There was anger and frustration in the Laois County Council chamber this week over dumping that took place in the River Douglas.
This is a tributary of the River Barrow and Independent Councillor Aisling Moran outlined the situation.
Last month, 60 black bags were dumped into the river and still remain there.
Cllr Moran said: “A huge amount has been fly tipped into the river. Nobody will clean it out.
“I contacted Laois County Council, Waterways Ireland and got nowhere.
“There is no way of getting a machine in. I offered to go in and clean it out myself. I was told I could get into trouble.
“There are 60 black sacks in the river with fish and wildlife tearing them apart.
“The river is now full of dirty nappies, timber and general waste.
“Whenever this is cleaned, whoever done this should be named and shamed.”
Sharing her frustration with the situation, Cllr Moran compared it with how regulations around environmental measures are enforced on farmers.
She said: “We go into farmers’ yards telling them to fix gutters, but when the river is full of dirty nappies, nothing. It’s scandalous.”
Senior Engineer, Adrian Barrett, explained that Laois County Council had sent an ecologist down after Cllr Moran reported what had happened.
They then engaged their contractor to clean it but were informed that this contractor did not do work in water.
Cllr Moran said that the delay has only served to further exasperate the problem.
She said: “The water is up to your knees only.
“It was only a short stretch, now there’s probably a kilometre of it which puts so much extra costs. It could have been cleared in an hour.”
Mr Barrett said that the Council are hoping to have a new contractor engaged and have the river cleaned up withing the next two weeks.
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