Sir, - In yesterday's Irish Times (November 11th) two items on the same theme caught my eye: one by Frank McDonald, your Environment Correspondent, on traders using streets as rubbish tips, the other a letter from a Thomas O'Mahoney to the effect that "litter bins appear to be a rare species here."
The subject of litter, and this country's toleration of so much of it where it should not be, has been commented on ad nauseam, both by concerned Irish people and by tourists, who have come here and seen the scandal for themselves. Thomas O'Mahoney deplores the lack of litter bins in his area. But even where there are such receptacles, these are not emptied every day and end up spilling their contents on the pavement.
After living abroad, he is appalled by the state of our streets and countryside. Frank McDonald writes that street traders "seem to think nothing of the visual mess and obstruction they were causing on the city's pavements."
In all our travels abroad, particularly in France, it was edifying to see how street traders in French towns tidied and swept up the rubbish and remains, when the market was over, and hosed down the area, leaving not a matchstick behind. I remember the first time I saw this phenomenon was in Lisieux and I watched fascinated, as the traders tidied, hosed and took their stalls away, leaving the cobbled square shining in the sun. I thought of Moore Street and Camden Street, and all the other filth strewn streets, and wondered what was wrong with us as a nation.
Why is our Department for the Environment so inept? Why are litter laws and on the spot fines not enforced? Our legislators simply are not doing their job in this regard, merely making pious sounds from time to time and getting their faces in the papers. Perhaps the Green Party will take over and do something. - Yours, etc.,
Cartronkeel House, Moate,
Co Westmeath.