Laois councillor wants bins on walking routes especially for bags of dog poo

A Laois councillor is asking for logic from Laois County Council to take care of bags full of dog waste in Portlaoise.

Cllr Tommy Mulligan says "the next logical step" to providing free plastic dog poo bags in dispensers, it to provide enough bins to take them.

He explained his reasoning, when tabling a motion to the September meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District.

Asking for the bins, he was informed in detail about all the free bag dispensers, and the council's advice to dog walkers to either use any public bin, or take their full bags home to their own bins.

"I'm a bit disappointed. I'm a big fan of Slí na Sláinte walks around the town. The walking routes bring a lot of people outside Portlaoise. Pets nowadays are part of the family and these routes are used to walk them.

"I fully understand that you have bags but there are no special bins. It would be a good way of promoting good practice. We have the routes, the bags and the next logical step would be bins," Cllr Mulligan said.

Cllr Paddy Buggy seconded the motion.

"There is a move to segregate waste into organic and general waste. You have a bag with foul in it, you could put it into a special bin rather than mix it with general waste," he suggests.

"I feel there are not enough public bins. Do we need extra bins but what Paddy says might be a better idea," Cllr Mulligan agreed. 

"In August you were trying to promote responsible dog ownership. Logically this would be a good next step," he added.

Cllr John Joe Fennelly shared the negative experience of the Mutt Mitt dispensers and of public bins, in Abbeyleix, the recent title holder of Ireland's Tidiest Town.

"We had the bins. We had to take them out. People were filling them with their domestic rubbish. When it came to empty them we had a major problem. The dog bag dispensers were just being filled with bags of dog poo. It all needs some class of a solution but I don't know what," Cllr Fennelly said.

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Laois County Council said that their bag dispensers are “kindly” refilled by Tidy Towns and residents groups.

Area engineer Wes Wilkinson told Cllr Mulligan that he will meet him to see if the Slí na Sláinte routes in Portlaoise need extra litter bins.