Dublin’s North Inner City has been named as Ireland’s most littered community in IBAL’s annual survey. 

Irish Business Against Litter has ranked 40 communities from cleanest to dirtiest, with 10 communities designated ‘Cleaner Than European Norms’. 

Sligo was ranked as the nation’s cleanest, followed by Leixlip, Westport, Monaghan, Tullamore, Waterford City, Killarney, Letterkenny, Galway City Centre and then Wexford. 

Cork’s Northside, Ballymun, Ballybane in Galway and Dublin’s North Inner City were all designated as 'littered' by IBAL. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, IBAL spokesperson Conor Horgan described it as a “relatively upbeat report” and praised Sligo for topping the rankings. 

“That's quite a turnabout because I was on your programme many years ago criticising Sligo as a litter black spot at the very foot of our table,” he said. 

“Less than 20 years, a large town, not easy to make changes but they've transformed the streets of Sligo, so congrats to them.”

A sign warning people not to litter. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Horgan continued that while urban areas tend to be more littered than rural towns, they are not as bad as they once were. 

“They're still littered but we've seen improvements across the board,” he explained. 

“We've seen areas like Mahon in Cork, Tallaght in Dublin, Galvone in Limerick - which we had long criticised, they're all now clean.

“Even at the foot of our table if you see Dublin's North Inner City, Cork Northside, while still littered, within that label there's been a lot of movement. 

“They were seriously littered last time out and they've improved significantly.”

A litter bin in Dublin. Picture by: Lawrence Smith / Alamy Stock Photo.

Crucially, IBAL found there were also notably fewer litter blackspots - areas where there is dumping or large accumulations of litter. 

“They seem to be disappearing across the country and that's to the credit, I think, of local authorities who are taking on board our surveys,” Mr Horgan said. 

“We're always saying, ‘Look, hit the problem first where it's at its worst, clean up the worst areas.’

“That seems to be what they're doing.”

Mr Horgan singled out Dublin City Council in particular for “getting more serious” about litter, noting that they plan to get rid of waste disposal bags in the near future. 

Main image: Swans looking for food amomg the litter on the River Liffey at the Grand Canal Docks in Dublin. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie