Ireland's cleanest town is…

Kilkenny City has been named Ireland's cleanest town by Irish Business Against Litter.

It marks the third straight title for the Marble City - which also won the Tidy Towns competition last year - as they beat Cavan town to the top spot.

Spokesperson Conor Horgan said Kilkenny is the finest example of a litter-free town, given its high level of activity.

"Kilkenny is not an easy place to keep clean- it's obviously a tourist town with lots of 'night activity'. That makes this achievement all the greater."

Horgan said forces like the Tidy Towns and local council, in co-operation with the town's shopkeepers have "a sense of pride in keeping the town clean".

IBAL says there were significant improvements in cleanliness across the country - with 85% of urban centres meeting EU standards.

40% of the towns and cities surveyed were found to be cleaner than the European average.

Places like Portlaoise and Tipperary - saw their rankings soar over the year - with the area around Dublin Airport climbing from 37th to 17th.

However, it wasn't all good news. Roads between towns were found to be more littered than urban areas themselves - and brought down the overall cleanliness mark.

Farranree in Cork was the only area ranked as a litter blackspot - with Dublin's North Inner City "seriously littered" - and Maynooth, Tallaght and Drogheda as "moderately littered".