Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising that matter. If one travels the roads, one will see the green margins are strewn with bottles and other forms of litter. It is an absolute disgrace. We are lucky that grass grows easily and quickly in this country because it camouflages, during the summer period when tourists come here, how filthy we are.

I am glad the Deputy mentioned streets. The buzzword in Europe is "street climate", which refers to security and cleanliness. We do not really match up when it comes to street climate in Ireland. Many of our towns are strewn with litter and other forms of waste. Ireland will have to take this issue very seriously. It is fine to clean up a place for the Tidy Towns competition — one sees great energy in this regard — but this will have to be done all year round.

The Deputy referred to illegal dumping. The penalties do not seem to be enforced enough, or it is very hard to achieve convictions.

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