Residents' fears over rats from illegal dumping
Residents in estates in Tuam are worried about a vermin epidemic because of refuse being dumped beside local bottle banks.
Mice and rats have been seen in the vicinity of the bottle banks located at the Weir Road in Tuam – close to a considerable number of family homes.
Galway County Council have been urged to trawl through the footage of the CCTV cameras, which are pointed at the bottle banks, to determine who is responsible.
Tuam’s Cllr Shaun Cunniffe said that he had received complaints from residents in the nearby Millstream Park and from those residing in houses along the Weir Road.
He said that he had witnessed the situation himself and described it as appalling and has called on both Galway County Council and the charitable organisations benefiting from the recycling centre to act.
Cllr Cunniffe was told that there were vermin spotted at various times during the day and night. There are black bags of domestic refuse dumped at the recycling centre which is also located within an industrial park.
Earlier this week The Connacht Tribune inspected the bottle banks at the Weir Road and found that some were packed to capacity. While there were bags containing bottles at the recycling centre, there were also a number of black refuse bags that were full of domestic waste.
Cllr Cunniffe said that he will now be asking the environmental section of Galway County Council to trawl through the CCTV camera footage to determine who was responsible for the illegal dumping.
“Even if the bottle banks are full to capacity, it is not allowed to leave bags of bottles outside them. This can obviously lead to the attraction of vermin and I am led to understand that this is happening at this recycling centre on the Weir Road,” the Independent councillor added.