GreenWatch Galway- 'A Walk Through Litter-Strewn Woods & Parklands'

Green & Eco Programme for Galway City- August - September 2011

2011-08-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Information session on Garden Herbs
Tutor: Dolores Keegan
Venue: Lus Leana Community House
Date/Time: 7-9pm, Wednesday August 4th
For further information, contact Caitriona at 086-8537434

Guided tour of Gortard/Slieveaun Allotments
Clarinbridge Community Open Day
Information on seed planting, poly tunnels
Date/Time: 12.00-4.00pm, Sunday August 7th
For further information, contact 086-8351230
www.galwaybayallotments.webs.com

Galway City GIY
Kay Synott of Living Gardens will be talking to us about 'Keeping the vegetable garden going through autumn and winter.' All invited.
Date/Time: 8pm, Tuesday, August 9th, Áras na nGael, Dominick Street, Galway city

For further information, contact Mary at whiteravenie@yahoo.co.uk

Zoology Museum Guided Tours, NUI Galway
Guides: Eoin McLaughlin, Prof Noel Wilkins & friends
Date/Time:: Saturday August 20th, 10am & 12noon
Archway, NUI Galway
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

A Walk in Terryland Woods, Galway city
Guide: Michael Tiernan
Date/Time:: 10am & 12noon, Saturday August 20th, Black Box carpark
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946.
Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

Historical Overview of Galway Fishery
Guide: Seamus Hartigan, Inland Fisheries Ireland
Date/Time: 3pm Wed August 24th, Spanish Arch
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

Herb Walk, Barna
Dr. Dilis Clare
Date/Time: 3pm. Thursday August 25th, Cappagh Rd. sports ground carpark
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

Birdwatch Walk, Nimmos Pier, Galway city
Guide: Tom Cuffe
Date/Time: 10.30am, Saturday August 27th, Nimmos Pier
For further information, contact Galway Civic Trust, 091-564946. Email: info@GalwayCivicTrust.ie

Exploring an Esker: Tullykyne
A guided walk along an esker ridge explaining how this feature has shaped the wildlife and landscape in the locality
Guide: Caitriona Carlin
Date/Time: 2.30-4.00pm, Sunday, August 28th
For further information, contact 091-495921 or elaine.oriordan@nuiglway.ie

Clean-Up of new Castlegar 'Off the Beaten Track' Route
Community Clean-up of new potential walking and cycling route in Castlegar along the perimeter of Curraghline bog along a botharín connecting Headford Road and Tuam Road near Clooncauneen Castle.
All welcomed!
Date/Time 10am, Saturday Sept 3rd, Ballindooley Stores, Headford Road
Contact: Councillor Frank Fahy, 087-2345852

Clean-Up of Liosbaun Woodlands, Terryland Forest Park
Under the Glan Suas Gallimh initiative, the residents of Lisbrook House Asylum Seekers Accommodation Centre are organisign a clean-up of the neighbouring Lisbaun woodlands that forms part of the Terryland Forest Park
Date/Time: 2pm, Saturday Sept 3rd Lisbrook House
Contact 087-2935106, speediecelt@gmail.com

Ballinfoile Mór Harvest Festival
The residents of the Ballinfoile Mór are hosting a community festival to celebrate locally produce organic vegetables and fruits in the Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden. As well as food stalls, there will be music, face-painting, bulb-planting, bike maintenance workshops, crafts exhibits, scarecrow displays, nature walks of neighbouring woodlands...
Date/Time: 12.00-2.30pm, Saturday Sept 10^th in 'An Ghairdín', Ballinfoile Mór Community Organic Garden

Advance Pitshop Finally Remove the Litter from their Premises!

2010-02-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

Good News! City council responded to my complaint on Advance Pitstop to inform me that they served notice on the Dublin-based owners (see last blog article).
Good News No. 2! Advance Pitstop has actually cleaned up the mass of litter that lay at the front of it premises.
Sad News! The place still looks grubby. Broken Walls, rusty railing & still some litter around its grounds.
So we will continue to monitor this premises.

