“Exceptional result” for Tullamore in latest litter survey

Seven out of ten locations in Tullamore which were surveyed as part of the latest report from Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) were given a grade A ranking which was described as an “exceptional result” for the town.

Among the examples of top ranking sites in Tullamore was the very popular Saturday morning food market 'Tullamore Food Fayre' at Kicruttin Business Park; Main Street and the Grand Canal Way at Lock 27, which the An Taisce judges described as being “a lovely waterside amenity with enhancement works underway” and which they added was “very much deserving of the top litter grade.”

For the second time this year, Tullamore has finished in the top ten in the IBAL survey, which found the town to be Cleaner than European Norms. The 7th place finish is a significant improvement on the mid-year survey for 2024 which ranked Tullamore in 19th place, and the end of year survey for 2023 when the town achieved a 23rd place ranking from the 40 towns and cities surveyed.

The latest ranking, which is up two places from the 9th place ranking in January of this year, will be warmly welcomed by the local Tidy Towns Association which has done huge work in recent years to improve the overall appearance of the town.

Elsewhere in the Midlands, Mullingar, Portlaoise and Athlone were all deemed clean to European norms. Mullingar was ranked at 11th, Athlone at 18th and Portlaoise was in 20th place.

Overall, two-thirds of towns surveyed were clean, with Naas once again top of the ranking of 40 towns and cities, ahead of Ennis and Killarney. Only four areas were branded littered or seriously littered – the lowest number in five years. Both Dublin and Cork city centres have improved in advance of the peak season for visitors, although Dublin’s North Inner City was found to seriously littered.

One year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, plastic bottle and can litter was down 50% on previous levels but was still found in 20% of over 500 sites surveyed by inspectors across the country.

Set up in 1996, Irish Business Against Litter is an alliance of companies sharing a belief that continued economic prosperity - notably in the areas of tourism, food and direct foreign investment - is contingent on a clean, litter-free environment.

As part of the IBAL Anti-Litter League, An Taisce monitors towns independently and in accordance with international grading standards.