Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A PEST CONTROL expert has warned that rat sightings and infestations are “something we’d better get used to” in Dublin after a spike of reports of rodent problems in recent days.
Co-Founder and Director of the Irish Pest Control Association Brendan Ryan said there were a number of factors contributing to the problem, including poor waste management and illegal dumping.
A call to Joe Duffy from a woman in Phibsboro in north Dublin sparked fresh headlines about the issue last week.
Marion Kelly told the host of RTÉ’s Liveline that she had been catching rats in her back garden for several months, and had trapped 12 in just one day last week.
“It put the shivers down my back,” she said.
Rat populations
On the other side of the city, there were reports of an increase in rat sightings in the Kilcronin Court estate in Clondalkin back in April – with a housing agency again linking the problem to illegal dumping.
Similar problems were reported by residents of Raheen Park in nearby Ballyfermot earlier this month.
“It’s becoming a very common story in the media,” Ryan said.
“I think each case is going to have little differentials, but there are always common trends.
Poor waste management is a factor – and illegal dumping is endemic throughout the country.
Construction works also have an effect on rat populations, he said. A number of Dublin businesses and homes were infested with rats disturbed by Luas Cross City construction works last summer, for instance.
The businesses affected were in the Dublin 2 area – while households in both Cabra and Phibsboro were also visited by displaced rats.
“As soon as you break ground you’re going to have rats running for cover,” Ryan said.
So as long as we have a proliferation of uncollected waste and fly-tipping and illegal dumping and an economy on the rise – without risk mitigation, this story is going to be one of many.
Infestations
TD for Dublin South West Sean Crowe said there had been an increase in problems with rats in his constituency recently, and that the HSE was experiencing delays in its response times.
There’s up to a four-week delay in dealing with outbreaks in some areas, the Sinn Féin deputy said.
We know that a rat infestation previously plagued a housing estate in Clondalkin earlier this year and there are similar reports now coming from Ballyfermot, where massive rodents are swarming the area.
The increase in vermin visibility may be down to favourable weather conditions, Crowe said “but is undeniably linked to the amount of illegal waste being dumped right across Dublin”.
The Health Service Executive Pest Control Service treats rat infestations in Dublin – dealing with almost 2,000 complaints in the first six months of this year.
“This service is provided within limited resources and all complaints received are assessed and prioritised accordingly,” a HSE spokesperson said, in an emailed statement.
The statement also pointed out that the legal responsibility for preventing and eradicating rodent infestations lies with occupiers and owners of properties, and that pest control services are available from private companies.
Responding to last summer’s reports about rats displaced by the Cross City works, a Luas spokesperson pointed out that any home or business affected by rodent issues triggered by the construction could avail of a free pest control service.
The main infrastructure stage of the project began in spring of last year, and will continue until late 2017.
2,308 complaints were treated by the HSE in Dublin in the first six months of 2015. The corresponding figure for 2016 was 1,947.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Had cause to drive through Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun yesterday afternoon.
Saw one of the locals with an airport baggage trolley packed to the hilt with rubbish including a carpet and matress.
For a brief moment I entertained the thought that he was taking it to a local bring center but no, into an area of open ground alongside the housing estate he had emerged from and tipped the whole lot out.
Shamless and in broad daylight.
My heart sank.
What hope is there when you have so many people like this.
Privatised bin collection. Hell of an idea.
Paying for your bin collection…what an awful idea, sure won’t someone else do it? https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dy32PWF-zxqs&ved=0ahUKEwiUi87QzOjOAhWFKMAKHdVICEMQwqsBCEgwCw&usg=AFQjCNFSDE5WplwwbYGKtx6-5s9TsBcpzA
If only there was a tax that you pay oin your home that would cover the cost of bin services ? The property tax should have been introduced years ago and water, bins and the cost of broadband set up should have been taken out of it.
Spot on, can someone explain why I pay property tax to fund DCC and they then give the cash-cow of bin collection to their mates in the private sector ? Only in Ireland !
Some Irish people are just plain filthy.
A hell of a lot of people are filthy. Not just some Irish people.
Most non-Irish do not reside in Ireland.
Welcome back Leo. Extended holiday after the marching season?
No Tweed, he had to go back up yonder for the funeral of the brigadier chap
Plenty of them on the Liffey Boardwalk.
Plenty going into the dail everyday! Actually I think they are on their 4 months holiday!
We should be well used to seeing rats on TV most of them in the Kildare St area and surrounding hosteleries .
