Parts of Dublin looked like it had been 'bombed' after people enjoyed the good weather in the city last weekend.
Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn is calling for more to be done about litter in the city after images shared widely online showed beauty spots destroyed by litter in recent days.
He told Newstalk Breakfast the bins that were provided were not enough, with just 10 people assigned to clean the streets.
"Basically, it looked like the city had been bombed actually, there was that much debris around the place," he said.
"The whole of the Canal at Portobello, and just beside Charlemont Street, was completely destroyed with drinking paraphernalia - cans, bottles, plastic take away food containers.
"The couple of [litter] barrels that Dublin City Council provided were just simply jambled.
"There was stuff in the water... it was absolutely appalling.
"That was just one scenario that was going on in the city that weekend, and indeed it's continued for quite some time over the last few days with the hot weather".
'10 people to clean the streets'
Cllr Flynn said Dublin City Council failing to deal with litter is nothing new.
"This has been ongoing for years since we privatised waste and since the CEO, Mr Owen Keegan, did massive cutbacks of the staff at waste management," he said.
"I checked with staff: they told me that there were 10 people on at the weekend to clean the streets.
"So you can imagine the kind of tasks that they're doing".
A person walking down the street in Dublin. Picture by: Lawrence Smith / Alamy Stock PhotoCllr Flynn said cleaning has to be doubled down on, citing the Spanish city of Barcelona as an example.
"The reality is that the streets of Dublin are filthy dirty, they're manky and they have been for months," he said.
"There's no proper cleaning of the streets; you get the ad-hoc odd street now and again.
"In Barcelona it's 24/7, you see trucks in and out of the streets every single moment of the day.
"The idea that you would see a street dirty is unacceptable, these things need to be cleaned immediately," he added.
Listen back here:
Dublin City Council
In a statement, Dublin City Council said: "Currently the Waste Management Service includes providing 10 No. litter receptacles (barrels) at this location and servicing the area each evening with the Suburban 7/7 crews, and up to 8.00pm on a Friday evening and up to 6.00pm on a Saturday and Sunday evening.
"Staff resources are assigned to this area at 5.45am each morning and Waste Management Services can confirm that the area is cleaned to a very high standard by 8.00am each day.
"In addition to the above, Waste Management Services propose to add a further six litter receptacles (barrels), and will assign additional staff and vehicle resources on a Friday evening to the Portabello/Charlemont area," it added.
