Carlow has emerged at the top of the latest "All-Ireland Anti-Litter League" published today, one of only three towns in the survey to be classified as "litter-free."
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, and Fermoy, Co Cork, finished in second and third positions.
Dublin's Liberties-Coombe area has emerged as the dirtiest "town" for the third time in the survey of 29 towns undertaken by An Taisce, on behalf of the campaign group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL). On this occasion, the survey inspections took place over weekends in July to establish if the same attention was paid to the litter problem at weekends as on weekdays.
Carlow scored 83 points in the survey, while the Liberties-Coombe area achieved just 24 points out of a possible 100. The score suggests the litter situation in the area has deteriorated since the last survey.
Of the 29 towns surveyed, 16 were considered to be "heavily" or "very heavily" littered.
While residents in the Liberties-Coombe area have previously claimed the designation "dirtiest town" to be unfair because of the large number of construction projects currently under way in it, the results have been defended by the chairman of IBAL, Dr Tom Cavanagh.
Dr Cavanagh said the survey concentrated solely on issues such as litter, gum, graffiti, grass-cutting, dog-fouling and fly-posting and did not take the built environment or natural amenities into account.
Other towns which were deemed to be "very heavily littered" included Drogheda, which dropped a point since the previous survey to 54; Longford, which improved five points to 52; and Sligo, which remained unchanged at 49.
The cleanest towns were Carlow at 83 points - up from 69 in the last survey; Enniskillen, up one point at 81 and Fermoy up four at 80.
Once again, the towns in the Republic fared worse than those in Northern Ireland. The average score for the three towns in the North which were included was 75, while the average in the Republic was 62.
Commenting on the survey, Dr Cavanagh said it was important for local authorities to remember that, particularly during the summer months, there was a high volume of activity on the streets.
"People are out and about with their children shopping or simply relaxing in the atmosphere about town.
"Weekend nights are busy in pubs, clubs and fast-food outlets.
"The unfortunate truth revealed by these findings is that the remnants of Friday's and Saturday's activities are strewn along the streets until Monday morning," he claimed.
Dr Cavanagh acknowledged some local authorities were more flexible in their approach to cleaning hours, a factor which he said might explain the variance between the scores of different towns.
"County councils tend to be less flexible in their approach to working hours and waste management than urban councils. Mullingar is an example. Managed by a county council it did very well on the weekday survey, but fell at the weekend.
"Carlow, on the other hand, managed by an urban council, improved significantly at the weekend."
Irish Business Against Litter is a business alliance which believes economic prosperity, particularly in the areas of tourism, food and foreign investment, depends on a clean, litter-free environment.
Previous campaigns undertaken by the group have included poster advertisements welcoming tourists and apologising for the litter.
