Council gets tough on dog fouling
TRAFFIC Wardens and Community Wardens who ordinarily would have been tasked with enforcing parking regulation have been told to refocus their efforts on dog fouling in the coming weeks as the council aims to get tough on those who fail to clean up after their pets.
In recent weeks, popular walking routes in Wexford have been destroyed with dog dirt, leading to several complaints from people out walking within the required 2km limit of their homes as their sole exercise. The quay front, which has a high volume of walkers each day, was said to be particularly bad.
At last week’s meeting Covid Crisis Meeting, the issue was raised by a number of councillors, including Cllr Leonard Kelly who last week called on people to apply the same level of consideration for others to cleaning up after their pets as they do to social distancing.
As a result of the conversation, it was decided that Community Wardens will concentrate on implementing the litter act in terms of dog fouling and prioritise the issue in the coming weeks, issuing fines and prosecuting where appropriate.
The council is also to renew efforts to replenish all dog bag dispensers to make it as easy as possible for people to pick up after their pets. In addition to this, the council will now set about cleaning footpaths on some of the most popular walking routes in town. The suggested routes to be piloted are the Quay Front, Clonard (from the petrol station to Clonard Church, down to Lidl and back through the Industrial Estate), Pinewood to St Joseph’s, the area around Wexford Park and the Newtown Road.
Speaking following the meeting, Cllr Kelly said: ‘These are areas within my 2k limit which I have noticed have been becoming much more littered with dog waste as well as general litter. I’m hopeful that this will improve the lived environment for the vast majority of locals who act responsibly in this respect.’