'Hallucination' of litter pickers?

Kilcullen Community Action chairman Kieran Forde (below) told a recent meeting that he thought he was 'hallucinating' recently when he saw operatives of Kildare County Council picking up litter on the meridian of the M9.

His comment opened a discussion on Kilcullen's long-time aggravation with the Council on its failure to provide an adequate litter clearing service to the town. But the immediate response to his 'hallucination' was Ray Kelly's comment that the people the chairman had seen might have become 'lost in the fog' of that morning.

The discussion reiterated a decision made at the previous meeting that KCA would no longer engage in voluntary litter picking during the spring and summer, unless Kildare County Council came up with a commensurate service.

But after some debate, it was decided to do a one-off clear up of rubbish on the approach roads to the town, which wouldn't be done by the Council anyway. Ray Kelly said the material included mattresses, car batteries and other waste. He suggested they take it from the material from the hedges and ditches and leave it out 'for the Council to take away'.

That generated concerns that the members might then themselves be charged with littering. A suggestion that it might shame the Council into acting was met with a comment by Celia Travers (above) that 'Kildare County Council has no shame'.

Brian Byrne.