Cavan nineteenth in IBAL survey

The latest survey from business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) reveals Cavan is in 19th position in the ranking of forty towns and cities.

Monaghan has retained fifth spot, with both towns deemed clean in the final report.

The An Taisce report for Cavan stated: “There were no heavily littered sites in Cavan.

"While the town may not have had as many top-ranking sites as in previous IBAL surveys, the remainder either just missed the top grade or were moderately littered.

It found that the residential area of Ardkeen had been heavily littered in previous IBAL surveys however this time around there was a "notable improvement, albeit still a litter presence."

Top ranking sites included, the Deposit Return Scheme area at Tesco, Cavan Council Offices and the library environs. The latter was described as "particularly freshly presented and maintained with some lovely features.”

Overall, two-thirds of towns were clean, which was an improvement on last year.

Naas was once again top of the ranking of 40 towns and cities, ahead of Ennis and Killarney.

Only four areas were branded littered or seriously littered which was the lowest number on 5 years.

One year on from the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, plastic bottle and can litter is down 50% on previous levels but was still found in 20% of the 500-plus sites surveyed across the country.

"We hope that the scheme will see the disappearance of this litter, but statistics so far do not bear this out. Cans and plastic bottles are far from a rare sight on our streets and in our hedgerows," says Conor Horgan.

While the prevalence of coffee cups on streets remains stubbornly high, there was a fall-off in disposable vape litter.

The survey found the main streets of towns to be generally clean, as were heritage and amenity sites.

Residential areas, bus and train stations and recycle facilities were most likely to be littered.