Around Ireland Battling the nation’s litter louts

By Patrick Markey

Litter louts in Dublin better watch out.

The city’s council has passed a motion to publicly "name and shame" culprits by publishing their names in newspapers, reports the Irish Independent newspaper.

The proposal is similar to one successfully used by the Revenue Commissioners in naming tax evaders.

The motion seems timely. A new survey revealed that almost half the country are litter louts. The survey for the Department of the Environment shows one in two Irish admit to throwing litter and one in every three are repeat offenders.

It also showed most Irish people never complain about other’s littering and never bother to help clean up their neighborhoods. Environment Minister Noel Dempsey branded the country’s litter problem a "national disgrace," while another called it a national scandal.

"It shames us as a nation," Dempsey said.

The ministry launched a nationwide campaign this month that aims to attract 200,000 people to collect a minimum 10,000 tons of rubbish.

"We, the Irish nation, must get our act together when it comes to litter," the minister said. "We cannot let the record show that Ireland in the new millennium was a country of private affluence on the one hand and dirty, littered streets and countryside on the other."

Pricey pub sales

Fancy buying a quaint little pub in Ireland?

Get ready to fork out more than half a million for the smallest of drinking spots.

The Gorey Guardian reported that one of Enniscorthy’s famous landmarks, the Antique Tavern pub, fetched a staggering £540,000 when it went under the hammer at a public auction.

The County Wexford property was bought by famed women’s hockey and camogie player Liz Murphy and her husband.

Prior to auction speculation was rife about how much the tiny bar would fetch. The Antique has a bar area of just 22 feet by 18 feet. But the three-story property, which includes overhead living quarters, kept the bidders eager.

The pub’s compact nature, together with the artifacts and memorabilia on the wall, made it a landmark for Enniscorthy, and listed as one of the 100 best pubs in Ireland.

Unrest in Leitrim

There has been increasing public unrest in County Leitrim in recent months because of the number of proposed mobile phone mast developments, reports the Leitrim Observer newspaper.

Leitrim County Council has refused a number of applications by Eircell Ltd. to erect antenn’ for mobile communications.

Only last February, the company Eircell Ltd. was refused planning permission to construct a mobile phone mast and antenn’ in Dromahair village.

Also that month, Esat Digifone was granted permission to erect a 36-meter high mast at Tully South in Carrigallen and an application by the same company was submitted for a development at Greaghnaglogh, Co. Leitrim.

However, the most recent application by Esat Digifone, to erect an 18-meter support structure at Lisadadan, Mohill, has been refused planning permission on the grounds that the application was deemed invalid.