'Hit litter louts in the pocket'

(Above) This photo was taken at the diving boards early on Thursday morning.

There needs to be proper deterrents for people who litter at local recreation spots.

That's according to a member of the public, who contacted the Westmeath Examiner this week to highlight the ongoing problem of people leaving their rubbish at local recreation spots such as the diving board at Lough Owel.

The male, who enjoys early mornings swims in the lake, said that he was “disgusted” this week by the amount of rubbish left behind by people socialising at the popular site. He generally goes for his swim before council outdoor staff arrive each morning to remove rubbish and empty the bins.

He says that in order for people to change their behaviour there needs to be more enforcement of the litter laws.

“They [the people who litter] think they can treat one of our county's best natural assets like this and walk away for someone else to clean up. The council need to be way more proactive rather than reactive on this,” he said.

“How are they expecting anyone to change their behaviour if they just keep cleaning up after them. Enforcement through litter warden issuing on the spot fines to these louts will be a start, then its CCTV, publicly naming and shaming, etc,” he said.