Sir, Joseph F. Walsh (April 29th) does not in the least exaggerate the problem of litter along the River Dodder. I live right beside the Dodder and I frequently go for a walk along its banks. Each time it is spoilt by the amount of litter and debris. This is true at Templeogue, Terenure, Rathfarnham, Churchtown, Milltown and Clonskeagh. Of course, the litter along the Dodder is only one aspect of the wider chronic litter problem in our city. As the Dodder, for much of its length, is the border between Dublin city and South County Dublin, one bank is the responsibility of Dublin Corporation and the other of the county council. I have personally and persistently pressed both the wider city issue and specifically the Dodder issue with Corporation officials, including the City Manager himself, and also with South Dublin County Council.
In the last Dail, following the initiative of the Finance and General Affairs Committee, of which I was chairperson, a Litter Act was enacted to help deal with this problem. I regret to say it has brought no perceptible improvement in either the Dodder valley or the city in general. The local authorities are simply not obeying the law nor, regrettably, are thousands of our citizens.
Yet I am struck by the fact that almost all our private shopping centres, frequented by the same citizens, are spic and span. Perhaps we should put Maurice Pratt and Fergal Quinn in charge of the litter problem. We might then get results. - Yours, etc.,
Jim Mitchell, TD
Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.