Killarney in 12th spot on IBAL rankings

KILLARNEY came 12th in the overall Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) rankings for 2016. Described in the report as ‘Clean to European Norms’, the town was praised for being in tip-top shape – an achievement deemed all the more significant given the high volume of visitors it receives.

Killarney was in joint ninth place with Roscommon after the first round rankings in September but eventually finished six places below its 2015 position. However, Conor Horgan of IBAL said the drop does not imply a decline in standards as a ‘Top 15’ ranking is a major achievement.

“A town like Killarney faces pressures above and beyond most towns in Ireland given the inflow of tourists and visitors. We’re always keen to see how a town like Killarney does and finishing in the Top 15 is a credit to the authorities and community groups involved,” said Mr Horgan.

“It’s a slight fall on last year but we don’t pay a whole lot of attention to placings and whether you finished sixth or 16th, a placing in the top half of the table means margins between best and worst are tiny. Killarney is one of the first towns we look out for when the reports are submitted by An Taisce.”

Meanwhile, Tralee finished 17th last time out in the rankings but was omitted on this occasion as IBAL is pursuing a policy ‘of rotation’ with the aim of including more towns. When asked about Tralee’s return to the rankings, Mr Horgan said: “It’s definitely going to come back in because we have a bit of a problem in that we want to cover more towns, but we appreciate Tralee is an important one. All I can say is that I expect Tralee to be back alongside Killarney again next year.”

In total, 70 percent of the towns surveyed by An Taisce were ‘Clean to European Norms’.