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07 Sept 2025
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07 Sept 2025
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Kilkenny ranked 16th out of 40 towns surveyed in round one of the 2025 Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) League, dropping from second place in 2024.
Although the city was still rated as “clean to European norms,” it’s Kilkenny’s worst result since 2018 when it also came 16th.
Naas was named the cleanest town in the survey with Ennis and Killarney rounding out the top three, while Cork Northside and Dublin North Inner City placed lowest, rated as “seriously littered.”
The report which An Taisce were commissioned to complete said: “It will be a disappointment to all concerned that there were just four top ranking sites this time around in Kilkenny.”
“There were several which just missed this grade, easily achievable with a little extra care and attention e.g. McDonagh Junction Shopping Centre, Fag Anseo Bring Centre and McDonagh Junction Kilkenny Train Station.”
“The presence of a couple of seriously littered sites, at Lidl, Smithsland will have brought down the overall grade but both of these should be an easy fix.”
One of these seriously littered sites was the deposit return facility at the Lidl which drew strong criticism: “It is quite unusual to see a deposit return scheme so heavily littered. The ‘excess liquid’ feature had at least half a dozen bottles/cans sitting within, there was a cardboard box on the ground just in front and a generally heavy litter presence in the immediate environs.”
Some of the top ranking sites in the city included the Castle Park and the High Street with the report saying: “The streetscape along High Street was excellent with lovely paving, wooden seating, planter boxes, etc. All looked very well and there was a virtual absence of litter throughout. The area appears to be very well served by cigarette butt units and there were no butts visible.”
Kilkenny came first in the 2019 and 2020 surveys and will have a chance to improve its ranking in the second round of the IBAL league which will be released in January.
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