New IBAL litter survey finds Louth is clean

THE latest survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter shows Drogheda and Dundalk are both Clean to European Norms, but in the bottom half of the ranking of 40 towns and cities, in 24th and 29th positions respectively.

Navan slipped 23 places to 34th spot and is ‘moderately littered’. Ennis, Roscommon and last year’s winner Kildare are vying for the title of Ireland’s cleanest town, to be announced by Minister Denis Naughten at midday today in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin*.

The Taisce report stated: ‘ A slight slip on the previous survey, but Drogheda is Clean to European Norms. There were four top ranking sites, with the remainder all moderately littered (i.e. no seriously littered sites).’

The judges went on to say that the presentation of West Street was much improved and deserving of the top litter grade.

However, the report noted that all of the approach and link roads were moderately littered.

‘With a little extra care and attention at the trolley bays in Lidl it could get the top litter grade – the previously littered shrubbery areas have been cleaned up. The Recycle Facility at Trinity Street Car Park had a wide variety of litter,’ it stated.

The report also noted that: ‘Dundalk just manages to retain ‘Clean’ status but it is some time since it has challenged for the number one spot in the rankings. Some of the top ranking sites surveyed included Dundalk Grammar School, The Recycle Facility and Clanbrassil Street – the southern end of Clanbrassil Street looked very well after extensive ‘works’ which have taken place, and there was a complete absence of litter in the area surveyed.

The judges said some of the moderately littered sites in Dundalk could easily get the top litter grade with a little extra care and attention.

These areas included Dundalk Train Station and Dundalk Institute of Technology.

An Taisce surveyed 25 towns and 15 city areas on behalf of IBAL. Of these, none was judged to be a litter blackspot, and only one, Galvone in Limerick, was designated as “seriously littered”. 88% of towns were deemed clean, a slight improvement on the previous year, with 40% adjudged to be cleaner than the European average. In contrast, city areas occupied 6 of the bottom 7 places in the rankings.

Waterford was again the country’s cleanest city, while Tallaght, previously a litter blackspot, climbed to 5th in the rankings and was deemed ‘Cleaner than European Norms’.