NO surprises there then. Dublin fared very badly in a nationwide litter survey carried out by the Irish Business Against Litter.
While towns all over the country made great gains, Dublin is classed as a litter blackspot.
Smithfield was described as an ‘absolute disgrace’; the Quays ‘unsightly’ and Moore Street as an ongoing problem.
Blame was laid on Dublin City Council but I don’t think that is entirely fair because to me the people who walk along dropping litter as they go bear more responsibility. Can you blame a local authority for the dirty b*stards that live within their areas.
Certainly there is no doubt that local authorities have a responsibility to keep our streets clean, but it’s an uphill and expensive job in Dublin and this is backed up by what I see everyday.
The worst thing about this is that more money than is right is already spent cleaning up after the lazy b*stards I have alreay mentioned. Let us be clear about this, this is money that could be directed to say playgrounds but is spent brushing-up streets, clearing up illegal dumping, and all it takes is for people to have some civic pride. However that pride is lacking.
Should I expect people to have that pride, not at all, but I do expect people to know that dropping the wrapper from their chips in the middle of a street and not in a bin, is wrong, unsightly and makes our communities a litter bug’s dream and an eyesore to live with.
There have been a couple of occasions where I have lifted people’s discarded rubbish and went after them saying ‘oh excuse me you dropped this! And in most cases I have been told to ‘f*ck off’.
Charming indeed but not nearly as charming as their compulsion to pollute our streets.
Since my daughter was small NOT dropping litter has been what I consider an important lesson and one that would later become the bane of my life on washing days, she holds litter in her pockets. Well thats the way it should be.
Now back to the Irish Business Against Litter, wouldn’t it also make sense as I posted about here before to negotiate with Dublin City Council to have commerical rubbish collections lifted in the early morning.
When they do this, I will probably take their campaign (as good as it is) more seriously.
