Litter issues in Dublin's inner city have been described as "unhygienic" by a Green Party Dublin city councillor who warned that a sense of "complacency" has set in as people "accept" that Dublin is a "dirty city".
Janet Horner told RTÉ’s News at One that "you can really smell Dublin during the dry weather".
Dublin City Council has pledged extra resources for street cleaning and waste collection.
In a statement, the council said there are 11 street washing vehicles in operation in the city on a weekly basis.
However, it said it intends to add a further three vehicles and wash crews over the coming weeks. Additional staff will also be rostered in the coming days, it said.
The council said it would "continue to monitor the effectiveness of its waste management service and will assign extra resources to target specific areas".
It added: "The City Council very much welcomes the summer influx of tourists to the city, as well as the recent fine weather and the increase in outdoor dining. However, this does present some challenges."
There had been much criticism in recent days about the condition and cleanliness of the capital's streets and footpaths.
The Green Party has called for an emergency meeting with the council's waste collections services.
"We do have an undeniable problem particularly in the inner city," Councillor Horner said.
"There’s litter everywhere and it really adds to a sense of neglect and a sense of just being unhygienic in the inner city at the moment.
"People have talked about their feet sticking to the footpaths as they are stepping off the bus, seeing seagulls ripping apart bags of day-old takeaways on busy shopping streets and stepping over dirty nappies as they are walking down residential streets."
Cllr Horner said that people are throwing every type of beverage can and takeaways all over the city streets on a Saturday night.
"We don’t have the level of respect for our streets and our city as we need to see."
She said the local authority is carrying out a lot of work at present such as an additional street cleaning service and more bin pick-ups, "but it’s not enough".
She said she is concerned that there is a level of complacency setting in "and that we have just started to accept that our city is a dirty city".
"We need and we deserve to have a city that is well maintained and well looked after," she added.
