Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will make one other point. In the old days, I could decide on a Tuesday to ask the local community council to get people out and about to pick up the rubbish at the side of the road. Community groups are afraid to do that type of work now, so please do not suggest that there is a voluntary solution to this issue. It does not work any more because the same rules and vulnerabilities apply. There is no insurance and, in any event, there is nobody to pay insurance costs for every small community group. My local community group or GAA club cannot go out and pick up all of the litter on the roads because they have not done the required training for Safe Pass, etc. Nobody should believe that we can do this on a voluntary basis any longer because we would run into even worse trouble.