Illegal dumping is now at a ‘critical’ level in region

ILLEGAL dumping at a burial ground in Durrus is not only disrespectful to the living, but also to the dead.

That’s according to Bantry-based Cllr Danny Collins (Ind), who said the graveyard at Maulinward – which is about three miles from Durrus – is the latest location to be targeted by indiscriminate dumpers.

He said it was a local who photographed the desecration and asked for the mess to be cleaned up.

The councillor contacted Teddy Browne, the Council’s environmental officer, and a crew was sent to clean up the illegally-dumped household rubbish, and also to search for clues as to the identity of the owner.

The lengths people to which people are going to dispose of their household waste has reached a critical level, according to the councillor.

He warned this would be the outcome following a decision by the local authority to discontinue a free recycling collection facility at the Harbour View car park in Bantry every Friday afternoon, as well as the withdrawal of recycling bins from near the Family Resource Centre in Dunmanway.

‘This is what happens when you cut back on services,’ he added.

‘I don’t know how much it cost to clean it all up, but it takes time and manpower, resources that would have been better deployed in providing a service that everyone could use.’

He described the deliberate littering of a graveyard as ‘a mean type of offence.’