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00:00Modern life is messy.
00:02It's really bad.
00:04And somebody's got to clean it up.
00:06If you have a weak stomach, it's not for you.
00:08Meet the people who get down and dirty to keep the country spick and span.
00:14Coming up...
00:15Oh my God.
00:16Look at the floors.
00:18That's urine, pee.
00:19You can't smell how bad it is.
00:22Are we doing this every night?
00:25It's the best job ever.
00:27The one thing you don't want to do a bad job here is lose this contract for the company.
00:34This is Cleaning Up Ireland.
00:40Owner of Made in Ireland, Tati, is used to cleaning up after people.
00:44But today, she's assessing an empty house that's more challenging than most.
00:49The owner of this home was an animal lover.
00:52And her menagerie really made its mark.
00:56So I'm here to do an assessment of the house.
00:59The owner of the house, she passed.
01:01And then now, the family going to sell the house.
01:03And then we going to clean it before they selling it.
01:08I expect in this house been very dirty.
01:11Because there is, I don't know how many cats.
01:13They don't give me, like, the numbers, but I know there's a lot of cats and dogs inside this house.
01:22Oh, my God.
01:25This is, it smells really bad.
01:28So you feel actually like going here, look.
01:32When I go there assessing it, that's the hairs.
01:35That's when I see, like, oh, my God.
01:38This is going to be, like, a challenge.
01:42Oh, actually, inside is clean.
01:44She was looking after the pets okay, isn't it?
01:47Oh, my God.
01:51Yeah, it's a big challenge, but it's enjoyable.
01:55Look at the cobwebs, look.
02:01You can see, this hasn't been cleaned for years.
02:05Oh, my God.
02:07Basically, this is what we're going to do when we clean.
02:10Because it's always stuck in here, look.
02:13Oh, my God, this is disgusting.
02:15Oh, I smell it.
02:17Oh, look at the flies in here, like, everywhere.
02:20They smell of it.
02:21It's disgusting.
02:22This is really bad.
02:24Everything in here smells bad.
02:26Everything in here smells bad.
02:27So in Brazil, I'm actually, like, a teacher.
02:29I'm graduated there.
02:31I decided after my graduation, I finished college and everything,
02:35I decided to move, just for a while,
02:38till, like, after, like, 19 years now, I'm here.
02:41Look at, look in here, look.
02:43I didn't know how to speak the language.
02:46The only thing then, actually, I could think about
02:49is just kind of, like, cleaning.
03:19And then probably here is where the cats was living.
03:21But this one is even worse.
03:23The evidence of so many cats and dogs calling this place home over the years is everywhere,
03:29from pet hair, rotten food, and that distinctive aroma of, well, just be glad this isn't smell-o-vision.
03:38With my knowledge, knowing how to clean, I am the one that's training all my cleaners,
03:44because I am the one that I want to make sure that I keep the good service,
03:50not cutting corners or anything.
03:52Look at the floors.
03:53This is all peace, because you can't smell how bad it is.
03:57When you do good things, good things come back to you.
04:00This is my goal in life.
04:02We're actually going to, like, on our knees, and we're going to scrub it.
04:07And we have to clean, like, top to bottom.
04:09So floors, the walls as well, because there is a lot of cobwebs even on the walls.
04:14It's not just in corners, and especially the floors.
04:17You know, it's going to make us wet to make sure that one is going to be cleaned properly.
04:23Like, only one day to do it.
04:26So we're going to be two teams in here.
04:29This is going to be very hard.
04:30It will be.
04:32It's not just a normal deep clean this time.
04:35As Tati takes in the scale of cleaning this home,
04:39in the Dublin mountains, it's an early start for Luke
04:42and his team of 21st-century window cleaners.
04:49Saturday rituals, sitting in all day, football on.
04:52How do you sport, Carl?
04:53I'm a super Leeds, man.
04:54Go away, will you?
04:55Leeds. Who are you?
04:56You know it. Manchester, you know it.
04:58Could have said this before, or you put the two of us in the van.
05:02Alan and Carl are their two excellent guys out on the road.
