More than just an eyesore, the trash crisis highlights one of the problems faced by a country of 3.6 million people whose economy suddenly took off in the 1990s. And the messiness isn't confined to Ireland's urban centers. Recognizing the crisis, officials are drafting new strategies to manage the waste, ranging from upping fines for littering to planning the country's first trash incinerator. But they say the infrastructure can barely keep up with the Celtic Tiger economy. So we had an awful lot of distance to go in a very short time.
Statistics show there's still a way to go.
Yet the same poll found half of all Irish admit to littering. Only 20 percent said they'd pay higher taxes to protect the environment. The percentages are even lower for paper, cans and plastic. The Irish make up only 1 percent of the EU population, but account for 10 percent of the environment-related complaints filed at EU headquarters. On the one hand, that shows the public is aware of problems, said Liam Cashman, the Irish case-handler at the EU Commission in Brussels, Belgium.