Empty houses 'are being used as a rubbish tip'
Wednesday September 08 2010
A NUMBER of vacant houses in the O'Connell's Avenue area of Listowel are being used as dumping grounds for domestic waste, causing a serious health hazard to concerned residents of the area.
The problem surrounds a number of derelict, vacant houses in the neighbourhood where domestic waste is being dumped by unknown offenders.
Residents say the illegally dumped rubbish is attracting vermin to the area, causing smells and generally amounts to a health hazard.
"People are using the vacant houses as dumping grounds," Cllr Tom Barry informed colleagues at Monday night's meeting of Listowel Town Council . "There are people living there for years and years with lovely gardens and fine homes but are in fear of rats and other health problems."
"Once one person starts throwing rubbish in, they all start it would seem," said Cllr Barry who claimed the problem was compounded by the fact that some of the owners of the homes could not be contacted as they were unknown.
Town Engineer Michael McEnery said the council has three vacant homes in the area requiring an 'awful lot of work', despite the council having cleaned them a number of times over the summer. "But if we need to go back we will do so," he told Cllr Barry.
- DONAL NOLAN dnolan@kerryman.ie
