Writes Ciaran Dineen
At February’s meeting of the Carrigaline Municipal District (MD), it was announced that street-cleaning along the main streets of Carrigaline, Passage West and Crosshaven is set to take place in April/May. There is also a chance that Ringaskiddy will be included following calls from local county councillors.
It comes following a very successful street-cleaning initiative which was taken as part of Project Act last summer, when the main street of Carrigaline and Passage West were deep-cleaned by contractors appointed by the Council.
At last month’s meeting of the MD, many councillors stressed the need to provide a similar service for towns in the Carrigaline Local Electoral Area (LEA) again this year, indicating that is should become a part of the Council’s yearly operations. Many of the public representatives reported the overwhelming amount of positive feedback from residents in Carrigaline and Passage West following last year’s clean.
After requesting estimate figures for an additional service to be provided this year, councillors were informed that street-cleaning in both town centres would cost in the region of €11,000 for Carrigaline and €5,200 in Passage West. Moreover, after Councillor Audrey Buckley (FF) called for Crosshaven to be included in the service, a quote of €5,200 to clean a core part of the village was arrived at.
The news was well-received but several councillors argued that the Council should go a little bit further and include Ringaskiddy in funding allocated. Councillor Seámus McGrath (FF) suggested that considering that the village will be a part of this year’s shop front and paint scheme that it would be a good idea to include it in the street-cleaning as well.
Councillor Marcia Dalton (Ind) agreed with Cllr McGrath and went on to query the status of Ringaskiddy from the point of view of the MD and the Council. Cllr Dalton said that while Crosshaven is now often referred to as a town Ringaskiddy continues to be classified as a village, indicating that in the old Ballincollig-Carrigaline district this wasn’t the case, and as a result the matter should be addressed.
Nevertheless, it was re-emphasised by Cllr McGrath that there is a desire for cleaning to take place in core parts of Ringaskiddy, commenting that they had felt “left out” last year. Councillor Liam O’Connor also added that given the exceptional work that the local Tidy Towns group do in the area, including them in the initiative would provide a welcome boost.