Locals work together for a cleaner and greener Dodder

AFTER heavy winter flooding, the Southside’s beautiful River Dodder banks are once again covered in litter and waste.

Some of it had come from careless littering or from fly-tipping, but all of it was the target of concerned community members emerging from their burrows to assess the winter’s damage and do a bit of cleaning.

Members of Dodder Action and Tallaght Community Council took to the riverside on February 28 to clean and improve the riverbanks and trails after a stormy winter.

Volunteers collected dozens of bags of waste as well as furniture, bicycles, and one broken windsurfing board.

Work to improve this riverside amenity is done with the future proposed Dodder Greenway in mind. This hoped-for walking track and cycleway would connect the various partial trails to form one uninterrupted route from the Dodder’s mouth in the Docklands to its source in the Dublin Mountains. The greenway would provide not just a scenic and convenient path for suburban cyclists, but it would also act as an important biodiversity strip, immune to development and providing an important habitat for the various plant and animal species that call the river home.

The efforts of community groups like these have inspired local councils to take notice. Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has installed two solar-powered litter compacting bins at Dodder Park entrances at Dundrum Road in Milltown and Clonskeagh Road.

These new units hold up to five times as much waste as conventional bins, and send automatic notifications to the council when full. According to Cllr Ossian Smyth, the bins were installed in recognition of the community activism to clean up the Dodder.

To encourage and inspire young people to get out and enjoy their community river, Dodder Action, in partnership with South Dublin County Council, is sponsoring a secondary school art, poetry, and photography competition dubbed

‘The Dodder I Love, In All Her Seasons’.

The competition will be judged by leading local artists and winning entries will be on display at the Ballyroan Library in May.

The flagship annual event of Dodder Action is Dodder Day. Each spring, volunteers from various community groups gather along the entire length of the river for a massive coordinated clean-up operation.

With support from all three councils, volunteers have collected tonnes of litter and waste from the river and its banks. Returning volunteers agree that there is less litter with each successive clean-up, evidence that regular efforts are having a cumulative effect. This year’s Dodder Day will take place on April 18.

With so many dedicated community members pitching in to make the River Dodder a natural and cultural asset and the Dodder Greenway a reality, the future looks bright.

Cllr Smyth went on to say:

“Dodder Action has been a real success. In future we can look forward to a much cleaner, linear park with healthy biodiversity and an attractive route for people to cycle, walk, or jog along.

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Dodder Action Dublin is a community-led organisation whose aim is to maximise the potential of the River Dodder as an amenity for the people of Dublin. For news and announcements, including full details for The Dodder I Love, In All Her Seasons, or to get involved, visit their website (www.dodderactiondublin.com), follow them on Twitter (@DodderAction), and find them on Facebook.