Date: 1 October 2020
Green Party TD for Wicklow, Steven Matthews has welcomed the allocation of €744,739 to support local authorities in organising anti-litter and graffiti initiatives as part of the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report launched by Minister Eamon Ryan. Discussing the report, Deputy Matthews said:
“Unfortunately, the findings of this countrywide survey indicate that overall, we are going in the wrong direction in terms of litter and graffiti. The findings in the Report emphasise the need for projects such as the Anti-Litter & Anti-Graffiti Scheme. The funding is very welcome and will be provided to Local Authorities to conduct public awareness and education initiatives at a local level about both litter and graffiti. Wicklow County Council is best placed to help raise the awareness of the issue of litter locally and coming up with local solutions to local problems.
“I know anecdotally from speaking with Tidy Towns groups across Wicklow that they have noticed an increase in litter since the lockdown ended. One of the issues raised with me on several occasions recently is single use face masks being discarded. I would ask that everyone observes the public health advice and disposes of them safely or even better, start using a washable and reusable one. This is obviously just one small aspect of the overall problem. There’s a huge number of factors at play here but we all have our part to play in this.
“On the issue of graffiti, Bray in particular has seen a recent increase in targeted graffiti which is not only hugely distressing for those targeted but also brings down the whole area. This is something that I have consistently spoken out against and I hope that Wicklow County Council can in part use their funding allocation to raise greater awareness of its damaging impact on our towns and villages,” concluded Deputy Matthews.
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