By Suzanne Pender

ANTI-LITTER campaigns are simply “not working” and the money they cost should instead be directed to enforcement. That’s the suggestion from cllr John Cassin, who pointed out that littering still remains a “huge issue” in Carlow town.

At a recent meeting of the local municipal district, cllr Cassin pointed to the work done by the council and voluntary groups in tackling littering, yet “it’s obvious we have a huge issue with rubbish”.

“Whether it’s dumping or dog fouling, the huge amounts of money spent on campaigns are not working. We’d be better off hiring someone to be out there fining these people because the campaigns are not working and it’s unfair on people having to put up with rubbish,” said cllr Cassin.

Cllr Adrienne Wallace raised the issue of rubbish on the Dublin Road close to Junction 4 on the M9, at what she described as “an unofficial park and ride”.

“I spent an hour there recently picking up rubbish. We need signage or something there; it looks dreadful and it’s the first thing you see coming into the town,” she said.

Town engineer Barry Knowles said he would follow up with the environmental section in relation to litter and dog-fouling fines. Mr Knowles also thanked all the voluntary groups in the town, who “give a great hand with the clean-ups”.