Rae's Lock a prime target for dumpers
Tuesday March 09 2010
CONCERN for serious dumping and pollution at Rae's Lock in Bagenalstown was raised at the council meeting as it is still a prime a target for disposable waste and domestic refuge.
Carcasses of dead animals have been found dumped here despite the area being cleaned out by Waterways Ireland every two weeks.
'I went down to have a look and it is just as bad as ever,' said Waterways Ireland engineer Rosanne Nolan.
Each year Waterways Ireland pulls out tons of rubbish from the canal and contacts the local authority if anything traceable is found.
Rubbish tends to accumulate at the lock on a regular basis as it flows down from different areas.
'In general maybe it's good that the rubbish is stopped there and it isn't taken anywhere else,' said Ms Nolan.
'But there is fly tipping there and we could look into putting a bollard up to stop people driving down.'
Cllr Arthur McDonald suggested a swipe card system like that along the Shannon be put in place at the different Barrow locks, but Ms Nolan disagreed.
'Our own research shows that people love getting out of their boats and chatting at the locks. For every one person who would like a swipe card there are 99 who wouldn't.'
She informed the members that Waterways Ireland doesn't in fact own the island at Rae's Lock but that it had tried to purchase it in the past and the deal had fallen through.
'It would be a huge headache to own it but we maintain it anyway,' she added. 'We did try to buy it in the past but we eventually had to ask for our deposit back because we couldn't get the contract signed.'
