Probably not – you won’t see the litter till you arrive but it will certainly affect repeat visits to Ireland.

In any case, if the black spots have been identified in January isn’t time for enforcement and a clean up?

Litter fines need to be issued and the fines need to be higher. With waste charges increasing you can see more and more fly tipping and general dumping by householders in the city and the countryside. But why are we giving out about the local authority not cleaning up, why are we not focusing on the people who caused the dumping in the first place?

The Gathering yes…..’ There can be only one’ ….

And of course they’ll be encouraging the tidy towns people to clean up the mess for free.

There’s an old saying, “people wont dirty their own doorsteps” and it’s especially true of the litter problem. Most people wouldn’t appreciate litter being dumped in their gardens or in front of their houses, so why do it to others? Is it really that hard to hold onto your litter until you get to a bin or get home?

How much is Jim Miley (former general secretary for FG) being paid to run The Gathering? Anyone know? Was awarded the contract in “open competition”.

I have to say that on my last visit home in early 2011 the amount of dog crap on the streets of Dun Laoghaire and Sandycove was a disgrace..

No but the price of a plane ticket will effect it

Most of the people the gathering is aimed at, already know that Ireland is and always will be a litter black spot. I think the sight of all the closed and barred up shops and factories will have a bigger effect.

The grabbing. I’m not taking anyone home to be ripped off.

You don’t have a fifth option: is the gathering a load of rubbish made up to deflect from a government running a nation over a cliff and into a state of permanent austerity?

The next gathering will be our children on Oz. Micheal Noonan thinks they are on holidays. Life with FG and Labour so bad the litter or tumbleweed doesn’t matter.

This gathering shit is a huge load of waffle, like people give a toss about it

dog owners would need to clean up the dog shite around d4 london bridge aviva area …and its not just little dog shite its big ole fat dog shite!!!

why are we still talking about the gathering when we all know its just a government scam to screw tourists???? I think its disgraceful promoting government scams on here.

The gathering what a scam.

Yes it will , especially around the myriad of ghost estates we have blighting our country , on the plus side the ghost estates will become a new tourist attraction , the tourists could then be duped into paying to walk around them with a tour guide.

Litter is among the Irish people’s worst traits.

I run a community website and receive a lot of feedback about litter, such as “I find the abundance of litter in Ireland alarming and disgusting. It would be good to get people thinking more about it and acting!”

Anyone who is honest knows that Ireland is absolutely FILTHY. (Well, the Republic that is – the protestant ethic in N.Ireland means they respect their bit of land better. How’s that for patriotism.)

Just look at our roadside verges and hedges – like driftnets for silage wrap and crisp wrappers.

The people of Ireland have to put up with rubbish and broken glass never mind tourists.

The Gathering, the brainchild of an idle elite to make themselves feel better, where the few get to rip off the many, I’m embarrassed by the whole thing, I’d rather the government put LSD in our water system, at least we’d get a buzz out of bring brainless, happy-clappy sheep that way.

Can someone please explain what is meant by “The Gathering”?
The title confuses me.

When I first arrived in Dublin 10 years ago I was shocked at the litter problem on the streets of pretty much all areas of the city. You’d see people drop litter in the street without giving it a second thought. That certainly did give me a poor initial impression.

Things have changed ver considerably since then and it is no longer normal to see this sort of thing. We’ve come a long way in this respect over the last 10 years.

Why are poorer areas usually more dirty? Same amount of bins.

Is that photograph real? It looks massively contrived and heavily non-representational.

it’s far from the litter that could ruin ireland gathering!! cop on!!

Most areas of the country take care of their environment. The bad areas are no doubt made worse not only by deprivation but by the fact that the inhabitants gave up hope and caring long ago. Yes, it is disgraceful but not surprising. Ireland is becoming a two-tier society due to crass government fiscal policies and bailing out the banks thanks to the EU who are now our lords and masters.

I couldn’t care less about ‘the Gathering’, but I live in North Inner-City Dublin and the litter situation is appalling – and in my view – getting worse. At least once a day I see a new fly-tipped refuse sack in the area around my house, the council (or is it Greyhound?) apply stickers to them marking them for inspection but one of these marked bags has been on the corner of my street for close to three weeks. There are also lanes and other out of the way areas where rubbish appears to have been mounting for months. I’m not sure who isn’t doing their job but I think that the spiraling cost of waste collection is certainly a factor.

It saddens me to say so but Ireland does have a real problem with litter and especially with dog crap. Almost anywhere you go, be it in cities, towns or country you only have to look down to see all sorts of litter, bottles, cans, wrappers, fast food containers, bits of old cars and kitchen goods you name it but the worst thing is the dog crap. Why can’t the owners pick it up after their animals have dumped and dispose of it properly. I also noticed a lot of dogs roaming freely around the streets so i’m guessing their owners are not too bothered if they do crap all over their neighbourhood streets? Third world mentality! We went to a ‘beauty spot’ in Co. Wicklow only to find a bunch of travellers camped in the car park, the mess was unbelievable, it looked like the aftermath of tornado, when we asked a local about it, he informed us they had been there for months and that it was best to stay away from the place as they didn’t like strangers? So much for tourism! Another area which was shocking was some of the beaches, we went to some well known beaches and the amount of rubbish strewn around them was horrendous. Why can’t people take their rubbish home or put it in the bins which in most cases were provided. That said it’s not all down to filthy buggers who litter the place, we saw a lot of bins and skips overflowing with rubbish because they simply had not been emptied by the local council or waste disposal company, that’s something that needs to be improved! As for the Gathering, I looked at the website, need I say more!