A campaign to encourage visitors to beauty spots to 'love this place leave no trace' has been launched by the local authority.
As part of this awareness and education programme, Cllr Frank Quinlan commissioned a local artist Bruna Williamson to handcraft a sign for Tramore beach.
Erected this afternoon (Friday), he hopes it will encourage people to keep the place clean.
Councillor Quinlan says the Tramore Tidy towns, Cleansing Committee and Tramore Ecogroup do great work, but individuals need to be responsible:
"It's just making people more aware, and more responsible and to leave less work for the council and the litter pickers and the tidy towns to do."
He says there shouldn't be a need for volunteer groups to have to pick up after other people, but unfortunately some people don't behave responsibly.
- The 7 principles of the campaign are:
- Plan ahead and prepare
- Be considerate of others
- Respect farm animals nad wildlife
- Travel and camp on durable ground
- Leave what you find
- Dispose of waste properly
- Minimise the effects of fire
Meanwhile, over 1k people have viewed a public meeting hosted by Michael Murphy, Local Area Rep- Comeragh Area Labour Party on 'Copper Coast Opportunities'. The meeting was streamed live on Facebook. Guests Cllr Ger Barron, Environmental Artist Sean Corcoran and Manager and Geologist of the UNESCO Geopark in the Copper Coast, Robbie Galvin expressed their views on the topic.
The purpose of this meeting was to discuss and focus on the many opportunities the Copper Coast presents. Those watching live could voice their opinions through the comment section during the meeting. Many opinions were expressed.
A summary of issues raised were general water quality/sewage systems, lifeguards, blue flag accreditations, road safety, refuse management, sea safety, parking, greenway extensions, improved infrastructure, coastal walkways, sustainable tourism and protection of the natural resources along the Copper Coast. This is not an exhaustive list and the full meeting can be viewed here:
Michael Murphy commented after the meeting to say, “The theme of our meeting, Opportunity is where our focus is at. The pandemic has recentred many people's attention to holistic lifestyles which now more than ever have nature and natural beauty at the heart of it. There was a large number of items raised which could be seen as ‘issues’ but instead the mind-set of many within the Copper Coast community is that these issues can be seen as opportunities. Examples of this are focusing on Water Quality. Address these issues and beaches like Bunmahon have a better chance of having the Blue Flag accreditation reinstated and in turn may be priorities for Lifeguards earlier in the season which has been an item of concern in the locality this summer. Cllr. Ger Barron and I are working collaboratively with those in the community and the local authority to tackle these items and to work towards bringing about positive actions and positive change’.
Murphy went on to say 'This meeting was just the start of it, these opportunities which were presented in the meeting are one's that have long term benefits for the area and in turn will require dedication in order to see results, we need to continue to have these conversations and keep the Copper Coast on the agenda for sustainable investment'.
