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Tallaght fails to shake dirty tag in litter survey

Friday, 26 June 2009

DUN Laoghaire is the cleanest part of Dublin and one of the most litter free in the country, according to the latest survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL). But Tallaght, which has traditionally had some bad results in the litter survey, has again failed to impress, and its ranking plummeted down the league table from 30th last year to 57th this time around. Dún Laoghaire was deemed ‘litter free’ in the new survey and was ranked fifth out of 60 towns and urban areas surveyed around the country. The survey conducted by An Taisce on behalf of IBAL revealed Wexford to be Ireland’s cleanest town, ahead of Ennis. Dún Laoghaire received a glowing report from the IBAL surveyors who said: “This was a very good result for Dún Laoghaire. There were eight top ranking sites out of a total of 10 which were surveyed for the IBAL Anti-Litter Survey. “A few sites in Dún Laoghaire deserve special mention, particularly as they are not only well cared for but are obviously well respected by the users – for example the West Pier, the Eden Park Recycle Facility and People’s Park. “The only two littered sites were the approach routes from Seapoint and Monkstown – in each instance the litter was food related and related to very specific and isolated areas.” Tallaght, which the survey classed as ‘littered’, performed poorly and came in just ahead of Athlone and Mallow, which were deemed the country’s sole litter blackspots. The report noted that Tallaght was let down largely by the approach roads to the area. “Three of them had a serious litter problem – the Tallaght by pass, the M50 approach north to the Tallaght Roundabout and the Blessington approach. “Clearly a more thorough effort is required in the cleaning of same. The only top ranking approach road was Ballycullen. Tallaght Village and the Square car park at the post office and Tesco were both very clean – not just clear of litter but well maintained.” Although close to 70 per cent of towns and cities are classed in the latest survey as ‘litter free’ the IBAL group fears the vast drop in litter may now be jeopardised this summer as cutbacks make their mark. The result of slashed cleaning budgets in local authorities was recently highlighted by the tonnes of unsightly rubbish left uncollected on many popular beaches over the bank holiday weekend. "We fear a deterioration over the summer as weekend cleaning budgets get slashed in many areas," Dr Tom Cavanagh, the chair of IBAL, said. IBAL estimates that many local councils are making average savings of e750 per week when cutting their weekend cleaning budgets. “Litter is one area of spend where any cuts will be immediately visible, in littered pavements, parks and beaches,” Dr Cavanagh added. “Set against the significant time and money which local hotels and shops have invested in tourism over the past decade, these cuts are small – but they can be enough to undo the good work done in any town.”