A Waterford dairy farming couple have been hit by a post-festive rubbish dumping debacle. Aileen Barron and her husband James Goff woke up on December 28 to the unwelcome sight of several bags of rubbish in a field at their farm at Kilronan, Butlerstown.
“This is the latest in an ongoing series of dumping incidents at our farm which is close to the city,” said Aileen, who is managing director of Green Acre Marketing. She and her husband are among the many landowners around the country who have been affected by post-festive dumping.
“Our other farmland in Ballindud, which is even nearer the city, has also been hit by rubbish dumping and it’s a weekly occurrence,” Aileen said.
“This latest incident happened on the Friday night after Christmas. Our back window looks down to that field.”
Aileen’s husband didn’t see any evidence of dumping when he went in from the yard earlier that night. “The dumping all seems to happen once it gets dark.
“A lot of other farmers in this area have experienced dumping because although it’s close to the city, there is still a feeling that it’s a bit of an isolated narrow road and that nobody is going to see them,” said Aileen.
“It’s very frustrating and what is really annoying is that a lot of the items dumped were recyclable and we are only 200m away from a bottle and clothes bank.”
Greenway
The dumping of rubbish in an area close to an access point to the greenway really undermines the promotional work being done, Aileen said.
“Great work has been done to market the greenway over the last two years and Waterford has been seeing the positive impact from that – a phenomenal job has been done and hotel rooms are being booked up. In light of all the effort that is being put into that, it’s a bit ironic to see rubbish being dumped in the area.
“However, I guess the people doing the dumping don’t care. It’s a situation that warrants the erection of CCTV cameras as it’s all too regular.”