People urged to avoid use of scramblers and quads on Cooley Mountains

Matthew McGreehan and Mick Larkin handing out leaflets in Jonesborough on Sunday last

Louth IFA’s Matthew McGreehan and Mick Larkin were distributing leaflets in Jonesborough recently aimed at stopping people from using scramblers and quads on the Cooley Mountains.

A campaign was recently launched by local residents to prevent the off road riding that is damaging the peninsula’s landscape. A stop mountain scramblers committee was formed, with Louth IFA chairman Matthew put in place to lead it.

Stop Mountain Scramblers is an alliance of farmers, walkers, conservationists and other interested parties who have come together as a result of the terrible and irreparable damage being done to livelihoods, the environment and the area’s heritage.

Matthew said: “The hills and mountains are such an appreciated area to local residents and tourists, and the scramblers and quads are just ruining the landscape and quality of the hills and mountains.

“We want to keep the area as well kept as we can and protect the sheep grazing them. We are appealing to those involved in the use of these scramblers and quads in the hills of North Louth and South Armagh to stop immediately. We also appeal to the parents of the younger people involved to get them to stop. It may appear to those involved that they are merely having some fun but what they are doing is dangerous, needless vandalism and illegal.”

Complaints of dumping at Toberona

There have been numerous complaints in recent weeks about the ongoing illegal dumping at Toberona.

According to local residents, the problem has been ongoing since before Christmas but is now “getting out of hand.”

Talk of the Town was sent the picture above, which shows a range of materials being dumped at the back of houses in the estate.

No one from the council has so far cleaned up the mess while residents are also calling for action to be taken to prevent further dumping near to their homes.

One in three cigarettes smoked in Dundalk is contraband

One in three cigarettes smoked in Dundalk is contraband, according to new figures released by Japan Tobacco International (JTI).

JTI are one of four big players in the Irish cigarette market, along with Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco and Philip Morris International.

Together they are set to fund a new “Codentify” system which will track cigarette packets from their production base to the end user in an effort to cut down on the amount of illegal tobacco smuggled into Ireland – something which costs the State an estimated €240m in lost revenue a year.

It will allow Customs officers armed with smart phone apps to immediately tell the difference between products destined to be legally sold on the Irish market and contraband.

Alec Ellis, a spokesman for JTI, said the system is already in use in Switzerland and the tobacco-producing companies supplying Ireland were anxious to introduce it here.

Mr Ellis identified Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, Tralee and Cork as areas where more than 30% of cigarettes were illegal – all well above the national average of around 13%.