What to do with intelligent scavengers littering streetscapes?

The city seagull gets more and more like the urban fox. Like the latter it is fat and well fed with plenty of easy pickings. And brazen , lacking any fear of the human inhabitant. The culinary rewards are such that the occasional “shoo” and frantic wave of the hand matters little.

The frequent sight of scattered waste, particularly evident in Dublin city centre in the early morning, is a consequence. This is primarily due to the gull’s ability to peck through waste-filled plastic bags.

The odd toppled bin or burst bag courtesy of a kick from a disgruntled late-night reveller walking home a little worse for wear has been replaced by multiple scatterings. It is a blight undermining progress in reducing litter on other fronts.

The increased number of urban gull colonies in Ireland and the UK has been acknowledged by ornithologists. Poor waste management practices and little fear of human activity have led to that change in size and behaviour of the seagull population.

Herring gulls cause the most problems. They are large, intelligent and adaptable birds, existing in great numbers along our coastal areas, as well as inland areas.

They can drink either salt or freshwater and their scavenger diets allow them great adaptability often travelling up to 30 miles to their food source. They eat anything from sea-fish to rubbish from city centres and landfills.

If businesses are not going to use wheelie bins, they should use a "repulsive spray" to prevent seagulls tearing apart plastic bags of rubbish left out for collection in Dublin city, Fine Gael Senator Paul Coghlan suggested some months ago in the Seanad.

If that is not feasible, one would have thought that it should be possible that waste management authorities ensure the availability of a peck-resistant bag, if wheelie bins are not an option as is the case in many city centre areas.

Former British prime minister David Cameron noted last year the need for a "big conversation" about increasingly aggressive behaviour by gulls following reports that they had attacked and killed pets in Cornwall.

In Ireland, the conversation should be about their role in exacerbating litter problems.

The difficulty, however, is that all seagulls and their active nests are protected by National and EU laws.

We once had a reputation for being a dirty little country, in spite of the attractiveness of the Irish landscape.

We made strides through creative approaches, so a pragmatic solution should be possible in this instance too.