A new survey shows Kilkenny and Cavan are once again Ireland's cleanest towns

The research, by the Irish Business Against Litter group, shows Ireland's towns continue to get cleaner, while our main cities are still littered.

Dublin, Cork and Limerick are at the bottom of the table of cleanliness, with areas of the cities taking the six lowest positions out of 40 areas examined. However, 75% of towns and cities across the country were found to be 'as clean' as or 'cleaner' than their European counterparts.

Kilkenny and Cavan town claimed the top two spots, followed by Killarney, Tramore and Longford. They were among 18 towns to be deemed cleaner than the European average.

The survey found that sweet wrappers were the most common type of litter 'by far', with cigarette butts, fast food wrappers and chewing gum also common.

Conor Horgan of IBAL says the results are positive, although the littered city areas are still a significant problem: