Anti-litter awards defended against critics whose towns 'lost out'

Town councillors who questioned the validity of the results in the 2003 Anti-Litter League were just annoyed because their towns had "lost out", the chairman of the competition has said.

Dr Tom Cavanagh, chairman of Irish Businesses Against Litter, organisers of the league, said he felt sorry for the towns branded "dirty" but that the results of the national research were fair and accurate.

Dr Cavanagh was speaking at the league awards in Dublin yesterday, which saw Cavan win the most litter-free town award while Drogheda, Dublin city, Navan and Bray were named as "litter black spots".

The chairman of Bray Town Council, Cllr Noel Keyes, said he was surprised by the results as Bray had done well in the Tidy Towns competition.

Dublin's Lord Mayor, Cllr Royston Brady, said there had been vast improvements in the city's litter problem and he would like to know how IBAL produced its league.

Addressing the counsellors' concerns, Dr Cavanagh said the research had been done by officials from An Taisce, and was thorough and accurate. "People who lose out always complain. An Taisce people go out and make surprise visits to these towns, they take photographs of the litter levels on the street."

The IBAL league gave a more accurate picture of the litter problem than the Tidy Towns competition, Dr Cavanagh said, and there was "absolutely no doubt" that IBAL was better at litter prevention. "IBAL doesn't do a one-off job. Tidy Towns is a little bit that way, with towns just getting ready for the big day. But with us, the towns never know when we're going to land."

Only 20 per cent of the Tidy Towns marks went for litter levels, while litter was IBAL's only concern. IBAL also surveyed a wider area than the Tidy Towns. Bray had a particularly bad litter problem in an industrial estate, which would have been outside the scope of the Tidy Towns competition. The Vevay shopping centre had also dragged down Bray's marks, having only one litter bin.

"It's not a case of only looking at the main street, or going up and down the seafront."

The IBAL league has four categories: clean to European norms; moderately littered; a serious litter problem; and litter black spot.

Of the 30 towns surveyed, eight had a standard of cleanliness up to "European norms". These were Cavan, Carrick-on-Shannon, Dún Laoghaire, Kilrush, Longford, Mullingar, Tralee and Wexford. Longford also won the award for most improved town. Fifteen were "moderately littered", while three - Newbridge, Swords and Sligo - were deemed to have a "serious litter problem".

East coast towns came bottom of the league with Drogheda, Dublin city, Navan and Bray all falling into the "black spot" category. Connolly Station and Busáras in Dublin were found to be the dirtiest stations in the State, while Kilkenny, Waterford and Portlaoise were the cleanest.