Local people living in the Pimm Street of the Dublin 8 area, have again expressed deep concern over bins been left on pavements and the failure of the refuse services to collect on time. It has been noticed that some private refuse collectors are leaving some of their bags till late in the evening, in some cases, picking up the rubbish at 10pm. This creates the problem as we approach the summer months of attracting feral cats, mice and even rats. A health hazard in and of themselves, but these animals will also pull at the bags, which causes the contents to empty onto the path.
Another part of this problem is they are also causing great concern to people walking on the paths especially the young children and the elderly. One man, who is in his late 60’s, has informed me that because he uses a walking stick, he sometimes has to leave the safety of the pavement and walk on the side of the road because of rubbish on the pavement. He stated causing great stress to this man who feels his safely is been comprised and he has great fears of being hit by a passing traffic.
I travelled the surrounding environs of Pimm Street as far as Mallon Avenue. Residents of the area were also complaining of a failure to collect rubbish and in addition, they stated there was a problem with illegal dumping in the area. This problem was particularly focused at the entrances of the new apartments, which are part of the regeneration project in Fatima. One resident said that it has gotten to the point that the Council have come round and have gone through them in the hope of finding personal information. It remains to be seen if such an approach will be affective as people have become aware that illegally dumping materials will lead to stiff fines or even incarceration and have been careful not to leave personal information in their bins.
As a reporter for a community site, I implore people to think of their neighbours and pay for their rubbish to be collected. Similarly, I implore the refuse collectors to think of the people who are aged or infirm and have to deal with uncollected waste.