Dominick Donnelly

14^th April 2009

Cllr. Dominick Donnelly, the Green Party member of Passage West Town Council and candidate for Cork County Council, has welcomed the announcement by Mr. John Gormley, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and Mr. Michael Kitt, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, of the allocation of €1,070,000 in grants to local authorities for public education and awareness initiatives in relation to both litter and graffiti, with Cork County Council receiving €42,000 of that.

Cllr. Donnelly said:  “Litter and graffiti are both major problems for all our communities, and these grants help the county council raise public awareness and promote anti-litter and anti-graffiti activity at local level.  We must all work together to remove the scourge of litter and graffiti from our communities, which can make them very unattractive places to live.  There is a particular focus of these grants on involving schools and young people and on voluntary initiatives carried out by community groups, which is to be welcomed, as the only way for them to be successful is to have the community fully involved.”

In announcing the grant allocations for 2009, Minister Gormley said, “Despite the economic slow down, it is important that we strive to maintain the sustained decrease we have seen in litter pollution levels across the country over the last ten years.  While there has been a small decrease in the level of grants allocated this year, this in no way reflects any lack of commitment on the part of Government to the ongoing war against litter.  The appearance of a community remains vital to both social and economic activity, and local authorities and community groups must strive to do more with less”.