A town is going to war after being invaded by an army of seagulls.
Thousands of flying scavengers have descended on Drogheda causing havoc on a daily basis.
Rubbish is being strewn everywhere, the streets are filthy from their droppings and residents have had food snatched out of their hands.
READ MORE: Rules on getting day off work during 'heatwave' as Met Eireann forecasts near 30C heat for Ireland
Now a town hall public meeting is being held to see how to deal with the seagull emergency.
Former Mayor Frank Godfrey said: “The seagull problem is going from bad to worse as the year goes on. This summer for some unknown reason there seems to be thousands of them.
“They are a nuisance and people are fed up with them. We need to find some humane ways to control or get rid of the seagulls.
“We all know they are noisy but they are picking rubbish out of bins and making the streets look filthy.
“Their droppings rain down on our citizens and are splattered all over our roads, footpaths and buildings.
“Wherever there is rubbish you will find these birds.
“Both our businesses and the ordinary people are suffering and fed up with them.”
Some traders have installed wild bird calls to try and scare the seagulls off but they just move to other nesting sites around the historic town.
The public meeting is being held in the Co Louth town’s D Hotel on Monday, June 26 at 7pm.
Mr Godfrey said: “We are expecting a big turnout, enough is enough.”
Seagulls are a protected species under the EU Birds Directive.
However the Minister for the Environment and Local Government has the power to allow nests and eggs to be destroyed when they are a threat to public health and safety.
A recent local government Urban Gull survey identified Drogheda and Balbriggan as two of the worst places in the country affected by seagulls.
Mr Godfrey added: “The seagulls seem to like Drogheda but Drogheda has had enough of them I can assure you. We need to take urgent action.”
READ NEXT:
- Met Éireann issues urgent weather warning for 23 counties as horrendous conditions replace heatwave
Further heatwave blast in early Met Éireann Ireland weather forecast for July and August
Join our new WhatsApp community! Click this link to receive breaking news and the latest headlines direct to your phone. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