Expose the Business Polluters Part 1- Advance Pitstop

2010-02-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Front of Advance Pitshop, Headford Road, Galway city

While hundreds of ordinary residents are now volunteering their time and effort to take part in the monthly clean-up of Galway city's public parks and woodlands under the auspices of City Hall's Glan Suas Gaillimh that was inspired by Friends of the Friends campaigners, certain property developers and business owners are destroying the attractiveness of Galway city by a callous disregard for the upkeep of their properties.

It is time for the council to take action under the power invested in it by the 1990 Derelict Sites Act that allows prosecution of their owners and in fact to take over their properties if they fail to comply with the regulations.

Irresponsible Absentee Landlords Destroying Neighbourhoods

Yet it is not only abandoned buildings that need immediate attention for the sake of beautifying our city. The Celtic Tiger stimulated a massive upsurge in the sale of rented accommodation. Many of these absentee owners saw their new properties purely as investment opportunities, as a source of rental revenue and cared little for their upkeep. One of thousands of badly maintained rented houses in Galway City

The inevitable result was that there are thousands of rented houses in Galway housing estates with badly maintained exteriors contributing to serious lowering of community moral amongst local residents. For why cut your lawn and paint your wooden fence when the house next door has a pampas-like front garden and woodwork that is rotting away!
This situation will get worse as so thousands of rented accommodation lie empty as the downturn in the economy leads to an return of Eastern Europe workers (i.e. former tenants) to their homelands

But even prominent city centre commercial properties can have a dirty, grimy, derelict look.
One example is Advance Pitstop on the Headford Road adjacent to Aldi and Lidl.
The owner(s) lets his perimeter wall crumble, the pathetic looking puny shrubbery is almost permanently covered with discarded bottles and cans. and the rusty railings have not seen a a coat of fresh paint for years.
Starting now with Advance Pitstop, I am going to publicly report every week a business that is allowing its property to become an eyesore.

Latear in the year, I hope to start a community campaign to get City Hall to introduce bye-laws to secure a minimum standard of upkeep on all commercial premises and rented properties.
It is critical that developers are not allowed to undermine the attractiveness of the city for tourist and resident alike.

Photo shows the rusty railings, broken wall and litter covered shrubbery that forms the front of Advance Pitstop
on the Headford Road
Galway City

New Community Clean-up of Galway city's Forests & Parks Gets Underway

2010-01-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

In spite of the atrocious weather, over 80 people turned up to the Terryland Forest Park to take part in Galway city's inaugural clean-up organised by Galway City Council working in partnership with the Friends of the Forest group.
The initiative, known as 'Glan Suas Gaillimh, was a great success with thousands of pieces of litter were gathered from one section of the Terryland Forest Park. However beverage cans represented the largest class of items collected at 35% followed by drink bottles at 32%.
Time now for John Gormley, the government Minister for the Environment, to finally take action on our proposal to re-introduce a national refundable levy on drinks cans/bottles. We have been lobbying him on this issue without success since 2007.
For more information on the Terryland Forest Park clean-up and the refundable levy proposal click here

Native Tree Walk in Bearna Woods

2009-11-27T11:30:00.000-08:00

Learn to grow trees from Seeds.
Identity trees in winter.

Organised by Transition Galway

The Dirty Truth behind "Ireland's Cleanest City"

2009-02-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

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):

Rally Calls for Introduction of Park Wardens & a Refundable Levy on Drinks Cans & Bottles to Clean Up Our Forests & Waterways

