The council wasn’t hiring a municipal walker, but she took the job anyway
Once a month since September 2022, artist Lian Bell has done a full circuit of the North and South Circular Roads, observing these 14km through the seasons.
For years, an operator has paid to collect used clothes. Going forward, the council will have to pay for the service, a spokesperson said.
In response, the Department of Environment is planning a study of the pros and cons of councils contracting out the bin service in their area to a single company.
They’ve waited for a code on how they can be used and, at a meeting on Tuesday, got the details – and didn’t like what they learned.
“The more we do, the more is asked of us,” wrote Ruth Law.
It’s the councillors’ latest move in a years-long campaign to stop council managers from reducing services at the centre.
“The fires are constantly being lit,” says local resident Annette Flanagan, who forwarded a photo taken at night showing smoke and flames.
Harry Murphy, whose back garden borders the car park, says he wishes the CCTV was still there. “There’s been carpets dumped there – a whole kitchen once.”
The sensors they tried installing didn’t always fit well, ran out of batteries, and had connectivity problems.
On a local WhatsApp group in Dublin 8, neighbours try to ensure that stuff that’s still useable keeps getting used, rather than being thrown in the bin.
A council spokesperson says it’s trying to keep the centre open, but if it can’t, it will be “challenging” to find an immediate replacement.
The next step is to apply for planning permission to build a wall to stop new debris and rubbish from being tipped onto the site, councillors were told earlier this week.