Buncrana Tidy Towns Volunteers Suspend Street Cleaning Amid Road Sweeper Absence
Buncrana, Donegal – Volunteers with the Buncrana Tidy Towns group have ceased their regular street cleaning efforts, citing exhaustion adn the ongoing absence of a municipal road sweeper. The group, wich has been conducting near-daily litter picks since May, announced the suspension of activities following the conclusion of the Tidy towns competition judging period.
Donegal County Council withdrew the road sweeper service from Buncrana, the county’s second-largest town, in May, attributing the decision to budget constraints.While volunteers have diligently maintained cleanliness throughout the summer, the group states the intensive workload is unsustainable alongside personal and professional commitments. The suspension impacts the town’s appearance and places increased responsibility on residents and businesses to maintain public spaces.
“Rewarding as the work is, it’s also exhausting as we all also have jobs, families and busy lives,” the group stated in a notice. “We will no longer be maintaining the same level of work and will be stopping the street cleans for the foreseeable future.”
Buncrana Tidy Towns is now appealing to the public and local businesses to contribute to maintaining the town’s cleanliness,encouraging residents to “litter pick,weed and scrape the paths outside of your facades.” They are also urging citizens to contact local councillors to advocate for the restoration of the road sweeper service to its previous schedule of five days per week.
According to the group, Donegal County Council has been attempting to find an option solution, “working in the background to provide another service, but to no avail.”
The article was last modified on September 1st, 2025, by Staff Writer.
