Survey shows Letterkenny names as a cleaner town to await our summer visitors

The Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) has revealed Letterkenny is ‘Clean to European Norms” and in 13th spot in the ranking of 40 towns and cities across Ireland, according to a survey from the business group.

The An Taisce report for Letterkenny stated: “A very strong performance by Letterkenny, with five top-ranking sites, four sites just shy of top ranking and just one seriously littered.

“Ballyboe - Glencar Park is a lovely park environment which was excellent with regards to litter. Other top ranking sites included Upper Main Street, Pinehill Business Park and Deposit Return Scheme at Letterkenny Retail Park. By far the most heavily littered site surveyed was the Recycle Facility at Aura Leisure – this presented very poorly and will likely deteriorate further, if not addressed.”

Overall, two-thirds of towns were clean, which was up on 2024. Naas was 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 on five years. Both Dublin and Cork city centres have improved in advance of the peak season for visitors.

“It is encouraging to see that our main city centres – Dublin and Cork – have improved as we welcome summer visitors to our country. Clean streets are imperative, given the challenges facing Ireland as a high-cost destination,” says IBAL’s Conor Horgan

One year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, plastic bottle and can litter is down 50% on previous levels but was still found in 20% of the 500-plus sites surveyed across the country. "We hope that the scheme will see the disappearance of this litter, but statistics so far do not bear this out. Cans and plastic bottles are far from a rare sight on our streets and in our hedgerows," says Horgan.

While the prevalence of coffee cups on our streets remains stubbornly high, there was a fall-off in disposable vape litter. The UK and Northern Ireland outlawed disposable vapes earlier this month and a ban here is likely in the coming months.