Bray in Co Wicklow is the dirtiest town in the Republic, according to a litter league table produced by an alliance of Irish businesses.
Thirty towns and cities were included in the table and Bray was closely followed by Navan, Dublin city centre and Drogheda as "litter black spots".
Three other towns, Sligo, Swords and Newbridge, have a "serious litter problem" and six of the seven worst towns are on the east coast.
However, the league showed that Carrick-on-Shannon, Cavan, Dún Laoghaire, Kilrush, Longford, Mullingar, Tralee and Wexford had achieved a standard of cleanliness at "European norms". The overall winners will be announced today.
Local Bray TD and Minister of State for Europe Mr Dick Roche has condemned the local council for Bray's poor showing.
Mr Roche, a Fianna Fáil TD, said he was "very annoyed" that Bray came bottom of the league. "It is certainly not a lack of resources," the Minister said yesterday, adding that the council "has a question to answer".
But a party colleague and chairman of Bray Town Council, Cllr Noel Keyes, questioned the results of the annual league table compiled by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).
Cllr Keyes said he was very surprised by the result because in the Tidy Towns competition Bray came quite high. "I am very surprised that we would come anywhere at the bottom end."
Mr Roche said that there had been a very significant allocation from central Government, and the town had a "solid rating base". Businesses in Bray complained constantly about the charges they had to pay for services. "They are asking 'what are we getting for those charges?'. Obviously not a lot if this is the result."
But Cllr Keyes pointed out that Bray had been designated one of the host towns for the 10 EU accession countries during the ceremonies next May. "I am quite surprised that the Department of Foreign Affairs, of which Deputy Roche is a Minister of State, would have accepted Bray" if it were as bad as the league table showed.
Dublin's Lord Mayor, Cllr Royston Brady, said that there had been vast improvements in the city, which "used to be really bad". He would not be too quick to criticise the council for not doing enough. Everybody had a responsibility to develop a "civic pride", he said but added that he would like to see how IBAL produced its league table.
