Here is how Irish treat their rivers

Doc Farrell

Caught this guy throwing styrofoam into the Nanny river from the bottom of his garden. He lives in a new house worth easily half a million, with a beautiful garden of planted trees that run down to the river.

I took plenty of pictures and told him i was with the Environmental Protection Agency. I was wearing waders and had no fishing rod with me.

He explained that someone else had thrown the styrofoam packaging into the river and that the floods had left it on his bank and all he was doing was putting it back in.

I'm still steaming about this one because styrofoam takes decades to deteriorate according to this site:

http://san-clemente.org/sc/standard.aspx?pageid=453

there was no need for him to do it, he could have just binned the junk.

I probably won't do much because i believe him when he says it was already there.it will also cost me time, money and effort to do so. I also couldn't reach any styrofoam to take as evidence so the matter would most likely get thrown out of court or the criminal (which is what he is) would get away with a small fine.

But here's the big question that ruined my day: how do you enjoy a beautiful house, with a lawn that runs down to the river that brings so much pleasure and yet decide to use that river as a dump for garbage that literally takes decades to deteriorate and kills so many fish? Are you just so fcking ignorant and thick and ungrateful for what life has given you that doing something to remove some of the ugliness that humankind sh!ts all over nature just doesn't occur to you?

I won't start ranting about the worst aspects of Irish culture but as far as i'm concerned the time for educating about pollution, dangerous driving, street crime is long over. It's time to put away the carrot and take out the stick.

Irish people expect to get away with any minor crime with a tiny fine or a suspended sentence. It's the worst type of Gombeen Irishness that along with drunkeness makes us a stereotype for greed and pettymindedness around the world.

And now that we are technically bankrupt, according to Colum McCarthy of An Bord Snip, thanks to the few who upheld this philosophy of 'take what you can and fck everyone else' there will be no investment in the gardai or court system and you will see an explosion in 'petty' crimes like street violence and illegal dumping.

Look i'm no saint, i'm a 2nd hand car salesman from the northside, but even i have a few tinges of conscience now and again. After 15 years of good times things haven't improved much and in urban areas look even worse. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic but there's many places in dublin and cork and limerick i wouldn't even go near in daylight. Meanwhie i'm being screwed by charges from the banks, crippled by rates from the councils and kneecapped by hikes from the insurance companies.

And all i want to do is maybe fish in peace. So thanks for the styrofoam azzhole.
here's the pictures.

Dusty87

[QUOTE=Doc Farrell;6208945








But here's the big question that ruined my day: how do you enjoy a beautiful house, with a lawn that runs down to the river that brings so much pleasure and yet decide to use that river as a dump for garbage that literally takes decades to deteriorate and kills so many fish? Are you just so fcking ignorant and thick and ungrateful for what life has given you that doing something to remove some of the ugliness that humankind sh!ts all over nature just doesn't occur to you?
[/QUOTE]

IMO, people like that dont give a sh!t about anyone or anything bar themselves!

coolwings

Dusty87 wrote: »

IMO, people like that dont give a sh!t about anyone or anything bar themselves!

There will always be slobs, always have been, they are a percentage of the population. It's what you do when crossing paths with them that matters.
When somethickskin slob is dumping on your life and amenities, it's your job to bounce all his sh** back onto him. He will care when that happens.

Send the photos with a short written statement giving the location to the ERFB and the Gardai. After they have done or not done their thing, consider if the local paper might like to print them.

Dusty87

Thats what i mean, dump somethin on his lawn and what happens. If it happens to him its a different story.
Good idea about local paper coolwings. Without mentioning names like, but describe the area etc.

ironbluedun

why do we have soo many of these ignotant pigs in this country? what is wrong with us? is this type carry on what people have died for?

Morlar

I would go with reporting and to the local paper at the same time. I am not an enviornmentalist & hate the greens but I can't understand that mentality for the life of me. Disgraceful selfishness. People who pollute especially our rivers and countryside deserve a short sharp shock in court for it.

wgsten

He explained that someone else had thrown the styrofoam packaging into the river and that the floods had left it on his bank and all he was doing was putting it back in.

Not a chance. This guy is having you on. It looks to me from 'evidence 3' photograph that after he threw the styrofoam in, he's gone back up the bank to get some more. Furthermore, the styrofoam is still all in one piece and is perfectly clean, which would not be the case if it had already been through a flood and washed up on the bank. It would be filthy.

