Residents’ relief as rubbish removed before Halloween

Residents of Fána Glas in Ballybane who were fearful that rubbish that had been dumped illegally in the area, would be set alight on the run-up to Halloween, successfully lobbied Galway City Council to have it removed.

A private contractor was hired by the Council at the weekend and much of the material, including tyres from cars and lorries, was removed.

The Council’s action has been welcomed by community activist Donal Lynch who stood for Fine Gael in the recent Local Elections.

“For the past year, a privately-owned field locally is been used as a dumping ground for a legal rubbish,” he explained.  “All types of household rubbish, such as beds, fridges and more have been dumped over this wall in Fána Glas and, to make things worse, hundreds of tyres have been added to this illegal dumping ground.”

Because this field is close to a residential area, it was a matter of urgency to get the tyres removed before Halloween, to ensure people’s safety and prevent damage to the environment, he added.

“Thankfully, after hard lobbying, Galway City Council employed a private contractor with a large grab-lorry to remove all the tyres and a large amount of rubbish,” Mr Lynch stated.

“It is my understanding that Galway City Council will move in a crew next week to remove the rest of the rubbish.”

Mr Lynch has now called on the Council to take swift action to tackle the illegal dumping.

“My suggestion would be to raise the wall put up a fence or CCTV to put a stop to this for once and for all.

“This is a nice residential area with young families and this kind of legal dumping of rubbish poses a serious health and safety risk to residents.”