05:06They're the type of guys that you don't really hear from at all.
05:09There's never any problems.
05:10They just get their list of work. It's just done.
05:11Bad old day now to be out there on window cleaning today.
05:15Yeah, it's a big old place we're going to today, isn't it?
05:18Yeah, the killer shee hotel.
05:21That's one thing about this company.
05:22You have a lot of big clientele like this
05:24and they have full trust in you that you're going to go out
05:27and do a good job on it.
05:29This hotel is known for the weddings and stuff.
05:31They'd hold big events as well, wouldn't they?
05:34We just go, do the work, get a sign off, and then we're done.
06:06I was always looking for a business idea or a gap in something.
06:07If you don't want to go to the hotel, then that's the way to go.
06:10We'll start round the fire side.
06:12You over this side.
06:12Water manage as well.
06:14We'll say after an hour, come back,
06:15just check how far the tank has gone down.
06:17600 litres, that tank is it?
06:19600 litres, yeah.
06:21So, TheCleaningCompany.E is Ireland's first subscription-based
06:24window and gutter cleaning service.
06:26We do all sorts of clients from a one-bed apartment
06:28right up to big government contracts like Orson Oosteron.
06:32You'd think the rain would give these window cleaners a day off.
06:36Nope. No shortcuts in this business.
06:39The one thing, you don't want to do a bad job here
06:40and lose this contract for the company.
06:42This job possibly could be paying someone's wage for the month.
06:46The rain doesn't bother me.
06:47As long as it's not cold, it doesn't bother me at all.
06:50I'll never call it this job because I'm moving.
06:54Working in the rain poses lots of different challenges.
06:57Visibility and being actually able to see the windows,
06:59because they're going to be wet when you're there.
07:01So, a really wet window generally won't look as dirty
07:03because it's hard to see.
07:04And when you're leaving, it won't be in any way dry.
07:06So, you kind of have to give it an extra scuba, an extra rinse,
07:09and just kind of hope that that's been a good enough job.
07:13Because they're sitting on the inside of the window,
07:15I'm on the outside.
07:17They're probably sitting inside thinking,
07:18look at him standing at me eating my breakfast.
07:21Literally, you blank out.
07:22You can't see past the glass itself,
07:25because you're constantly just looking at the glass,
07:27looking at any blemishes on it.
07:29We have an employee of the month, every month.
07:31It takes into account all the different things.
07:33The volume of work they've done,
07:34the amount of recleans they've had or not had it.
07:37Sometimes they just won't have any at all.
07:38How they've got on that month.
07:39So, that's all kind of coupled together
07:40into choosing an employee of the month.
07:43Oh, I drowned it.
07:46No stopping us.
07:47If someone wins it a couple of months in a row,
07:49it's someone needs to take them off their throne.
07:51It pushes it a bit harder now for the employee of the month.
07:54It's mine, Carl, come on.
07:58As Carl and Alan haggle over the title,
08:01Dublin City Council's night shift crew is coming on duty.
08:08Are we doing this every night?
08:10This is the best job ever.
08:12So, for the next eight hours, we'll be monitoring the areas,
08:14making sure that all the litter bins are free
08:16and all the streets are cleaned to a grade A standard.
08:19So, that includes washing and removal of litter.
08:23Under the watchful eye of Supervisor Shawn Michael,
08:26the 50-strong night crew have until 5am
08:29to get the city centre back in ship shape.
08:33Tonight, John and Peter are tackling Dame Street first.
08:37Johnny's just surface cleanser first.
08:39Then I'll get a power gun out and we'll wash it all off again.
08:43That's what you have to do.
08:44He's just to get the top door off
08:45and then I'll wash all that black off with the other gun.
08:48Could take about five hours just to do this earlier.
08:51There's four or five wash vans out altogether.
08:54The staff on the night shift are some of the most dedicated.
08:58To come to work, you know, in one day and finish the following day,
09:03that's difficult on the body.
09:04It's difficult on family life.
09:07You can see now when Johnny's finished,
09:08because I'll get the power gun then and I'll wash all this now.
09:10And then he'll stop there and I'll do that surface clean there
09:13and then he'll wash it with the gun.
