Newbridge named as Ireland’s ‘worst place for litter’

THE town of Newbridge in Co Kildare was last night named and shamed as Ireland’s worst place for litter.

Campaign group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL), which carried out a poll of the cleanliness of 50 towns and cities across the country, adjudged Navan in Co Meath to be the second-worst litter blackspot.

IBAL also assessed litter on approach roads to towns and cities, saying a large number of places were let down by the amount of rubbish on key approach roads.

Of the league table of littered roads, Leixlip in Co Kildare, Mullingar in Co Westmeath and Glanmire, Co Cork, were named as litter blackspots.

Now the business group is calling for motorists who dump litter to be given penalty points in the same way as those drivers who flout road safety rules.

“The impression of a town is coloured hugely by what ones encounters on approaching it,” said IBAL chairman Tom Cavanagh.

“For this reason we need to find ways of targeting those who dump or litter from their vehicles: issuing one penalty point per litter offence is one suggestion.”

IBAL also wants to see more lay-bys on Ireland motorways equipped with litter bins for truck drivers.

“They often have their meals on the go, resulting in an accumulation of litter,” he said.

IBAL’s litter survey of 50 towns and cities was carried out by heritage group An Taisce, which found just 18 or 36% could be classed as litter-free. An Taisce said the cleanest place was Carlow followed by Midleton and Fermoy, both Co Cork, the heritage town of Trim, Co Meath, and then Wexford.

IBAL said 19 places were moderately littered including Cork city, Bray in Co Wicklow, Clonmel in Tipperary, and Cobh and Mallow, both Co Cork.

“Littered” status went to nine towns and cities including Limerick, Athlone in Co Westmeath, Dún Laoghaire, Naas and Longford, putting the places on a par with inner-city Tallaght, Co Dublin.

Named as having a “serious litter problem” were six, including Swords in Co Dublin, Mullingar, and Maynooth, Co Kildare, as well as Castlebar in Co Mayo.

Classed as litter blackspots were Navan, for the third year in succession, and Newbridge.

IBAL said a number of towns and cities in the league table, including Killarney, Athlone, Cork, Limerick City and Nenagh, had lost points as their approach roads had been found to have a litter problem.

Despite the findings, the IBAL survey has revealed litter levels have improved compared to last year.

IBAL said the average cleanliness rating of Ireland’s towns and cities was now 75 points and within sight of the 80-point mark, which is deemed clean to European norms.

“There is no doubt that our cleanliness levels are continuing to rise,” said Dr Cavanagh.

“To sustain this progress county councils, whose remit it is to keep the areas outside the towns clean, will have to take litter seriously, not least on approach roads.”

He said Dublin was omitted from the survey as its size meant the capital could not be compared to the other 50 towns and cities in the poll.

IBAL will release a separate European survey, including Dublin’s ranking, later this year.