Nowhere to ‘put a bag of rubbish'

‘I will keep fighting for the case for Skibbereen,’ said Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) when the subject of the town’s civic amenity site was discussed at a meeting of the Western Committee of Cork County Council.

The councillor said he had given an undertaking to raise the issue repeatedly until the Council found a solution to the problem of ‘what to do with a bag of domestic refuse.’

Louis Duffy, the director of services for the environment, had informed him that a design team is currently drawing up proposals of how best to improve the site.

But Cllr Carroll wasn’t happy. He said: ‘We were told that the sum of €250,000 had been earmarked for the site and that the money would be sufficient to allow the people use the facility as a place where they could deposit a bag of domestic refuse – but that is not the case.’

Clodagh Henehan, the divisional manager, said the funding would provide a hard surface and improve the bring site considerably. But Cllr Carroll claimed it was a tale of two cities with the people of Clonakilty enjoying a top quality service that employs three or four, while there isn’t a permanent staff member available for the Skibbereen facility.

Cllr Carroll said: ‘Business people are plagued with tourists asking is there somewhere they can put a bag of rubbish, but there is no place. I will keep fighting – the people of Skibbereen are entitled to the same service.

‘It is 12 months since we got this news,’ he added. ‘We’ll be able to dance there on the new hard surface, but we won’t be able to dump a bag of rubbish.’