Swords comes 17th in cleanest towns list

SWORDS has been listed among the top 20 cleanest towns in Ireland in the Irish Business Against Litter Campaign (IBAL).
Of the 42 towns and cities that were monitored across the country for cleanliness levels over the course of 2012, Swords was named as the 17th cleanest town at a ceremony held in Dublin this week.
Kilkenny came in first place and was closely followed by Cavan and Killarney in the annual survey.
The IBAL campaign showed that 80% of towns and cities in the country to be as clean – if not cleaner – than their European counterparts last year. Swords’ place in the top 20 towns meant that the town was “cleaner than the European norm”.
Speaking at the awards ceremony IBAL chairman Dr Tom Cavanagh likened the progress made on litter  in Ireland to that of road safety.
“Each January, we hear the welcome news that the numbers killed on our roads have again fallen. In particular, the attitude to drink driving has been transformed in a way that would have seemed unthinkable some years ago.
“There are parallels with the improvements we are now seeing in cleanliness levels. We might have viewed ourselves traditionally as a less than tidy nation, but the results tell a different story,” he said.