Sir, – I am surprised that your newspaper has not yet called attention to the effect of the Catholic Church on street litter. It is notable how clean the streets are in the cities of Scandinavia and northern Europe compared to Irish cities. Admittedly the cities in the Catholic countries of southern Europe are remarkably clean too, but this is not due to the clean habits of the people but can be put down to the assiduity of the municipalities in those countries in keeping the streets clean in the interests of tourism. Unfortunately we in Ireland, since the collapse of the Celtic Tiger and the ensuing austerity, have not had the funds to carry out a similar cleansing of our towns and cities.
Despite the collapse in Mass attendance in Dublin, the streets are dirtier than ever. It is some time since I have visited Cork or Limerick or Galway, but I suspect that since the decline in Mass attendance has been less steep in those cities, the position is even worse there. It would appear, therefore, that the decline of religion and the influence of the church has not of itself been enough to remove the scourge of littering.
We will have to embark on a programme of education and perhaps introduce some financial inducements while toughening up our anti-litter enforcement (carrot and stick) to improve the situation. It is clear we cannot afford to wait another generation for the malign influence of the Catholic Church on our litter problem to work its way out of our society. – Yours, etc,
PN CORISH,
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Rathgar, Dublin 6.