Public 'furious' at Mullingar's dog fouling problem

The “public are furious” at the attempts made to tackle Mullingar's dog fouling problem, according to a local councillor.

Fianna Fail’s Ken Glynn says that the council needs to do an audit of its bins as many of the town’s most popular walking routes are “full of dog litter”.

Speaking at this week’s meeting of Mullingar Town Council, Cllr Glynn said that while he knows that there are bins along most routes, “they are some distance apart in some places”.

“I don’t want to name places but there are some parts of the town where the amount of dog litter is absolutely disgusting...Let’s not give people an excuse not to (dispose of their dog’s litter),” he said.

Cllr Glynn, who told the Westmeath Examiner that the issue of dog fouling is one that “comes up a lot on doorsteps”, said that if the council provided more bins it would also boost the efforts of Mullingar Tidy Towns committee.

Cllr Ruth Illingworth was one of a number of representatives who agreed with Cllr Glynn saying that as well as being “unsightly”, dog fouling is also a “health hazard”.

Labour’s Pat Collins noted that while the majority of dog owners pick up after their animals, “there is a large element of dog owners who have no qualms of destroying footpaths”.

Council official Declan Leonard told representatives that any bag and bin can be used for dog waste. There would be a “funding issue” surrounding the provision of extra bins, Mr Leonard said, and that ulimately “it is the responsibility of dog owners to collect and dispose of dog litter”.