Agents jib at donations request

Three responses have been received following letters sent to area auctioneers about property sale signs found dumped in Pinkeen Stream.



The letters, sent last March, asked for donations towards the cost of cleaning up the stream. As well as many dumped auctioneers' signs, Pinkeen was also clogged with other rubbish, including 700kg of leaves, litter, supermarket trollies and builders’ rubbish -- left there since nearby estates were built.

But even these three responses required follow-up phone calls from local Tidy Towns activist Ray Kelly, to the letters.

And only one, from Jordan Estates in Newbridge, contained a cheque. The company rebutted direct responsibility for the signs, which were contracted out, but 'understood' the Kilcullen community's feelings.

"The other letter was negative, and I got a phone call from a third saying they had come looking for their sign after the sale, and couldn't find it," Ray Kelly told last night's meeting of Kilcullen Community action, within which the Tidy Towns operation in Kilcullen is managed. "But all they had to do was look over the fence into the stream."

He said he had subsequently contacted Kildare County Council's Litter Warden, Noel Geoghegan, who confirmed that any estate agent sign erected in a public place IS the responsibility of the agent.

"Technically, all such signs are supposed to be erected only on the private property concerned, and otherwise could require planning permission," Ray Kelly said, adding that while KCA was just looking for a donation of €50, if the Litter Warden had picked it up, it would have meant a prosecution and a €150 fine.

Brian Byrne.

(Ed Note: Just to clarify the above, as far as we know there were no Kilcullen-based agents involved in this story. In particular, we've had a note from Dowling Fitzsimons DNG asking us to mention they didn't have signs in the stream, and consequently didn't get any donation request.)