Kildare town falls from title of cleanest Irish town with new report of one 'seriously littered site'

The latest survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) shows both Leixlip and Kildare town  ‘Cleaner than European Norms‘ in 3rd and 9th place among a  ranking of 40 towns and cities.

Kildare topped the national rankings last year.

Over 90% of rural towns surveyed were deemed clean, while Dublin, Cork and Galway city centres all scored well. IBAL says a lack of community involvement explains why certain disadvantaged urban areas continue to be plagued by litter despite improvements elsewhere.

The An Taisce report for Leixlip said: “An excellent result for Leixlip with nine out of the ten sites surveyed getting the top litter grade.  The particularly good sites included the Rye River Project – this is a lovely riverside environment, with a relatively new addition of a 1916 Memorial.  The Main Street was in excellent order with many traditional shop fronts.  The residential area of Oaklawns West scored well.  It was noted that Lidl was in much better shape than previous IBAL Litter surveys.”

The report for Kildare said: “Another fine showing by last year’s winning town, tarnished slightly by one heavily littered site. All roads leading into Kildare got the top litter grade and this high standard was sustained for the majority of the sites surveyed within the town.  Market Square, at the centre of the town, is very much a feature of Kildare – it presents very well for anybody visiting the Tourist Office in the Square.  Other top ranking sites included St. Brigid’s Cathedral and Round Tower (an excellent site) and St. Brigid’s Primary School.  By far the most seriously littered site was the Recycle Facility at Tesco where the contents of black sacks were ripped open and strewn about, as well as lots of discarded cardboard boxes. Some of the recycle units were full / overflowing.”

An Taisce assess litter levels in 40 towns and cities on behalf of IBAL. 80% of areas were found to be clean, with a top tier of 16 towns deemed “cleaner than European Norms”. Tullamore topped the rankings, followed by Dublin Airport Environs and Leixlip. Once again there was a wide gap between towns and disadvantaged city areas, with the latter occupying the bottom six places in the ranking.

Conor Hogan, IBAL, said:“In the 16 years we have been conducting these surveys, this is possibly our best result."

He said:“Across the board we have seen improvements. The news is all the more positive given the importance of how we present our country over the summer months, when we attract over 40% of our visitors.”

While no area was brandished a “litter blackspot”, Galvone in Limerick City was again seriously littered, while Dublin North Inner City and Cork City North were littered.

He said:“We haven’t seen as much improvement in these social housing areas, where communities are often transient, social neglect is evident, and community groups and tidy towns committees are lacking compared to in mixed communities."

He said:“Without these volunteer forces supporting the efforts of the council, these areas will simply not be clean on a sustained basis.”