Madam, - We spent the week of the recent heat wave in Dunmore East, Co Waterford. It would have been a splendid holiday were it not for the squalor generated in the beaches and park of this lovely place by litter slobs.
Some of the culprits were predictable; yobbos of the sort that shout obscenities and quaff from cheap tins of lager all day and in all places. However, we also saw whole families of parents and children get up and leave substantial piles of rubbish behind them on the beaches of the village and at nearby Woodstown. These parents are clearly unperturbed about corrupting their children with their own uncivil and, indeed, criminal behaviour. There were elegant young women whose obvious self-consciousness did not extend to the detritus they surrounded themselves with and were happy to leave behind.
Then there were the strange types who would carefully pack their rubbish in a shopping bag and leave it on the beach rather than taking it home. Perhaps they have half-formed consciences.
The audacious filth of all of these people was a shock and matters were made worse by the absence of any attempt at serious litter management or enforcement of litter laws by the local authority. The accumulation of years of faded and bleached litter could be seen in the fine village park alongside more colourful recent contributions from the litter mob. I should say all this contrasts with the obvious pride the people of Dunmore took in the appearance of their village. God help them!
We ourselves cleaned the beach in the lower village two mornings in a row. Much more rubbish was swept out to sea by the tide overnight and this in an area with delicate ecology and an important fishing industry. - Yours, etc,
PAUL NAESSENS, Sweetmount Avenue, Dundrum, Dublin 14.