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Rubbish
'You have to fight for them to do anything': North Dublin residents slam council over illegal dumping
Residents have been told the laneway is not the responsibility of the council.
RESIDENTS ON A street in north Dublin are urging the council to address the illegal dumping and drug-taking in a laneway beside their homes.
Maria Sebbar, who lives on Killarney Parade in Phibsborough, said bags of rubbish are frequently discarded in the lane along with household items.
“There is human faeces out there as well, and people are taking drugs down there at night,” she told TheJournal.ie.
“When you ring the council they say they’re not in charge of it – but neither are we. I get frustrated because they won’t help and they’re supposed to be there to do that.”
One of her elderly neighbours clears some of the rubbish when it builds up, she said, but this woman then has to fill up her own households bins that she pays for.
Nearly two weeks ago, a bed and mattress were dumped in the narrow lane.
“An older guy who lives on the street saw them the weekend before last in a van. They just got out and dumped it,” she said.
Zebbar said she and other residents use the laneway, which she can access through her garden, to bring out her bins, but she has been unable to do this with the bed blocking the way.
“I asked the council on the phone how I was supposed to wheel my bins out and they told me to move it. But when I said I’d move it into the street and then they could collect it, they told me I’d be illegally dumping it.”
An employee in the council also suggested she pay to install gates to close off the lane.
“I’m not paying to get rid of a bed that’s not mine, I’m not shovelling crap up – I’m not doing that. We pay taxes for these things and then you have to fight for them to do anything – I don’t know what to do.”
Dublin City Council did not respond to a request for comment on the illegal dumping.
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