EDITORIAL: Some people still do not have access to basic services most of us take for granted

With all the cost-of-living measures, reductions in energy prices and tax changes, it is easy to forget that there are still many families struggling to meet even their basic needs.

These measures, while welcome, only addressed the consequences of the global crisis but never the root causes of poverty.

So, even with those efforts, some people are still having to make hard decisions at home.

This week, at the Thurles-Templemore Municipal District Council, councillors discussed the blight of dumping in the county.

They quite rightly condemned the practice of dumping household waste in public areas.

But councillor Peggy Ryan pointed out that many families don’t have another choice.

She said some people may accumulate rubbish when they cannot afford to dispose of it.

Cllr Ryan asked the council to introduce initiatives like those in Limerick to help people who are struggling with waste disposal.

And she is right because, at the end of the day, these people and families are never going to come forward on their own.

Waste disposal services are private, and in any industry where there is no public alternative, vulnerable people get left behind.

There is a lot of talk in the realm of environmentalism about helping farmers and businesses so why not families?

A wheelie bin for some is a luxury.

A second issue may be the housing stock we do have.

Many small-town apartment blocks do not always have the space for waste storage and without room for a wheelie bin, services will not collect.

There is to be a register of households not signed up to a collection service, but not a register of properties without adequate waste disposal storage facilities.

Town bylaws may require a landlord to provide them but often come with the caveat “where possible”.

That is a kindness extended to landlords but not their tenants.

The representative from Tipperary County Council at the meeting called dumping a “multifaceted problem”.

That is true, but one of those facets is poverty, and another is access to services.

If we focused on prevention, how much money would we save trying to keep the county clean?