RESIDENTS at Gurteenlomane, near Skibbereen, were horrified to find rotting food waste dumped on the roadway near their homes last Thursday.

A simliar incident, also of dumped, rotting fast food, was reported earlier in September on the outskirts of the town.

Other incidents of the same nature were previously reported at Goleen Marsh, and again at Aughadown last February.

According to Helen Walsh, who lives at Gurteenlomane, an area criss-rossed with back roads leading to Skibbereen, Tragumna and Lough Hyne, the waste was dumped in broad daylight.

‘I was walking there at 10am on Thursday morning and there was nothing on the roadway, but an hour later the waste was piled up near the entrance to an old quarry.’

Helen said that both she and the owner of the land immediately reported the matter to the relevant authorities.

She said the landowner rang the council office in Skibbereen and was directed to Cork, and personnel in County Hall directed her to the office in Clonakilty.

Helen Walsh confirmed on Monday afternoon that the waste was still there, despite the fact that she had contacted the litter warden directly.

There was speculation locally that the rubbish might have come from a fast food takeaway, but Helen Walsh said equally it could have been dumped by someone who runs a catering company.

‘It contained a lot of mashed potato,’ she said, which would be in keeping with leftovers from an event. There were also chips, potato pies, and leftover chicken and fish. She described the scene on Monday: ‘Birds were picking through the waste’ and while she did not see any rats, there was evidence that something had been eating it.

Photographs of the ‘beige food’, which resembles pig swill, was posted on online.

The Southern Star contacted the Garda Press Office who said they had no record of any reports of such an incident. 

Cork County Council, meanwhile, confirmed to the The Southern Star on Tuesday this week that it had been reported to their own Environment Department the previous day: ‘Waste enforcement staff have been onsite and are engaging with the local area office to arrange cleanup’. At the time of going to print on Wednesday afternoon, the food waste was still there, according to one local resident.

Last February, residents in Aughadown contacted the media because they were frustrated by repeated dumping offences.

Then, one local took photographs of the fly-tipping incident, which looked as if somebody had pulled up to the sea wall and emptied a waste bin over it.

The contents, which included peelings, blue gloves, and loads of kitchen paper, led locals to speculate if the waste was coming from a commercial kitchen.

They also said dumping on the road towards Aughadown church and graveyard, and also on the Bog Road, was occurring on a regular basis.

They also contacted the council a number of times to take away the rubbish that had been secretly dumped overnight.

The fact that the food was dumped along some of the popular Fastnet Trail walking routes added insult to injury, according to locals, who claimed the area of scenic and natural beauty was being destroyed.