Dubliners are demanding action on the ‘revolting’ dirt, litter and urine on the city’s streets.
It comes after columnist Una Mullally wrote that “Dublin is a dirty, smelly, sticky old town once again”, riddled with “street filth, broken glass, littering and general grime”.
On Lunchtime Live, locals, workers and business owners told Andrea the problem is only getting worse.
Jessica, who works near Custom House Quay, said the heat of the summer months highlights how bad things are.
“[The] dirt on the pavement, the smell of urine particularly around Custom House is just overwhelming when you're walking through the city centre on a sunny day,” she said.
“The summer months are worse since there’s not the same amount of rainfall washing anything away.”
Jessica said commercial waste is particularly bad as it blocks pavements and streets across the city.
Swans looking for food among the litter and rubbish pollution at the river at the Grand Canal Docks in Dublin, 07-12-2020. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews“You nearly have to jump around it,” she said.
Jessica said Dublin City Council has failed to tackle the problem – and she is not optimistic it ever will.
“It's definitely getting worse from my own observations.”
'The smell of urine is revolting'
Business owner Kim said Jessica was being too kind in her description of Dublin City.
“The smell of urine in the city is revolting,” she said. “The bins are perpetually overflowing.”
Kim said the lack of bins is a particular problem on Dublin streets.
“Between 2008 and 2011 we had 5,000 bins in the council, but we now have 3,500,” she said.
“So, the bins are constantly overflowing – not because the guys collecting aren’t doing their jobs but because there are not enough bins or people to empty those bins.”
'It's not rocket science'
On Drury Street on Saturday night, Kim noticed “black sticky dirt all over the pavement” and “broken glass everywhere”.
“Dublin City Council has €1.4 billion a year to manage the city,” she said. “Now is the time for professional management.
“A city needs to be cleaned every day; we need more bins – it's not rocket science.”
‘Relatively clean’
Dublin resident Gar said he has had visitors from Japan, the US, France and the UK in recent months – and some of them had a different take on things.
“Three of them commented on how relatively clean Dublin is,” he said.
Gar said some parts of the city have taken ownership of the problem, while others are only getting worse.
“We have places in the city, take for example Portobello, where there’s no ownership in terms of responsibility,” he said.
An empty Fleet Street in Dublin’s Temple Bar, 26-01-2021. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews“Whereas if you look at Temple Bar, they recognised the problem and they’re constantly cleaning.
“This is about ownership - we need to increase our public spending.
“If we’re going to take high money for hotels and restaurants, we need to make sure there’s a sufficient balance of investments.”
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