2008-10-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

On a miserable rainswept windy Monday night, around fifty ‘Friends of the Forest’ supporters joined our protest outside a meeting of Galway City Council to highlight the need for increased protection of local parks and natural heritage areas.
As no vote has yet been taken on the proposed road through the Terryland Forest Park, we adopted a 'softly softly' approach towards the city councillors, most of whom came out to meet and discuss the issues with us in a friendly and courteous manner.
We asked them to lobby the government to introduce a refundable levy on all drink cans and bottles purchased at off-licences and other retails outlets. Discarded drink cans and bottles are probably the number one cause of litter in Ireland. Hence a refundable levy on drink cans and bottles would have an enormous positive impact on our environment by providing an economic incentive for people to keep our Irish parks, roads, waterways and public spaces clean.
Such a monetary pay-back scheme existed in Ireland until a few decades ago and is very successful today in other parts of the globe.
Considerable savings in litter management would be immediately made by the state that could then be used to reduce anti-social behaviour by encouraging greater public use of wonderful green spaces such as Terryland Forest Park by funding the provision new departments of park wardens, regular outdoor family activities and park facilities such as picnic areas, community gardens and eco-learning centres.
In the interim, there is no reason why the council could not now implement a year-long public events programmes for our parks and woodlands or encourage the setting up of a unit of voluntary community park support wardens.

Save Our Trees Rally for City Hall on Oct 6th 2008

2008-09-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

Decline of the Terryland Forest Park Project -Oct 2007

2007-10-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

The once mighty Terryland Forest Park project that was renowned for spearheading community involvement in park and habitat management and development has seem to have lost its way.
Failure by City Council to maintain the involvement of the community sector and other stakeholders such as artists, ecologists, foresters, environmentalists, botanists, zoologists & health specialists has meant that the project has degenerated into just another urban woodland scared by the common modern ailments of 'bushing', litter and lack of identity. The great days of arts events, kiddies 'bulbathons' and family 'plantathons' seem to be a dim and distant memory.
Unbelievably, the Council is now proposing to build a road through the Forest park defeating the very ethos of a project that was promoting the development of an urban 'ecological corridor' that would form an unbroken 'green highway' for wildlife linking the River Corrib near to Terryland Castle through to Ballydooley Lough via Castlegar village.
This built development is against the Council's own Development Plan and Habitats' Inventory Report.
An unmaintained lifebuoy unit along the banks of the Terryland River. No lifebuoy and overgrown with plants.

Mutton Island Causeway - Flotsam

2006-09-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

It is ironic that the causeway entrance to Mutton Island municipal waste treatment plant is characterised by a considerable pile of flotsam that was probably washed up on the tides. Look closer between the large boulders along the seashore and you will find a lot more unsightly rubbish.

Quincentennial Bridge, Terryland

2006-09-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

The area directly underneath the Quincentennial Bridge at Terryland is littered with a layer of bottles, food wrappings, cigarette boxes...It seems to be a very popular place for partying.
There is also a lot of this litter thrown or blown into the adjacent River Corrib which is certainly doing nothing positive for the wildlife.
On previous occasions, I have noticed the grounds of the nearby ruined Terryland Castle covered in similiar debris. But thankfully not on this visit!

Gort na Glaise

2006-09-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Dumping of grass cuttings in Gort na Glaise, Sandy Road

Newtownsmith

2006-09-12T10:53:00.001-07:00

Any patch of green or unoccupied land in the city seems to act as a beacon for 'bush drinking'. Newtownsmith is no exception. The photograph shows refuse just behind a metal gate near to the entrance to the beautiful riverside walkway
This poor duck is being impedded by a plastic bag. In spite of the trojan efforts of the Office of Public Works and the Western Regional Fisheries, there is no regular daily or weekly system of cleaning the waterways in place.
Galway City Council must review this policy as a matter of urgency. Otherwise we will never enjoy the image of the city as the 'Venice of Ireland' that many of us are promoting as a result of the fascinating network of canals, streams and rivers that provide the backbone of inner Galway

Terryland Forest Park

2006-09-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Terryland Forest Park is one of my pet hobbies. I initiated a residents campaign in 1996 to secure the land either side of the Terryland River for a multi-purpose community park and woodland. There was a real concern then that Galway would develop the worst excesses of 'urban sprawl' with little attention being given to the creation of a sustainable infrastructure that would include a network of parks, forests, playgrounds, community facilities, pedestrian /cycle and public transport routes. The Terryland Forest Park had the unique addition of possessing a community steering committee to manage the entity's growth.
In spite of the council's inability to support the community input over the last few years, the park is still one of Europe's largest urban forest programmes, with the staff doing their best, in spite of a government embargo on local government jobs, to promote biodiversity.
However , these photos bear testimony to the park's misuse today. Above- Remnants of a barbeque. Notice the use of tree branches for fuel for the fire.

