Limerick City Centre has topped IBAL’s annual survey for most littered community in Ireland. 

Every year, Irish Business Against Litter ranks communities on how much litter and this year the Treaty City has topped the list as the only community ranked as ‘littered’. 

Portlaoise, Dublin’s North Inner City, Galvone in Limerick City, Tallaght, Dublin City Centre, Ballymun, Dundalk, Ballybane in Galway City, Cork Northside, Kilkenny, Fermoy and Clonmel were also all ranked as ‘moderately littered’. 

Topping the table as the cleanest community was Sligo, followed by Monaghan and then Leixlip. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Chairperson of Dun Laoghaire Tidy Towns Catherine Harris said litter “really is” still a problem in her local area. 

“There's certainly been a reduction in the cans and plastic bottles since the return scheme has been implemented,” she said. 

“But it's still extraordinary how much we still are picking up off the street. In particular, glass bottles.

“I mean, we just see such a huge increase, of course, in the summertime because people are outside and they're enjoying the sunshine.”

Ms Harris added that cigarette butts are still “the worst of it”. 

“That is a big issue which we haven't yet found a solution to,” she said. 

“It's an extraordinary thing that people still feel that throwing their cigarette butts on the ground and grinding them out with their foot is not littering, because it absolutely is. 

“Our concern also is because we're a coastal town, that it's inevitable that the filters of these butts are going to end up in the water and cause greater pollution and so on and so forth.”

Main image: A litter bin in Galway. Picture by: Alamy.com.