Also, it appears that he's had to go right up to the top of the bank to get another piece of styrofoam and i doubt very much that a flood would have reached that high. And he's arguing that every piece of styrofoam from the river all just happened to end up in his garden and nowhere else. Give me a break. Not a hope.

Finally, even if it had been washed up, which as i've said, i highly doubt, anyone with any bit of common decency would have picked it up and discarded of it in a responsible manner and would not have thrown it all back in the river.

My advice is pursue it and don't let him get away with it. You have photo evidence, use it. At the very least go to the EPA and at the very most, go to the papers as other posters have suggested. Like you, i also want to fish in peace and enjoy the lovely tranquil surroundings that Ireland has to offer, but with eejits like this, something has to be done.

wgsten

www.irishflyfisher.ie

Papillon!

people like this are a disgrace...cant even stand people throwing cigarette butts so i think this is WAY out of order

Zzippy

wgsten got it right, there's no way that washed down in a flood. Looks like he got a new tv and just fvcked the packaging in the river. Definitely report him to the council for littering, a statement from you and the photos should be enough evidence to get him in a bit of trouble.

SeaFields

Well done Detective Farrell.

As suggested by others report him. - perhaps the same letter and pics could be sent to the local fisheries board, Gardai and county council. Also ask for some feedback and let us know how it goes. I have spent many days on fishing club organised river clean ups and its good to see somebody actually caught in the act and the dumping is usually done in the dark of night.:mad:

stevenmu

It's a disgrace really, and I bet he grumbled and moaned about whoever threw the stuff in upstream, right before he threw it back in to wash downstream and become somebody else's problem. I'd suggest reporting it as well, even if there's not any evidence for a conviction or anything, it'd still let him know people are watching and maybe he'd think twice before doing it again.

On a related note, a friend of mine spotted a farmer washing out a silage tank in a local lake he called the gardaí and fishery board who came straight out and apparently are going to prosecute

Doc Farrell

Thanks for the feedback. I've decided to print out the photos along with a half dozen others that clearly identify the man and discuss it at the angling clubs agm next month. I want to find out who he is, what he does for a living and whether he has fields with access to the river that may be blocked off. I'm not a local but others will know who he is.

I think I can make this work to the advantage of the club without things turning legal, in which case usually only the solicitors win.

softly softly catchy monkey is the best approach.
either that or hang'em high! can never remember which....

thanks again for the imput.

pullandbang

Is that a "No Fishing" or a "No Trespass" or maybe a "No Dumping":rolleyes: sign at the edge of his garden?

Cecil Mor

Hey Doc,

Just curious if there has been any developments regarding this case? What tack did you take in the heaal of the hunt, I'm sure there'd be many here who'd be very interested in seeing how this played out. I certainly agree with all the above posters that you should have pursued this, esp. when you/your club has such evidence to hand.

Doc Farrell

how you doing,

you might not like this answer but I choose to do nothing about it. The reason being because I have 10 penalty points, two more and I'm off the road and pretty much out of business. What's the connection? Well, it's because stupidity is not the same as malicious intent.

I went to the Anglers agm and there was a dozen old boys there who have done a hell of a lot to clean up their river. I had the pictures in my pocket. But they were so happy to have had a good year, making many improvements and investing so much time and effort into stocking the river that I felt arrogant and self serving to walk in, having done nothing to help them previously, and stir up trouble.

Over the last four months I have been caught four times doing something illegal while driving, once being on the phone, once with no belt, driving around the airport at 70kph in a 60kph zone, driving in the port tunnel in the middle of the night at 80kph when the speed had been reduced to 50kph.

Each time I was guilty, but each time it was stupidity on my part and nothing malicious. Now I face having to drive extremely careful until next July when I lose a previous 2 points from 3 years ago and still having to be very careful for the next 3 years. I drive 10 different cars a day, from one garage to another, sometimes I forget to bring the trade plates with me, some cars have expired nct discs, broken lights, and yet if the law catches me doing so I am guilty and punished as such.

My nerves have taken a battering over this. So what has this got to do with water pollution? Well, as i mentioned in the original post, from the man's reaction I don't believe that he is a serial polluter and i do believe that he was just throwing junk back in that had floated onto his bank. This is my belief based on his reaction to my intervention.

