting fortunes for Galvone and Limerick City centre. The former, previously a litter blackspot, continued its recent improvement and is now ‘moderately littered’.

By contrast, too many heavily littered sites saw Limerick City fall to ‘littered’ in 37th position in the ranking of 40 towns and cities.

City East representative Cllr Sarah Kiely has now urged the council to take action and ensure Galvone does not make headlines again in May when the next report will be published.

“The residents of Kennedy Park, along with Sr Claire and myself, do regular litter picks in the area. We have made good progress and will continue to do our best to help keep the Southside out of the headlines,” she told the Limerick Post.

“The recycling area at Roxboro is always a problem. The example I will use is one of the prosecutions. Household rubbish was left at the site. Evidence was found and a notice was issued. The person was from Patrickswell. I know this to be true as I searched the bags and submitted the bank statements I found to the council litter team.

“This is just one example of how the Southside is used as a dumping ground. It reflects badly on my community. If the recycling centre is going to be a dumping ground, it should be removed from there and placed in a more public area. I have raised this on numerous occasions. The location lends itself to allow this unscrupulous behaviour.”

The An Taisce report said it was heartening to see Galvone continue to improve.

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“There are just two sites which have been persistently poorly performing over a long number of years – Galvone Industrial Estate and the Bring Facility at Roxboro Shopping Centre. The latter is in sharp contrast to the actual shopping centre in which it is located, which was excellent. Crossagalla Industrial Estate and Kennedy Park were also very much deserving of the top litter grade.”

An Taisce, which conducts the surveys on behalf of IBAL, also stated that too many heavily littered sites affected Limerick City’s ranking.

“Some of the sites have been highlighted in previous IBAL surveys e.g. Mount Kenneth Place, Bring Facility at Dock Road, and various basements along Mallow Street / Lower Mallow Street and Cecil Street.

“By far the most heavily littered site was (the) laneway between High Road and Thomondgate – it was subject to dumping.

“A notable improvement was evident at Colbert Train Station – this time around it was very much deserving of the top litter grade and the opportunity to ‘separate’ waste is a great addition. George’s Quay and Harvey’s Quay – lovely riverside environments which were not just good with regard to litter but very well presented and maintained,” the report added.

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