The quiet heroes of Tullamore streets

When most of us are just waking up, or still lost in sleep, the outdoor staff of Offaly County Council are already hard at work, cleaning up the litter we so often discard without a second thought.

One of these unsung heroes is Loughlin Sweeney. It's 6:30am on a quiet Saturday morning, and he's already out on High Street, picking up rubbish.

"You would find all sorts of things," Loughlin says. "There was blood on the street this morning, whatever happened last night. But some of the things I find I wouldn't like to say."

His shift starts at 6am and finishes at 1pm. The morning we meet, the weather is mild, but Loughlin remembers recent days when the heat was stifling. "It was like being in a sauna," he says.

A recent IBAL report gave Tullamore a boost, showing the town had climbed two places to number 7 out of 40 towns in a national litter survey.

Councillor Shane Murray, chair of the Tullamore Tidy Towns committee, welcomed the result and praised the council’s outdoor crew. "We couldn't do it without them," he said.

So maybe tomorrow morning, when you're just starting your day, spare a thought for those who've already been out there for hours, quietly keeping our towns clean.

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