Students clean up Dodder despite weather

DRIMNAGH Castle student, Joe McGovern (16) along with his 4th year colleagues cleaned up the River Dodder in Bushy Park last Friday.

“We cleaned up near the river, the waterfall, under the bridges,” said Joe who comes from Crumlin. “We were cleaning up for five hours.

We collected mattress covers, curtains, hubcaps, bags of dog-poo, a lot of glass, a lot of vapes and a lot of beer cans,” said Joe.

While the weather was inclement, this did not deter him and his peers.

“We got on with it,” he said. The entire 4th year of 42 pupils came out to help.

Joe has been working on this project as part of his school studies since last October with his fellow 4th Year students, Odai Dulqamoni, Alex Jeffers and Paul Naughton who are in his group.

The name of their project group is clear water revival. Fergal Kelleher, a teacher in Drimnagh Castle helps out with the 4th year projects, said Joe.

“YA [Youth Environmental Advocates] is a big competition, over 500 schools across the country are taking part, involving individual projects,” he said.

Their project is guided by the sustainable development goals (SDG’s), which are set by the UN (United Nations) and are very broad, he said.

Joe’s grandad, Des McGovern passed away a year ago, and would have brought him to Bushy park.

“So the river clean is a memorial to my grandad too,” said Joe.

Clear water revival also wish to raise awareness of the condition of the river and why it must be cleaned.

ECO UNESCO, Ireland’s Environmental Education and Youth Organisation that works to conserve the environment and empower young people, helped Joe with organisation for his project while Dublin city Council also provided assistance.

Naturally while Joe and his colleagues got permission from his school to carry out the river clean on Friday with teachers coming in and out during the day, their main mentors were people from ECO UNESCO, he said.

Joe and his colleagues also hope to have a smaller clean-up on February 24.

Overall he said the feedback that he and colleagues received from the public regarding their project was positive.

However, as an illustration of why the river should be cleaned up two members of the public related their negative experiences to the group.

“One woman told us that her dog stepped on glass and that this is costing her €1,000 in [vetinary] bills.

“Another woman whose dog fell on glass, she told us that the dog had to be put down,” said Joe.

Also members of the public informed him and his colleagues of examples of anti-social behaviour in the park.

While the river clean-up is the main part of his project he is also making a model of the park, which has water running through it, and which shows the effects of debris and how it can clog up the river.

“I have always had an interest in the environment and I hope to become an environmental scientist,” said Joe.