Only with two legs though
Think of what could be done with all those billions, the government don’t want from apple.
Sure, we’ll raise the price for bin collection. People have no choice, they have to pay it.
Any housing adjoining farms, building sites, rivers & ditches will always have rats for company. Harvest time, heavy rainfall, excavations will displace them to new locations, as will natural breeding population growth.
Keep a terrier or two, close off hide holes, & food sources.
If you feed birds, do so at height, off the ground, & clear scattering so.
Place bait boxes securely in boiler houses, garden sheds, etc. , but be sure pets cannot get at them.
Have fun with the dog hunting them out.
Another contributing issue is the city drain system, lots of which is blocked or partially blocked with grass & leaves, giving ideal accommodation & breeding cover. DCC is particularly bad on drain clearance, as all the park, verge & median mowers do not gather the cuttings, & are allowed to wash into drains. Leaves also accumulate for months. Street bins are being removed wholesale.
If no one bothers, then the problem will persist & worsen.
Get a cat. Best pest control we’ve had in years
some of these rats are as big as cats
The thing is. Even my cat being one of the smaller types. He stands up to a 10x bigger dog like it was a rag doll. Cats are savage. Especially when you get a pair. Oh man. Rats be growing wings. You gonna have a bat problem then :D
Yes and they kill all the small birds also.
actually, research found out that its easier for a cat to get a rodent for lunch/dinner/breakfast, cos they wont be bothered climbing trees if there is plenty food around on the ground.. and even if, they not gonna eat all the birds, that is physically impossible, there is more birds than humans.. they would first kill em off :D :D
I live three doors up from the Luas works in Phibsboro. I have two cats. At the height of it, they were killing between 3 – 5 rats a day.
Even if your cat doesn’t hunt, the smell of a cat will keep rats out of your house.
if you have a back garden but don’t want a pet cat check out these guy’s get a wild cat it will keep those rats away
http://feralcatsireland.org/Feral_Cats/National_Feral_Cat_Awareness_Week.html
So people who pay bin charges and live in cleanliness are responsible for rats now. You couldn’t make this up.!!! HSE says it’s our responsibility to clean up after rubbish dumpers and Luas works. They have a limited budget. Wtf do they think we have?? Open ended wallets to pay for everybody and them shitting on us?.
It’s not even funny. We had a skip for works in our premises. Guess what. I couldn’t even start filling it up it was half full overnight! Guess what. We couldn’t take it out, we were told by council it’s our responsibility now. Even tho there is cctv of the rodents dumping into it! F free loaders.
Tax the rats Enda….
The rat population will increase dramatically in the next few weeks when Leinster house starts back up
Simple solution: CATS. Adopt a bunch, you will never have a issue with rodents again. There’s couple nice people taking care of feral and kittens even in D7.
Fast food outlets should be taxed to pay for rodent control.
Harmless little fellas minding their own business.
The rats are moving to Dublin to escape Eamon Ryan’s wind turbine noise.
Yesterday it was giant Jellyfish prowling our waters, today it’s man eating Rats… I’m afraid, real afraid.
Not Dublin but relevant, I was walking thought Stradbally this morning and a lot of bread fell of delivery vans bread tray and he just left it there. Tonnes of bread lying in the middle of the pavement. Just drove off and left it. Everyone is at it because we are all becoming lazy and irresponsible.
” Why you dirty rat”"
Ever drive through shancastle and greenfort the same low life’s in this estate just throw there rubbish into the field and if they don’t have the matches to set it on fire they leave it to the birds and rats and then wait on the baby sitting service of the council to come clean it up. Animals
Aaah, de poor ickle wats!
Looks like the privatizing of refuse collection has been a success, it will create a lot more jobs …
“legal responsibility for preventing and eradicating rodent infestations lies with occupiers and owners of properties”
That’s all well and good except that’s expecting landlords to actually pay money toward the flats they’re renting out. So instead, it’s tenants who are footing the bill, tenants who are paying 800+ a month for rat infested flats with barely enough room to turn around in.
If we had any sort of forward thinking government they would tax unnecessary packaging at source and institute a refundable levy on recyclable packaging such as aluminimum, plastics ect.
The only way to sort out our massive litter problem is to monetize waste, people care more about the money in their pockets than litter on the ground.
12 cent levy on all food/drink containers, 10 cents refundable with the other 2 cents ring fenced for public waste bins and sorting out litter/dumping black spots.
That is because people waste food, that is why?
have your say