09:14So we take torrents of each.
09:16Not one fella just doing all the hard work.
09:21John Limbo, he's been 30 years with us.
09:23Peter's about 10 years with us.
09:24They're a really good crew.
09:26They've worked together for a long time.
09:28John is from the Congo and Peter's from Cromwell.
09:32He couldn't get two different kind of backgrounds,
09:36but yet they just seem to work.
09:38They really work well together.
09:40So I like the night shift because it's very, no busy traffic.
09:44I'm busy for people.
09:46Often on weekends, you know,
09:47weekends from Thursday, Friday, Saturday, people are very busy.
09:51I moved here in 1998.
09:53I remember I started in June 2000.
09:55They gave me six months proof time.
09:58So after six months, I was kept like a job.
10:02So now it's nearly 26, five years.
10:05They have to be ultra vigilant in certain areas.
10:08So health and safety on the night shift is not more important,
10:11but they're more vigilant with our health and safety.
10:16Temple Bar is a very busy place here in Dublin.
10:19So most of the tourists when they come here,
10:21they have to visit Temple Bar.
10:23One people drunk after that is more busy,
10:26bad people, good people.
10:27Everywhere in the world is the same thing.
10:29Even in my country, the Congo is the same.
10:31One people drunk here, people have no control, you know?
10:34Yeah, like this.
10:34After alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, people are drinking like this.
10:38People don't think the same, you know?
10:39The change is everywhere the same.
10:42So you're always conscious of that, your environment.
10:45Obviously, people are in, coming from different venues,
10:48different condition, whether they're sober or drunk.
10:52We have to be aware of that.
10:53All right, can you just wait your back there?
10:55The big sweeper should be in there in a minute, yeah.
10:58It's a shame for pulling up the channel and picking all them papers up.
11:04Tati has returned to the scene of the animal grime.
11:07And this time, she's got the Made in Ireland crew ready to gear up and get stuck in.
11:14All right, guys, the plan is going to be...
11:16Claudia, you start in the bathroom.
11:19Wellini, you stay down.
11:20And then Simone and Wagner, you're going to do the bedrooms.
11:24You start cleaning up the floors and trying to get rid of the smell.
11:28All the cobwebs, the curtain boards, doors, everywhere has to be touched.
11:33Everyone's good?
11:34Good.
11:35Let's get to work.
11:37We're going to, like, try to get, like, all the cobwebs first.
11:42Everything from the top goes on the floor.
11:46People make this mistake in thinking, oh, because there is no furnitures in the house.
11:51It would be easier to clean, but it's not because the house is all exposed.
11:55Deep cleaning is like all these curtain boards.
11:58There is no furniture to hide it.
12:00You actually have to pass your hand in every little corner of the house,
12:04because one exposed, you're going to see it.
12:07So everything has to be cleaned.
12:10So it's harder than the regular cleaning.
12:12Definitely it is.
12:13This is, like, another level.
12:15The team gets to work on one of their biggest challenges yet,
12:19and it turns out not all this house's former residents were house trained.
12:24So this is the cat pool.
12:26Well, it looks like it's a dog pool because it's massive.
12:29Well, this is old pool, cat's pool and dog's pool in here.
12:33And this has been a challenge.
12:37This extreme dirt for us is, like, it takes a lot of effort for us,
12:42because it's a lot of physical, you know, our body feels it.
12:46It takes us, like, even more effort, because we sweat and then we have to keep...
12:51It's like, like, a workout, so we don't need to go to the gym today.
12:54Let's put it that way.
12:56Still to come...
12:57They've either been got at by animals or just kicked by the general public cowboy.
13:03I'm here to announce the big employee of the month,
13:05and the winner of this month is...
13:07This room in here, the worst room that I've ever done in my life.
13:26Let's go!
13:31Window cleaners, Carl and Alan, really enjoy their work.
13:35It's just getting there that's the problem.
13:38That's one thing, the annoying thing is bloody traffic.
13:42Ah, stop.
13:43This morning, behind it, cement lorry.
13:46The thing crawling up the road the whole way.