Once again, the left-overs of a barbeque party.

Graffiti and alcohol cans at a park bench in the Terryland Park. Sadly and quite naively, the council refuse to place refuse bins in the park.

Cans, glass bottles, broken tree branches and wooden pallets left blocking a stream in the park.

Bags of clothes left behind deep in a wooded area in the park. Are people sleeping overnight?

Menlo

2006-09-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

With its agricutural hinterland, the nearby Corrib waterways, its low housing and mosaic of woods, Menlo represents the true 'Green Heart' of the city.
Menlo Woods itself is one of the most important and largest wildlife habitats within the municipal's boundaries So it is shocking now to witness the extent of its destruction by illegal dumping of construction waste as well as by now the familiar problem of 'bush drinking'.
Bags full of painting materials dumped in the wood. The evidence would led one to believe that not all of the material is left by outsiders. I noticed mounds of grass cuttings on the avenue leading to Menlo Castle opposite private houses with sizeable gardens

Cans and bottles purchased in Dunnes Stores and Harvest off-licences

While I was photographing in Menlo, I came across a group of young Eastern Europeans with bags who were gathering in the woods. I told them that it was illegal to drink alcohol in groups outside on public lands as well to leave behind refuse. They were really nice about it and quietly left the site.
Remants of a barbeque in the woods:

Photo of the remains of a campfire with plastic bottles and broken glass beside the ruins of Menlo castle.

Eglinton Canal

2006-09-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

All the city's waterways suffer from illegal dumping and from the debris that falls into as a result of drinking gathering along the riverbanks.

Nuns' Island

2006-09-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

The deliberate dumping of Life Buoys into the city's waterways is particularly acute at present. There will come a time soon when some unfortunate person will drown because of a missing buoy.

Bohermore Sports Grounds/Seán Mulvoy Road area

2006-09-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

This area was the most litter covered area visited.
Sandwiched between the Sean Mulvoy Road and the Bohermore sports grounds, it is accessed by vehicle through the Galway Shopping Centre. The area consists of a few copse of trees and a gravel area in front of playing pitches.
It is unbelievably bad and the large amount of debris found includes supermarket trolleys, sleeping bags, a beer keg, a wooden pallet, plastic food wrappings, cans, bottles, boxes...

Ballinfoile Park - the most litter covered housing estate visited

2006-09-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

Though I saw litter in every housing estate that I visited, Ballinfoile Park was by far and away the worst.
Beds and other large household items were thrown on the public greens and were not removed for weeks on end!

I personally know many of the residents of Ballinfoile Park who have worked hard for years to improve their area. None more so than the highly committed resident association chairperson, Michael McDonnell.
Thanks to the efforts of Michael and others, Galway City Council are putting together ambitious plans to redevelop the estate. Over the last few years, the local authority installed a series of top-of-the-range outdoor Child Play & Teenage facilities.
But these recreational facilities are covered with a layer of cigarettes, cloths and cans that would deter any parent from letting their children use it.

I cannot understand this type of anti-social behaviour and why it is tolerated by parents of the culprits, the local residents and finally the Council, who are after all the landlords of the estate.

Sandyvale Lawn Pitch area

2006-09-12T09:48:00.001-07:00

It is not only cans left lying around after late night outdoor drinking sessions. Here the haul includes a pile of glass bottles.

Tirellen Heights

2006-09-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

What was once a beautiful copse of trees is now destroyed by late night drink parties.

National University of Ireland, Galway -Burnt out Motorbikes, Illegal Fishing, Bush Drinking...

