€100 reward offered in bid to catch illegal dumpers in Clara

A county councillor has put up a reward for anyone who can provide information on the people who illegally dumped building waste on the Bog Road in Clara this week.

Among the items dumped at the popular amenity site was a bath, lino and other items from what looks like the renovation of a bathroom.

When the photos were posted on social media this week, Cllr Tony McCormack offered a reward of €100 to anyone with information that leads to the conviction of the dumpers.

“I think its an absolute disgrace when you consider the work being done by the council, Tidy Towns groups and members of the public to keep different areas clean. For someone then to have disregard for all of that and to go out and actually dump rubbish and it wasn't just ordinary rubbish, it was a bath, it was tiles, it was lino. Someone out there must know who that was and it is about time that we start naming and shaming these people.

“A lot of people out in the Clara area use that road to bring their turf home but also use it to go walking. It's a local amenity as well as everything else,” the Fianna Fail man said. Describing illegal dumping as an “awful problem right around the county”, Cllr McCormack said that he has offered the reward to see if it would incentivise someone to provide information about the illegal dumper.

The more people who are convicted of dumping the more people will be deterred from doing so, he says.

“Some people will pay to have their waste removed. Others will bring it to a recycling centre or dump and then others have a disregard for law and order and dump wherever they want to.

“The reason I put up the reward was because I know that because of the stuff that was left behind there, the people who done this are very identifable.

“They are indentifiable to their neighbours, they are identifiable to their relations. They are identifiable to those that sold them a new bath or shower, sold them the tiles and grouter and tile cement.

“It's up to the people in the locality to get behind this and to contact the council.”

When contacted by the Offaly Independent on Wednesday morning, Offaly County Council said that it had not received any reports about the incident.

Environmental awareness officer Caroline Clancy said that the council were visiting the site on Wednesday afternoon and urged members of the public who may have information to get in contact.