Ballina has been named the eighth cleanest town in Ireland in the latest Irish Business Against Litter survey, which deemed the town to be "cleaner than European norms."
The latest nationwide survey by IBAL ranked 40 towns and cities around the country. All but one of the Ballina sites surveyed by An Taisce received the top litter grade.
“Ballina has scored very well and certainly, there are the remnants from Biden’s recent visit," the inspectors said in their report. "With so many sites getting the top litter grade, some deserve special mention for various reasons. Pearse Street was exceptionally freshly presented with excellent streetscape – the impact of the closed down/vacant properties was very much reduced by some excellent art work/projects.
"The Jackie Clarke Collection was a wonderful site, particularly the small walled garden right in the heart of the town. The large expanse of park at Tom Ruane Park was also very much deserving of the top litter grade.
"The one blot on the landscape in Ballina was the Bring Facility at Humbert Car Park – it wasn’t just casually littered but dumping had taken place.”
The N25 Foxford approach road, Lord Edward Street approach from Gurteens Roundabout, the riverbank at Cathedral Street, Teeling Street car park, the approach road from Sligo, and the civic centre all received the top grade on inspection.
Of the towns surveyed, more than 90 per cent were deemed clean, compared with just 28 per cent of city areas. Maynooth was named the cleanest town ahead of Mallow, Kilkenny, Clonmel and Ennis. Dundalk, ‘seriously littered’ at the very foot of the table, and ‘moderately littered’ Tralee, were the sole towns to miss out on clean status. Galway and Waterford were the only clean cities in the survey.
“Clearly, tourism is a focus of this annual summer survey and unfortunately the major urban gateways to our towns and countryside – notably Dublin – are falling short of the mark, and creating an underwhelming first impression for visitors," said Conor Horgan of IBAL. “As a high-cost destination, tourists to Ireland can expect better. It’s a fact, too, that the great work being done in our towns is negated by litter in our cities.”
