Galway beaches warning over 'dirty' heatwave incident as Met Eireann issue 30C plus alert
People in Galway are being urged to not make the same mistake as the last heatwave
With possible 30C plus temperatures on the way for Ireland next week and Met Eireann issuing weather warnings and advisories with more to come - Galway City Council have warned beachgoers not to make the same mistake as last time.
During the hot weather in May, there was massive anger and frustration in Galway after Salthill beach was left destroyed in rubbish.
In order to combat any littering this time around over the next seven days, the council have increased the number of disposable bin bags available to beachgoers which can be easily dumped in any of the 14 bins on location.
Galway City councillor Niall McNelis shared a video of the beach which was left in a shocking state after people spent the sunny days there.
Commenting on the incident in May, Cllr McNelis said: “That video showed the aftermath of a day of people enjoying the amazing diamond that is Salt Hill and then people took the sparkle out of it by just leaving all the rubbish behind.
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“I think the calls for extra bins is a weak call because there is extra bins out there. The wardens were out there all day trying to clean up.”
The councillor said: “To be honest with you, we had two good days of the year and people don't know how to behave themselves. It's as simple as that.
“The majority of them will be young people and I hate giving out about young people. I would say it's very simple. You bring your rubbish home or you put it in a bin. If the bin is full, you look for another bin that isn't full.
“Just to discard your stuff like that and expect somebody else to clean it up is just laziness in the first place.
'A pandemic of laziness'- Shocking video emerges of Salthill beach covered in rubbish after heatwave
“It's a pandemic of laziness. It's an epidemic of just thinking that somebody else is going to clean up after them. I think that, for me, is not where we want to be. If you're going to bring a quilt to the beach, don't leave it behind you. If you're going to be bringing a bag of cans, again, we have a lot of people talking about the environment. There were 15 cent refunds there. There were all these cans and bottles left behind.”
A worry for Cllr McNelis and many other people is the rubbish being washed out to the sea.
“I didn't want anything to be washed out because we have to clean up the ocean all the time,” Cllr McNelis said.
“Thank you to the good Samaritans who did litter pick up before this got washed out. To those who left litter behind, or couldn’t bother, this is why some nice things in society get spoiled. It’s very simple put it in a bin and if that’s full bring it home or wait till you find another bin. Every little effort helps. Thank you to the parks and environment teams out early today putting the sparkle on the City.”