'Littered': Limerick city centre falls to bottom of major environmental survey
Limerick city centre ranked most littered in the State in Ibal anti-litter league
LIMERICK city centre is now considered the most littered area of the State, a new survey has shown.
The Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) second anti-litter league of the year shows Limerick city centre slipping to 40th out of 40 areas surveyed across Ireland.
It has avoided the unwanted distinction of being a litter blackspot – but the survey has identified a number of areas of the centre which were littered.
Inspectors from An Taisce, who were appointed by Ibal, looked at 25 sites across the urban area.
Of these, just five out of 25 received the top grade of being cleaner than European norms.
In their report, released this morning, the inspectors identified areas which they felt have been “heavily littered” or “neglected” over an extended period.
They cited Mount Kennett Place and the entrance to Henry Street car park.
Nearby Dock Road was also highlighted, as was a residential area of Grattan Court.
“This, combined with other seriously littered sites on this survey has made for a poor overall result. The residential area of Lee Estate wasn’t just littered but the remnants of a bonfire were evident,” added the inspectors.
An area of Limerick’s southside, including Galvone was ranked moderately littered in 37th position.
The inspectors did note an improvement at the Galvone Industrial Estate, which in the past, has been considerably littered.
"However, the presence of two very heavily littered sites drags down Galvone’s overall ranking – there was monumental dumping at the ‘Bring Centre, Roxboro Shopping Centre’ and Grasslands at Greenmount Avenue had suffered from not just dumping, but the burning of items, again, on a huge scale. The residential area of O’Malley Park was very mixed with regards to litter – many interconnecting roads were clear, but some of the laneways had suffered abuse and neglect – the remnants of three bonfires were evident,” reads Ibal’s report.
Sligo once again topped the table.
No town across Ireland occupied the ‘seriously littered’ or ‘litter blackspot’ table at the foot of the table.
Nationwide, litter levels were on a par with last year, with 27 towns deemed clean.
Sligo finished ahead of Monaghan and Leixlip
Waterford was again Ireland’s cleanest city – in fourth spot.
The study revealed a significant increase in cigarette butt litter compared to 2025.
Ibal has warned these are unsightly and a toxic single-use plastic that can contaminate.