The latest survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) shows Castlebar is once again ‘moderately littered’, in 34th position in the ranking of 40 towns and cities.

Over 90% of rural towns surveyed were deemed clean, while Dublin, Cork and Galway city centres all scored well.

IBAL says a lack of community involvement explains why certain disadvantaged urban areas continue to be plagued by litter despite improvements elsewhere.

The An Taisce report stated: “Once again Castlebar falls short of ‘clean’ status, with half the sites surveyed being deemed “litter free”.  Among the top ranking sites is the Recycle Facility in Castle Street – it was very freshly presented and maintained.  This was in sharp contrast to the Rehab Recycle Facility, opposite the Swimming Pool which was a litter blackspot due to the heavy accumulations around the bins.  The Museum of Country Life and Lough Lannagh Great Western Greenway both just missed getting the top litter grade – with a little extra effort this could easily be attained for both sites.”

An Taisce assess litter levels in 40 towns and cities on behalf of IBAL. 80% of areas were found to be clean, with a top tier of 16 towns deemed “cleaner than European Norms”. Tullamore topped the rankings, followed by Dublin Airport Environs and Leixlip. Once again there was a wide gap between towns and disadvantaged city areas, with the latter occupying the bottom 6 places in the ranking.

“In the 16 years we have been conducting these surveys, this is possibly our best result,” says Conor Horgan of IBAL.

While no area was branded a “litter blackspot”, Galvone in Limerick City was again seriously littered, while Dublin North Inner City and Cork City North were littered.  

85% of 32 tourist sites surveyed nationwide were clean, with the remainder exhibiting small amounts of litter, among them Castlebar’s Museum of Country Life.

While heritage amenities, shopping centres and main streets were found to be particularly clean, train and bus stations and recycle facilities were the locations most likely to be littered.