Dublin's historic Liberties area has the worst litter problem of 29 Irish urban centres surveyed by An Taisce.
The Coombe/Liberties edged out Tuam, Co Galway, to be placed bottom in the "first round" of a league of cleanliness established by the lobby group Irish Business Against Litter.
Preliminary results of the survey rate Armagh and Wexford joint top of the "All-Ireland Anti-Litter League", with a score of 85 points out of 100. The only other towns to achieve "litter-free" status - 80 points or more - were Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh (82) and Fermoy, Co Cork (81).
Monaghan, fifth overall, led a second division of towns deemed "moderately littered". But more than half the venues monitored were judged "heavily" or "very heavily" littered.
The latter category includes Ballina, Co Mayo - third from bottom of the league; Portlaoise; Drogheda, Co Louth; Carlow; Clonmel, Co Tipperary; Sligo and Longford.
IBAL, an alliance of companies campaigning for a cleaner environment and stricter enforcement of litter laws, commissioned An Taisce to monitor conditions in 26 urban centres in the Republic and three in Northern Ireland, using standard methodology.
Preliminary assessments were carried out in January and there will be three further surveys during 2002.
IBAL, which says its objective is to "spur local authorities into gaining litter-free status for their towns" concedes that the 29 centres chosen are only a sample of the 60 towns and cities with populations of over 5,000 throughout the country. The Coombe/Liberties is the only city area included, partly on the grounds that its litter problem is managed by a sub-committee within Dublin Corporation.
Commenting on the preliminary results, An Taisce reported that Armagh's "absolute cleanliness . . . suggests first-class management systems and a community that cares," while noting that Wexford would have done even better except for litter at the train station and public car park.
In the Coombe/Liberties, the report found "serious litter, graffiti and dereliction properties," but conceded that high tourist numbers, traffic volumes and a dense population were contributory factors.
The report notes that Tuam and Drogheda were the only towns surveyed "which did not have even one grade A site".
