The rubbish was spotted at Macken Cross, between Derrylin and Bellanaleck, late last week. It contained shoes, cardboard boxes, tyres, empty bottles, black bags of household waste, and even an ironing board. 

Cllr Barry Doherty, who alerted Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to the issue who have since cleaned it up, said dumping and “fly tipping” was an ongoing problem across the county, and in nearby border areas. 

“To be honest, you hear of this happening every couple of months, at the usual spots,” he said, adding just on the border in Cavan he had noticed the problem to be particularly bad. We’re talking a whole lot at the minute about the boardwalk, but you see if you go up the other side of Cuilcagh, and you walk up the back of the mountain from the other side of the boardwalk, with all the little streams and so on, the last time I was up there were fridges and mattresses and everything.”

Cllr Doherty added other areas where dumping was prevalent included Doon Mountain near Derrylin, and such actions hit everyone in the pocket. 

“The money people are paying into their rates for all the essential services are now having to be diverted because someone couldn’t be bothered bringing their stuff to the dump.” 

“The simple reason people are doing it is because they care not one jot about the environment and all their neighbours, and I would go so far as to say they don’t even care about themselves if they do that.”

A spokesman for the Council said the rubbish had been removed by the end of last Tuesday. 

“The waste will be carefully inspected in an attempt to identify the source of the detritus,” they said. “This activity as well as being illegal and harmful to the environment, requires attention that impacts on Council resources that could be deployed on other activities.”