2006-09-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

NUI Galway should be proud of its wonderful record of planting and maintaining green areas over the last few decades.
Gerry Lee, the Buildings Manager in the 1970s and 1980s was instrumental in initiating a programme of covering extensive areas of the university with trees and shrubs when many other contemporary institutions were going for the easy option of providing manicured lawns which 'zoned out' wildlife.
In my opinion, it has the greatest number of wildlife habitats of any third level campus in Ireland.

But 'bushing' and illegal dumping of all types of waste is seriously eroding the sustainability of its waterway and particularly its woodlawns. Large mammals will have no chance to create nesting areas in areas so used by drinkers and dumpers.

The photograph opposite was taken in the copse of trees near the Quincenntennial Bridge.

Quincenntenial Bridge underpass- NUIG
From the amount of material scattered along the walkway under the Quincentennial Bridge and the graffiti covering the concrete, I would surmise that this area is a popular late night drinking zone.

Beer Cans - Public Enemy No. 1!
The greatest amount of debris left in Galway's green zones consists of beer cans.
If the evidence that I found is anything to go by, Heineken and Budweiser are definitely two of the most popular drinks in the city with Bulmers close behind!

NUIG- Plastic Bags of Beer Cans Hanging in the Trees

I was surprised to see bags of empty beer cans hanging from the trees close to the two storey pre-fab building that is part of the Dept of Psychology.

NUIG - Dumping 'Down By the Riverside'
No place is safe from the scars from outdoor drinking. The lovely shoreline of the Corrib River is being despoiled by cans, bottles and food wrappings.

NUI - Net Fishing along the River Corrib
The photograph shows pieces of nylon nets that was obviously used to ensnare fish. As I also found the remains of a camp-fire nearby, it is quite possible that the fish caught were eaten on site.

Dangan - NUI Galway

2006-09-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Tyre Burning
The authorities at NUI Galway have always being renowned for their excellent tree and shrub planting programme.

The development of woodlands near the Dangan Sports Grounds should be particularly complimented.
However, these woods have lately become centres for bush drinking parties.
The photo shows the remnants of a campfire where it is obvious tyres were used as a fuel. Imagine the amount of toxic fumes created by the burning of rubber

Second photo is once again showing the leftovers of a fire with lots of beer and spirit bottles in evidence.
This was located on the carpark beside the tarmacadan sports courts.

A wheel and fire extinguisher beside a campfire in a wooded area in the NUIG grounds at Dangan.

'Torched' Motorbike?
Skeleton of a motor bike in the NUI Dangan woods. Probably stolen, the bike was finally brought to the area to be torched.

Rubbish Dump- NUIG Dangan
Debris of all shapes and sizes dumped in the NUIG grounds in Dangan.

Once again, a mix of rubbish including wood planks and metal barriers that seem to be have been just thrown into the woods beside the entry (first) carpark in Dangan, NUI Galway

Galway Business Retail Park

2006-09-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

There is a large piece of ground between the Headford Road and the Omniplex that tends to be a collection point for large amounts of rubbish.

The ground is very badly maintained.

The photographs shown were taken on a Wednesday well after the time that they were probably left there.

Dún na Coirbe

2006-09-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Though quite a well maintained estate, nevertheless bottles and cans can be seen floating in the Terryland River that flows nearby.

Likewise as with so many other estates, the debris of bushing can be found in the neighbouring woodlands

University Road Canal Bridges area

2006-09-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

There is considerable amount of material in the canals along University Road that have originated in neighbouring roadworks

Dyke Road/'The Plots'

2006-09-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Pairce 'Radharc na Abhainn' (between Crestwood & Carraig Bán housing estates). Destruction of Karst Limestone

2006-09-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

The remains of a fire and alcohol cans litter the damaged base of a large karst limestone outcrop in an area that is of considerable geological importance.

The Claddagh

2006-09-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Under the water near Wolfe Tone Bridge

The 'Swamp'

Claddagh Basin

Woodquay: Ducks under Threat

2006-09-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ducks in Woodquay trying to survive amidst the debris

Flotsam: Woodquay waterfront
Woodquay waterfront