It’s claimed Ennis’s performance in the latest anti-litter league doesn’t reflect the overall tidiness of the town.
The county town has dropped out of the top ten cleanest towns and villages in Ireland in IBAL’s report for 2023, having fallen seven placings in the space of twelve months.
Only six years ago, Ennis celebrated being the cleanest town in Ireland, but the county town has been slipping steadily since then.
It was ranked seventh in the previous two surveys, but in the Irish Business Against Litter Anti-Litter League for 2023, Ennis now lies in 12th place.
The An Taisce report states that while seven out of the 10 sites surveyed were well-presented, the Ennis Bus and Train Station was found to be “heavily littered” as it had a corner area where rubbish bags were dumped.
IBAL noted that coffee cups were found at 30% of the 5,000 sites surveyed across the country, while disposable vapes were spotted at 10% of locations.
Spokesperson for IBAL Conor Horgan says despite a fall after the pandemic, these particular items are presenting as an issue once again.
As a result of the new finding Ennis is no longer deemed “cleaner than European norms”, but instead falls into the category of “clean to European norms”.
While An Taisce described Ennis’s performance as “strong”, it was noted that several sites were found to be littered including the Rocky Road Roundabout, Clareabbey Roundabout and Francis Street.
Ennis Tidy Towns Chairperson Cormac McCarthy is disputing the findings though, and is calling on IBAL to be transparent about how its surveys are conducted.
You can listen to the full interview here:
