ENNIS remains among the cleanest towns in Ireland with the county town claiming a top five spot in the national IBAL litter league.

The final litter survey of 2022 by business group Irish Business Against Litter shows Ennis in fifth place in the ranking of 40 towns and cities nationwide.

Three quarters of Ireland’s cities and towns were deemed ‘clean’ in 2022, compared to just over half in the previous year. Naas was again top of the rankings.

An Taisce conducts the surveys on behalf of IBAL. Its report for Ennis stated, “A very strong performance by a former IBAL Winner – the location of the IBAL sculpture is the impeccably presented and maintained at Abbey Street Car Park.

“Other top-ranking sites included the three approach roads and O’Connell Street, Market Place / Market Street Lower and Monastery Park.  Gort Road Business Park and Ennis Bus / Train Station were very much deserving of the top litter grade this time around – a big improvement compared to a few years ago.”

Cleanliness levels nationwide improved by 6% in 2022, with Naas pipping Kilkenny and Maynooth in the rankings. For the third year in succession, Waterford was the cleanest city, ahead of Galway. Urban areas improved by 12%, yet they continue to occupy the lower positions in the IBAL rankings.

“The results reflect a pattern of improvement since the peak of the Covid pandemic, when litter levels soared, especially in cities,” said IBAL’s Conor Horgan.

“In particular we are seeing local authorities concentrate their efforts on ridding areas of heavily littered sites. We have no reason to believe this improvement will not be sustained. Cleanliness is a virtuous circle: clean streets beget clean streets, inspiring a pride and consciousness of the environment among people.”