13:49First windows I ever cleaned was on my dad's house.
13:51I was squeegeeing, so I was old school.
13:53I started out like that and thought if I could cover a wage of, at the time, like 10 euro
13:57an hour,
13:58if I could earn 10 euro an hour cleaning windows, then I'd be delighted with that.
14:00We used to work in retail as a system manager.
14:05I liked the job, but it was constantly stressful.
14:08You're bringing the workload home with you.
14:10Your last job of the day here, you totally switch off.
14:13That's it, you can kind of switch off at the end of the day and not think about it.
14:18It was a lovely day to clean with us.
14:20Yeah, with this.
14:23The water that we use is treble purified water, so everything is took out of it,
14:28so there's no nutrients or anything left in the water.
14:30This water basically eats away any dirt that's on any surface.
14:35So what you're doing first, you're scrubbing the window with the brush,
14:38and you're getting all this heavy, heavy grime and dirt off.
14:41Once you have the window done, you're then rinsing.
14:45So the rinse is actually the main part of a window clean.
14:48Once you get it scrubbed and then rinsed, the rinse will get everything that's left on the window off.
14:54It's not to say that I missed anything, there's always a few little bits left on it after you scrub
14:59it.
14:59So you always start from the top, work your way down, rinsing, and once this is drying up, it dries
15:05absolutely crystal clear.
15:07Luke's on his way to meet Carl and Alan, and one of them is going to be particularly pleased to
15:12see the boss.
15:14Like, Carl is very in, out, job done, quick, go.
15:18He does a really good job, but he just wants to go, go, go, go, go.
15:20He doesn't stop for lunch, he doesn't stop for anything.
15:23He just works, works, works, which is fantastic, because his plough should have worked.
15:28Whereas Alan is the opposite, he's a bit slower, a bit, he likes to chit chat, he likes to meet
15:32with the customers, he's good with the older demographic.
15:36So it was a difficult decision between these two lads in particular, and they're both different in how they operate.
15:42Brand new van, ready to go for the employee of the month, so fingers crossed, it's mine this month.
15:49Oh, I'm definitely in it to win it, I'm hoping it's me now that gets it.
15:54Seven months on the trot, hopefully we can make it, eh?
15:57You missed a bit, Carl.
16:00Well, I'm ready to get the keys off him anyways for the van, you know, and he might have a
16:04little trophy for me, you know, just to go with it.
16:07The decision's been difficult, I should have had the decision this morning, but I didn't.
16:10And I'm still kind of teasing it out in my head as to who will be the winner or who
16:14will be the better of them, because they're both brilliant.
16:23Lads, how are we? How's it going, Luke? Not too bad. How's it going on today?
16:27Great. Yeah. Here to announce the big employee of the month.
16:31So it was a tough decision, very tough decision, toughest one I've had in a while.
16:35And the winner is going to be in this nice bottle of bubbly, and also getting the joy of the
16:39new vans, getting the keys to the new van.
16:42And the winner of this month is...
16:47Alan.
16:49Well done, Alan. This is for you. Thank you very much.
16:52This is for you. Well done this month.
16:55All the lads clocked off early last Friday. I don't even know if it's pride. It's just this wave, just
16:59a good feeling that, you know, it's something good that I've done.
17:03And it's a good space.
17:04This is my cord.
17:05Yeah.
17:06It's the best one.
17:07Yeah.
17:08Can't win them all, all the time. The work has shown, and this has shown greatly as well, that Luke
17:14appreciates him.
17:15He wins it this month, he's not getting it next month. It's coming home.
17:18I feel a little bit bad for him. Not too much though, you know, because he had to get in
17:21seven or eight times. Give somebody else a chance.
17:25See you later, Carl. Bye-bye.
17:26As a happy Alan heads off in the new van, Tati and her team are about to get to grips
17:32with the most challenging room in this pet owner's former home.
17:35We just want to start the worst room in the house. This is the worst, the worst room. So cobwebs
17:43everywhere, black, everywhere. The worst room that I ever done in my life.
