Illegal dumping rife in Maudlinstown area
NEITHER Irish Rail nor Wexford County Council are willing to take responsibility for illegal dumping in the Maudlintown area.
As part of their ongoing attempt to keep our coasts clean, the Wexford Estuary Clean Coasts Group (WECCG) descended upon Hantoon Harbour, Maudlintown to tackle areas which have become notorious dumping spots.
Filling 35 bin liners with rubbish the group encountered everything from household waste to discarded metal, wood and plastic during their extensive clean-up.
And, according to founder of WECCG Emmet Fahy, no-one appears willing to address this ongoing issue in the area.
‘Those two little harbours down there by the tracks are dumping spots. And Irish Rail don’t seem to bother doing anything with them. You have lots of builders dumping stuff there, people leaving household rubbish, teenagers drinking and leaving cans behind,’ Emmet said.
‘And no one appears to be taking responsibility. Both the Council and Irish Rail are saying it’s not their responsibility, so it’s falling between the two. But on either side of the railway line there’s dumping going on, even on the houses side of the fence.’
Emmet says this lack of action has led to people returning time and time again to the area, leaving rubbish there on multiple occasions before moving elsewhere.
‘We cleaned a good portion of it but we find certain areas are being completely neglected. With these sort of areas you have to manage it over time. Unfortunately, if it’s not people dumping stuff it’s stuff being washed up.
‘There’s no railway station nearby, no one steps in. So the rubbish builds up over time. Some of it looked fairly recent, but there was a lot which had been there for some time.’
Undeterred, Emmet and the rest of group continue their work, visiting a different area in the county every month. And their clean-up in Maudlintown saw them assisted by other community groups.
‘We had a great turnout, had people from the Tidy Towns join us and members from the Spirit Youth Group, who have come out and helped us a couple of times now.
‘We’re in it for the long haul, and if people want to join us they can go to the Wexford Estuary Clean Coasts Group Facebook page for more info.’