Dirty old town - A timely wake-up call

It is hardly surprising that dirty Dublin ranked fourth last in the list of Ireland’s cleanest and dirties towns.

But nobody in the second largest city can take any solace from this, because Cork ranked second worst, ahead of only Portlaoise which now has the dubious distinction of being ranked the Dirtiest Town in Ireland.

The annual survey of Irish Business Against Litter is a wake-up call for communities as determined efforts are supposed to be made to inject life into our tourist industry in the midst of the economic difficulties.

There have been significant levels of improvement nationally. Ireland is now in the top 12 in Europe in terms of eliminating litter. Thirty-nine of the 53 towns and cities surveyed here were considered litter free, which is a record.

It is disappointing that no town in Munster managed to make it into the top five of the cleanest towns in Ireland. Clonmel was ranked sixth, just ahead of Ballincollig, with Killarney in joint tenth place. Hopefully these rankings will encourage towns to take more interest in their own appearance — not to impress visitors, but, rather, to improve the quality of our own environment.