Dumping at Bantry’s scenic spot ‘needs to be sorted’ as priority

A BANTRY-based councillor said people have run out of patience with Cork County Council’s attempt to prevent one of its sites being used as a dump.

‘It has been in the courts for the last three years,’ Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) stated in exasperation at a recent meeting of the West Cork Municipal District.

‘We are hearing nothing about the progress of the court case,’ said the councillor who complained that the issue has been dragging on ‘for far too long.’

‘This is the most beautiful area in Bantry and all you can see is a Council owned site that is a disgrace,’ said Cllr Collins who reminded his colleagues that the site at Harbour View was previously used to house donkeys until a woman took pity on them, bought them, and had them sent to a donkey sanctuary.

‘People are contacting me weekly – some of whom who said they have never contacted a public representative about anything in their lives,’ he added.

‘Nobody’s happy with it. The business association is not happy with it. The tidy towns committee is not happy with it. The tourism and development association are not happy with it. And the people of Bantry are not happy with it,’ he said.

Cllr Collins called on the Council’s legal team to make this issue ‘a priority because we are getting the brunt of it.’ The reason people are annoyed he told The Southern Star is because residents feel that ‘if one of them did it outside their own door they would be prosecuted.’

Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy (FF) agreed that the situation ‘needs to be rectified as soon as possible.’

Senior Council official MacDara O h-Icí informed the councillors that the legal case is pending and has been adjourned to the end of January.

‘We must await the outcome of the case before we can take further action,’ he said. ‘When a matter is before the court, we have to respect the process.’