UNION HALL’S lagoon has started to look and smell unpleasant, according to a Fine Gael councillor, who suggested it might be time to open-up the sluice gates.

Cllr Brendan McCarthy raised the issue under any other business at a meeting of the West Cork Municipal District. He said local food businesses have stopped their al fresco service because of the odour.

Under any other business, Cllr Isobel Towse (SD) also suggested that the council executive should consider installing ‘dry loos’ on Sherkin Island.

She said they are used in other local authority areas and are more advanced than people might think.

Cllr Towse said they’d certainly be preferable to people answering the call of nature in the wild and leaving tissues in the ditches.

The Social Democrat councillor pointed out that there is a company in West Cork that supplies waterless toilets and she suggested they might be a better solution, time wise, than using the toilets in the island’s community hall.

‘They are the ideal solution for beaches and islands,’ she added.

Cllr Towse also raised the issue of hedge cutting and the rush to have the roadside verges trimmed before the March 1st deadline, which aims to protect nesting birds.

‘I have received representations from members of the public and tree surgeons who despair at the way trees and hedges are being shredded to pieces.

‘It’s not just an aesthetic thing,’ she said.

‘It’s disrespectful and damaging to nature and the countryside.’

Cllr Towse suggested that the local authority develop ‘a best practice guide’ so that trees and hedgerows are not cut in such a way that allows rot and disease to develop.

‘People should be using proper blades to cut branches,’ said Cllr Towse, who expressed the hope that the council guideline would be in place before the 2027 deadline.