The Dirty Truth behind "Ireland's Cleanest City"

Recently, Galway City was declared Ireland's cleanest city by the 'Irish Business Against Litter' (IBAL) and An Taisce, Ireland's Heritage Watchdog.
The Mayor Padraig Conneely took personal credit for this achievement pointing out that it was his consistent public attacks on City Hall officialdom for their shortcomings in litter management that secured progress. City manager Joe McGrath said it was due to the cooperation between all stakeholders and the implementation of City Hall's "Litter Management Plan" that made the difference.
In my opinion, it was the combination of the Mayor's blunt outspokenness on waste as well as the very hardworking and often overstretched front line council staff (particularly the community wardens) that is responsible for the move forward on this issue .
However I am astonished that Galway ever secured this national recognition in the first place.
city, it that it has got worse not better with refuse a normal feature of urban life. Scratch the surface, move off the main entry roads into the city and one will see an altogether darker story. For the problem of litter in my opinion, and that of many communities across the city, is that the litter problem has got dramatically worse over the last few years.

Lack of Engagement with Neighbourhood Associations

One primary reason is that Galway City Council, in spite of the views expressed by the city manager, has failed to integrate the general public in any meaningful way in the campaign.
Of course there is no doubt that the Tidy Towns annual award scheme has repead dividends and that City Council/An Taisce's Green Flag have made significant progress in signing up all local city schools to their scheme and putting into effect positive environment-learning programmes.
But this sector is the exception not the rule. Even here, I am saddened at the litter seen daily in or near school grounds particularly on Monday mornings when the remnants of 'bush-drinking' is all too apparent.
Sufficient resources, monitoring and initiatives are not being allocated to ensure that neighbourhood and business groups undertake regular sustainable year-round clean-up schemes. No coterie of 'park wardens' exist. The potential to exploit the goodwill and volunteerism that exists amongst ordinary people toward their locality and environment is not being exploited. NGOs and residents' associations are being kept at arms length in the management of local parks. The dormancy over the last 5 years of the steering committee of the one park (Terryland Forest Park) that had a high level of multi-sectoral input into its management is proof of this City Hall indifference.
The result is that parks, hedgerows, roadways and rivers are strewn with refuse and are the victims of anti-social behaviour in the the broadest sense. People caught vandalising housing estates, dumping rubbish, letting their properties become invested with litter and degenerating into horrible eyesores are not being appropriately punished. The existing laws are often not enforced and the fines when they are imposed are paltry.
A fundamental sea change is required at all levels.

It is time for instance that the culprits responsible should be forced to undertake public clean-ups in the communities that their selfishness tried to undermine.Green Party Minister Must become more pro-Community

Sadly John Gormley, the Irish Minister for the Environment, has failed to take on board positive eco-proposals from grassroots community organisations such as Galway's "Friends of the Forest" who are requesting the introduction of a national refundable levy on drink cans and bottles, an initiative that existed in Ireland in decades past. The last government introduced highly successful progressive environmental legislation in the form of the plastic bag levy and the pub smoking ban that rightly gained the country international plaudits.

So I fail to see how the leader of the leader of the Irish Green Party, who is a highly intelligent man that should be commended for his statements in exposing many of the shortcomings in our environmental and planning legislation, cannot see that his inaction on such an obvious issue is losing him and his organisation community support. Such a politician should show be more receptive to grassroots campaigners than he has shown since he took office.
Failure to 'think outside the box' means that monies will continue to be wasted on cleaning up the mess rather than in trying to introduce innovative preventive measures that will be cheaper and more sustainable in the long-term. It means too that wildlife and the environment will continue to be destroyed and 'civic engagement', via new meaningful large scale local authority-community will continue to be ignored.

Need for Increased Public Vigilance

But the fight to get our political system to implement Green Grassroots Change will continue. So 'Friends of the Forest' will go behind the facade of Galway being a clean eco-City and expose the level of refuse that really exists.
Starting now with the Headford Road area (below):