THE POGUES famously sang of days gone by when they met their love by the gas works wall of a dirty old town somewhere in Ireland.
Now, new research from Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) has revealed some of Ireland’s dirtiest towns as well as some of the Emerald Isle’s most sparklingly clean.
Fermoy, in County Cork, claimed the accolade as Ireland’s cleanest town in 2018, while Waterford city was named Ireland’s cleanest city for the second year running.
Fermoy was praised for exceeding "its usual high standards of cleanliness" by An Taisce, who carried out the research on behalf of IBAL.
Athlone and Killarney earned similarly rave reviews. Coming in just behind Fermoy as Ireland’s second and third cleanest towns.
The IBAL survey revealed just under 90% of Irish towns were deemed clean last year,
Each of the following towns or regions were deemed cleaner than the standards set in Europe:
1. Fermoy
2. Athlone
3. Killarney
4. Naas
5. Navan
6. Sligo
7. Drogheda
8. Waterford City Centre
9. Kilkenny
10. Dundalk
11. Longford
12. Castlebar
13. Tallaght
Richard Bruton, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment said:
"Combating litter is part of a much wider challenge – how we use our resources effectively and adapt to recognise environmental damage more generally. Litter is a very tangible, visible example of the kind of damage that is being done.
"It is vital that communities, businesses and local authorities in towns all across Ireland, work together to manage waste properly and reduce litter. I hope the recognition these awards provide spur others on to come together to make changes in their local areas."
Galway City (Ballybane) and Dublin’s North Inner City ranked among the dirtiest, with both defined as “seriously littered” with a variety of litter blacksports identified, making them among Ireland’s dirtiest towns.
Ballymun (Dublin), Cork City (Mahon), and Cork City's northside were also deemed as “littered” in the new research.
