LAOIS TIDY TOWN PLAYS THE PORT’

Majority of Irish towns showed improvement...

PORTLAOISE has been crowned the cleanest town in Ireland — and Dublin’s North Inner City has been ranked the dirtiest.

According to a survey by Irish Business Against Litter, the Co Laois town, which was ranked the worst for litter back in 2010, has emerged as the cleanest of the 40 areas surveyed nationwide.

But litter boffin’s reveal Dublin’s North Inner City has been branded a “litter blackspot”.

The number of areas deemed clean by An Taisce, who carried out the survey on behalf of IBAL, rose from 17 to 23, revealing 68 per cent of towns showed an improve- ment on last year.

Portlaoise topped the rankings, an achievement praised by An Taisce as t he result of “years of co ncerted effort and steady improvement“.

Tallaght and Ballymun registered s igni f icant yea r- on- yea r improvement.

Mr Horgan said: “For cities, this survey paints a bleak picture. “Litter levels have worsened to a level we have not seen in the past 10 years. Now that we have emerged from lockdown, we cannot use it as an excuse for high levels of litter.

“As we invest in promotional drives and build city hotels in anticipation of more visitors, we need to be mindful of the littered environment we are presenting to them.”

For the first time s since 2014, Dublin’s North Inner City was deemed a litter blackspot.

Sites

Of the 25 sites in the area surveyed, only two were found to be clean, and 17 were ‘ heavily littered’ or worse. Among these were the ESB site at Sheriff St Lr., Ossory Road, where “sacks of rubbish had been abandoned, along with piles and piles of accumulations of litter” and Aldborough Place, which was subject to dumping.

The Canal Walk was found to have “heavy levels of food and alcohol related items discarded in the canal” as well as the Canal at Spencer Dock, where “bicycles, railings and industrial rubbish” were among the litter found.

“We had seen a gradual if unspectacular clean- up of the North Inner City over the past seven years, but recent surveys suggest this has unravelled.”