Ballymun improves, little change in Tallaght or North Inner City
Rachel Cunningham
Dublin City Centre has the unwanted ‘littered’ tag attached to its name following the most recent survey carried out by business group Irish Business Against Litter. It shows the capital’s centre has slipped back in the rankings of 40 towns and cities.
There was however some good news for Ballymun, which was categorised as having improved to ‘moderately littered’ alongside Tallaght, but unfortunately there was little change in the ‘littered’ North Inner City.
This is in contract to most of the Irish towns surveyed whih were found to be clean. This measures against two-thirds of city areas which are still suffering from littered status.
The survey presents a snapshot of cleanliness levels across Ireland as the peak summer tourist season commences.
Maynooth came out top ahead of Mallow, Kilkenny, Clonmel and Ennis as clean towns. Dundalk is said to be ‘seriously littered’ and was positioned at the very foot of the table, and ‘moderately littered’ Tralee, were the sole towns to miss out on clean status.
Said Conor Horgan of IBAL: “Clearly, tourism is a focus of this annual summer survey and unfortunately the major urban gateways to our towns and countryside – notably Dublin – are falling short of the mark and creating an underwhelming first impression for visitors.
“As a high-cost destination, tourists to Ireland can expect better. It’s a fact, too, that the great work being done in our towns is negated by litter in our cities.”
Last year saw a dramatic fall in the number of heavily littered sites or ‘blackspots’ across the country, and this welcome trend has continued into 2023. Cork City and Limerick City were improved in this regard, as was Drogheda. However, An Taisce, who carry out the surveys on behalf of IBAL, encountered discarded furniture, sleeping bags and blankets off Thomas Street in Dublin, a basement on O’Connell Street “wasn’t just littered but subject to dumping”, while Cork Northside’s Cathedral Walk was subject to dumping and “an eye-sore for children playing in the school yard directly opposite”.
2023 IBAL ANTI-LITTER LEAGUE – ROUND ONE
| 1 | Maynooth | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 2 | Mallow | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 3 | Kilkenny | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 4 | Clonmel | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 5 | Ennis | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 6 | Monaghan | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 7 | Sligo | Cleaner than European Norms |
| T8 | Ballina | Cleaner than European Norms |
| T8 | Enniscorthy | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 10 | Naas | Cleaner than European Norms |
| 11 | Waterford City | Clean to European Norms |
| 12 | Cavan | Clean to European Norms |
| T13 | Bray | Clean to European Norms |
| T13 | Carrick-on-Shannon | Clean to European Norms |
| 15 | Carlow | Clean to European Norms |
| 16 | Roscommon | Clean to European Norms |
| 17 | Mullingar | Clean to European Norms |
| 18 | Dublin Airport Environs | Clean to European Norms |
| 19 | Galway City | Clean to European Norms |
| 20 | Killarney | Clean to European Norms |
| 21 | Letterkenny | Clean to European Norms |
| 22 | Athlone | Clean to European Norms |
| 23 | Portlaoise | Clean to European Norms |
| 24 | Waterford City – Ballybeg | Clean to European Norms |
| 25 | Longford | Clean to European Norms |
| 26 | Tullamore | Clean to European Norms |
| 27 | Drogheda | Clean to European Norms |
| 28 | Navan | Clean to European Norms |
| 29 | Tralee | Moderately littered |
| 30 | Ballymun | Moderately littered |
| 31 | Cork City Centre | Moderately littered |
| 32 | Mahon – Cork City | Moderately littered |
| 33 | Limerick City Centre | Moderately littered |
| 34 | Tallaght | Moderately littered |
| 35 | Limerick City South – Galvone | Moderately littered |
| 36 | Galway Inner City – Ballybane | Moderately littered |
| 37 | Dublin City Centre | Littered |
| 38 | Cork Northside | Littered |
| 39 | Dublin North Inner City | Littered |
| 40 | Dundalk | Seriously littered |
- GOLF: Portmarmock’s Fox lands north of Ireland title
- Finglas float through in FAI Junior Cup
- Rugby team raising the spirit of the nation with seismic displays in France
- Great attendance and political support for Baldoyle/Clongriffin protest
- Calling Dublin men to do The Dickie Dip for prostate cancer care!
