Galway's refuse crisis may spill onto the city streets

Hotels and restaurants in Galway have warned they will not be able to contain their volume of refuse after today.

There was not too much evidence of the city's waste crisis on the streets over the weekend but Galway Corporation has been urged to pass the Connacht Waste Management Plan which it is due to consider tonight.

There has been no refuse collection since Thursday and householders have been advised that there will be no collection today either. The chamber of commerce and industry has warned that the growing waste crisis in the city and county could lead to job losses as well as presenting a serious health hazard.

In the rear yards of hotels and restaurants, commercial waste bins and skips are crammed and there is no room for more refuse.

Until today, proprietors have been trying to keep rubbish within their premises. However, after a busy weekend they have to start leaving it out on the streets, despite the fact that there will be no collections until the crisis is resolved.

The manager of The Quays bar and restaurant, Mr Seamas McGettigan, said he had been trying to absorb refuse within the existing bin facilities. The City Bin Company had provided extra bins to cope with the increased pressure. However he had no idea what was going to happen from today on.

Mr McGettigan said the alternative was for the private waste companies "to start taking our waste to Dublin but this would mean that costs would escalate way out of hand and we would then have to pass these additional costs on to our customers".

A spokesperson for McDonalds fast-food outlet in Shop Street, said the situation was looking serious. It had not had a refuse collection since Wednesday and the restaurant's skip was already fully packed. McDonalds uses a compactor to reduce its refuse and the skip is normally emptied on Saturday.

The Western Health Board is storing its waste at its facilities at Galway Regional Hospital but a spokesperson said that the longer the situation continued, the more likely it was that the storage of waste would become a problem for the board.

The spokesperson said the waste crisis was a matter for the local authorities and not the health board as it was not a public health issue at this time.