So, knowing what it's like to get nabbed and punished repeatedly for being stupid but with no malicious intent involved I decided to give the man a break. And instead of getting on my high horse and becoming pompous and self-grandizing about it I think its better to instead think about doing a little each year over a long time to improve the waters rather than look for someone who's not particulary guilty of much, other than arrogant stupidity, to attack.

and to drive a little less dumber & dumbest.

there are plenty more battles out there to be fought, on many different subjects, of which i'm fighting my share. so on this one i'm giving the guy what the Law, the banks, the taxman, the insurance industry, the council and the landlord haven't given me this year, a break.

tight lines, d.

Ding Dong

I would like to just say, having read many posts, but posted few, that your last reply Doc is one best I have read in a long time due to reason and common sense. Its very easy to cast demons upon the person who Doc already subscribed in his first mail as been probably innocent. Yes he was stupid, but not malicious. We have many fights on many fronts in angling, but perhaps this is simply a lad who lives near the river but doesnt respect the implications of his actions. There are bigger battles out there and yes, its not helped by this individual, but I reckon Doc as an enforcer on the water comes across worse than this so lets be subjective in our responses. Im just glad the guy didnt turn out to be foreign..... the thread would take a whole new slant!

Cecil Mor

Yes he was stupid, but not malicious. We have many fights on many fronts in angling, but perhaps this is simply a lad who lives near the river but doesnt respect the implications of his actions.

Wither the person in question was carrying out this act in innocence or maliciously does not in any way lessen the effects of his actions.
Only by ensuring that such filthy selfish self serving fu*kers are caught, punished and highlighted in local media will the message sink in.

When those that care nothing about how their selfish actions affect our environments are forced to fear that there might be a cost in the form of fines & been shamed publicly will they think twice of doing it.

Those that carry out such actions in ignorance may then learn of the harmful effects of their actions or fear the possibility of been caught themselves and stop. But will only do so by being made aware of others getting caught in the first place.

Irregardless, I don't believe that anyone carrying out such an act these days is doing so in ignorance. Besides, ignorance is never an excuse!

There may be bigger battles out there but where do you start??? I'd have started here. If evidence this good was available in so many of these cases, and was used effectively, this would be much less of a problem.

Very least I'd have done would've been to laminate the pictures and post them on the bridge/walkway or path where he was observed carrying out his dumping.
I'd be doing backflips if I'd managed to get such pics of the dirty fu*kers that dump and flytip on the rivers/shoreline near where I live.

Such actions is simply unacceptable!!!

ironbluedun

well said cecil mor. ignorance is no excuse in law

coolwings

We have all come across a slob. And every slob I ever called out has said the same thing when I said I'd had enough:
"Oh my !! If I had known you were bothered I'd have never done it .... You're so intolerent and picky! "
These people specialise in making others feel bad at standing up for not wanting to live in their messy waste.
Well you know what? We are perfectly entitled to stick up and object strenuously to people who litter, dump, and pollute our waters for their personal laziness or stingyness.

Whether or not it was honestly acknowledged:
The real reason that stuff was being dumped .... bin charges.

Report them all every chance you get. They have the problem, not us.

ironbluedun

cant agree more.

Doc Farrell

i agree with coolwings as usual. maybe i should have reported it. if someone else had asked my advice i would have said of course! but it was my decision in the end.
i was the one who took two black bags of rubbish out of the river this summer. i was the one who approached him and gave out to him. i still intend to fish that same stretch. i still have the pictures. there won't be a second chance for him. i hope to fish that bank for the next 40 years, god willing.
it was myself and coolwings who turned out over the summer to help fix a weir on the Dodder after someone here posted about it. so you will have to give me the benefit of the doubt and believe that i'm not just some kind of keyboard warrior. i could have posted pictures that showed his face but i chose not to because i have to take responsibilty for my actions. this is a lifetime project for me and you will have to just respect my choice on this particular occasion.
i'm sorry if some readers feel let down. i don't really have anything left to say except i still have the pictures printed out, i'll be there until 2050 and if he does it again i won't be so useless.
i hope you'll let this thread disappear now, my mistake may have been listening to my ego and creating the thread in the first place if i wasn't going to do anything about it.
i have read the other posts carefully and at least its good to know that so many irishmen get angry about the trashing and thieving of their inheritance.

Ingenuist

+1
How would that d!ckhead like if someone went in and pssed all over his tidy little lawn whilst him and his wife looked on in anger.

I personally DESPISE all who carry on like this and there needs to be something done about lazy content little cnuts like this,

Good man for stopping him in his tracks, if we all took action like you our time spent fishing and irelands general river systemm would improve greatly.