Kilkenny named Ireland’s cleanest town

Kilkenny has been named Ireland’s cleanest town for the second year in a row in the

Irish Business Against Litter

(Ibal) annual survey.

The anti-litter assessment of 42 towns, cities and urban districts carried out by An Taisce for Ibal put Cavan town in second place followed by Tramore, Clonmel and Waterford.

The selection of Dublin’s north inner city as the dirtiest place in the State was rejected yesterday by local representatives.

City councillor Nial Ring, criticised the Ibal report saying it ignored initiatives taken by the council to improve the area. "The report, which again labels the north inner city as a blackspot is, in my opinion, inaccurate, incorrect and damaging to the inner city's reputation."

Graffiti removal
The council last November removed 1,195sq m of graffiti from the area he said, and is shortly to begin calling to houses in the area where it believes residents leave their rubbish in the streets instead of paying for waste collection.

“At resident association meetings throughout the north inner city, public representatives are constantly being asked to address the issue through the introduction of legislation requiring landlords to take responsibility for the waste coming from their premises, but this has not yet been brought to the Dáil by our TDs and Ministers in the area,” Mr Ring said.

However, local resident and local election candidate Gary Gannon has accused the council of mishandling the litter issue and said north inner city residents were not dirty.

“I find it grossly offensive to the proud people of the north inner city that Dublin City Council intends to indiscriminately arrive at their doors alongside the gardaí and demand residents prove they are not guilty of what is essentially a criminal offence.

In my estimation, this hostile initiative of Dublin City Council is a violation of the very fundamentals of natural justice,” he said.

“Having grown-up and spent most of my life living in Dublin’s north inner city I can attest to the fact that our people are neither dirty nor lacking in community pride as suggested by today’s ‘findings’.”