Kilkenny has been named the cleanest town in Ireland by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) for the third year in a row. The announcement was made at the finale of the 2014 anti-litter league in Dublin today.

In recognition of its victory, KiIkenny will receive a suite of Emperor Lime trees, courtesy of the Irish Tree Centre in Cork.

It was also the third year in a row that Cavan - a previous winner - was pipped to the title. Longford and Tramore finished in joint 3rd in the ranking of 40 towns and cities.

The latest results show 85% of Irish towns and cities are at least as clean as their European equivalents.

Just six areas are falling short of "clean" status, among them Drogheda, Maynooth and Tallaght.

Cork, Limerick and Galway city were all clean to European norms, while Dublin city centre was again moderately littered.

Dublin's north inner city, while still littered, was 30% cleaner than earlier in 2014.

Just one area in Ireland - Farranree in Cork city - is now classified as a litter blackspot.

The survey found that it failed to improve on a poor showing earlier in 2014 - with an Taisce describing its very heavily littered sites as "not just littered but subjected to dumping and neglect."

The final survey for last year also found that connecting roads between towns were found to be more littered than towns themselves.

Brian Tyrrell is from Kilkenny County Council. He told Newstalk Lunchtime what their secret is.

Conor Horgan is spokesperson for IBAL and says some areas have made a great effort.