17:50I should have done this first, because everyone is so tired now. But I'm just kind of like, keep going
17:56guys, we can do it. And then we go home. So that's what it is now.
17:59And eventually, this house is beginning to feel more human.
18:05Ten hours working in here now. But we did it one day. Well done to the team. They've been amazing.
18:14They've been brilliant in here.
18:17Well, actually, the house is starting to look pleasant now. You know, like, it's already like you can see the
18:23difference. It's more like, you know, feeling like the energy in the house is just back to actually like clean.
18:39Well, I'm not even using any mask now. Look, amazing. All like fresh, new home. We're done. This is the
18:48worst now. I'm going to classify it like the worst.
18:51Because there is a long time I haven't been working like this with them. I help them here and, you
18:57know, small bits here to there, but not actually the whole day.
19:01Yeah, go home, have a shower and sleep. That's like the plan for the evening.
19:08Thank you so much. Thank you. Well done. Well done. Thank you for the hard work. See you next week.
19:16Tatty's team's toughest task is done. But the Dublin City Council night shift still have their work cut out for
19:23them.
19:24The challenges from an operational point of view, obviously, it's dark. We're not seeing, you're not seeing every hazard that's
19:29out there.
19:30So they have to be ultra vigilant in certain areas where they go and clean and how they clean.
19:35For Sean Michael, keeping the city clean has been a family affair.
19:40I started off in 1987 as a boy messenger, colloquially known as a gopher.
19:46Messenger by a nipper. So he was 16, almost 17. Dad was in the council before me.
19:52It was the recession. This was a way of keeping his son employed. I'm always grateful for that.
19:56He started this. So I'm always grateful for the fact that he put me into the council.
20:05So this is typical of what we find in the city centre. Vags left out by commercial premises for collection.
20:11They've avoided being got at by animals and ripped open for food waste or just kicked by the general public.
20:18Keep going, boy. Christy, can you come into the edge of Moore Street and get this waste for me?
20:22So what we do now is we get somebody, one of our crews in, and we get it cleaned up
20:27as quickly as possible.
20:29My role is to manage all aspects of that night shift.
20:34Thanks, lads. So this is a typical task that you come across as a waste manager and supervisor and inspector
20:41and even coordinators.
20:42If we see this type of waste, we contact the crews as quickly as possible and try and get it
20:46done quickly and safely.
20:49It is difficult at times. We've got the expertise. There's a lot of staff here in a long, long time.
20:54They're very professional at what they do, very safety conscious. It seems like a tankless job, but it's not.
21:04It might be rubbish to other people, but for us, it's our way of earning money.
21:09When I grew up, my father always said we were invisible, because we didn't wear it. There was no PPE.
21:14There was no yellow jackets when I joined. We were just taken as part of the landscape.
21:19We're not ignored anymore. When I was a kid, we were just taken for granted. We're not now.
21:24We're part of the fabric of Dublin City.
21:29It's over eight years, yeah. Take pride in our race. Living to see yourself part of the culture and all.
21:35That's why I'll probably clean her up, you know.
21:38I like to leave the city the way I would like to see it. So, yeah, there's a pride in
21:42it. I think most staff have that.
21:44I'm here in DCC a lifetime. It's hard not to take pride in what we do.
21:53So, this is another night shift wrapped up. So, the city's back to normal after the night shift events.
21:59All the staff now have gone home for a well-deserved rest.
22:06The majority of us is more than just a job. Who we are, part of what we do.
22:12My opinion is that there is only a moment in time.
22:25Next time.
22:27So, this is one of my pet hates of putting in the washing machines. So, what's happened is that the
22:31soles have separated, the glues have all broken down in the cleaning process.
22:35Some people like fever sounds. Hair dryer sounds a bit weird, but some people like it.
22:40Let's go for the hardcore because this one in the end is dirty.
22:45The last leg of Fred's Irish adventure heads to breathtaking West Cork and this time his daughter Andrea joins the
22:52ride.
22:53From surfing waves to meeting alpacas, it's a memorable send off.
22:56Tour de Fred Ireland Part 2 concludes Monday night at 9 on Virgin Media Play and Virgin Media One.
23:05See you.
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