Dirtiest weekend prompts anti-litter rethink

Dublin Corporation will begin a thorough review of its anti-litter strategy during festivals this morning, following one of the dirtiest weekends in the city's history.

The corporation's spokeswoman, Ms Deirdre Ni Rathallaigh, said yesterday that the volume of litter, and other debris dropped in the city by around half a million people a day was "a lot more than we expected".

One of the measures the corporation's cleansing department will look at is the use of temporary litter bins as well as those already on the streets.

Ms Ni Rathallaigh said there would be similar numbers in the city for other festivals, but it was hoped no one would have to witness the level of littering and filth seen over the past four days.

Cleansing crews will be on the streets from 6 a.m. today to begin the clean-up, which Ms Ni Rathallaigh said would be completed by this afternoon.

Although all cleansing staff - "about 100" - were rostered to work throughout the weekend, bins around the city centre remained full to overflowing with mounds of plastic and paper piling around them.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings found pavements soiled with vomit and urine.

Ms Ni Rathallaigh said the crews worked around the clock using old-fashioned brooms as well as "green machines" which wash the ground as they sweep.

"We know from previous years that there was an estimated three times as much litter as there would be over a normal weekend." She said part of the problem was that the crowds were "so concentrated into a relatively small area, congregating every day between Christ Church, Temple Bar and Lower O'Connell Street".

She said it was "extremely difficult" for crews to get at the litter and bins while the festivities were happening, and even temporary extra bins in such high density crowds could prove problematic.

The city was at its worst early in the morning before the crews came on duty.

"By late morning the streets would have been pretty much cleaned," she said.