Campervans and rubbish dumping raise concerns in rural Waterford
Rubbish in the Stradbally Cove area recently
Environmental concerns are growing in the Comeragh area, with issues such as dogs on beaches, an increase in campervans, and illegal dumping in scenic spots becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
A number of such incidents were highlighted at last week's Comeragh district meeting.
The rising number of campervans visiting Waterford has resulted in a noticeable increase in litter.
Cllr Liam Brazil said during last week's meeting, that a significant amount of campervans descended onto Stradbally and Kilmurrin during the warm weather.
“I was in Stradbally over the weekend and there was fierce mess left around the beach," he said.
"Kilmurrin is also a lovely little beach and it’s a fright to see," he added.
“Nobody has anything against campervans coming in visiting, but I do believe they must take home their rubbish with them."
Cllr Brazil went on to comment: "It’s just disgusting to see. It’s disgraceful. The people who do this have no shame for the place they come to."
Cllr Brazil said that the Council should consider erecting signs which instruct campervan drivers not to park in certain areas.
"People have to be responsible for their own actions," he added.
Waterford Council Director of Services, Gabriel Hynes, said that the Council is encouraging privately owned campervan sites to develop across the county to provide for the influx of campervans.
“There's a significant number of campervans around, not only here in Waterford but elsewhere also," he said.
“Certainly we would welcome them, and where they can park legally they can park away," he added, before commenting: "But we stress to campervans if they have waste, they have to bring that waste away with them because our bins don’t have the capacity to deal with a significant amount of waste."
Cllr Brazil added that public toilets are also proving difficult to manage.
"Toilets are being left in an awful mess he said, "to see the dirt of the toilets, an animal wouldn’t leave it as bad".
Mr. Hynes added: "Our beaches, our public toilets, the majority of people respect them, but we’d encourage everyone to leave them as they find them and if there’s no bin, bring your litter and waste home with you."
Meanwhile, images shared on social media last week showed rubbish and campfires left by campers near Mahon Falls
Cllr Seanie Power expressed his disappointment at the state that the picturesque site was left in.
“People need to bring home their rubbish, and I think 99% of people do, but unfortunately we have a few who don’t," he said.
Senior Executive Officer in the Environment Department of Waterford Council, Dawn Wallace, reiterated calls for the public to take responsibility.
“The public have a responsibility to clean up after themselves," she said.
"It's not difficult. If you go somewhere with a picnic or whatever you take with you, there’s no reason you can’t take it home.”
Regarding dogs on beaches, Cllr Liam Brazil suggested that Council dog wardens make more regular patrols of our beaches to ensure that dogs are controlled by owners.
"To see dogs running wild in the middle of the day I think its very unfair on families who come to beaches," he said.
"I do think these dogs should be on a leash or maybe they shouldn’t be there at all."
