Mullingar has made significant improvements in the rankings of the latest Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL) survey, edging ever closer to the top category of ‘Cleaner than European Norms’.
The county town ranked 18th of 40 towns and cities surveyed across the country, climbing an impressive twelve points since the last results published in August 2014, when it was then placed 30th on the list. Twelve months ago in January 2014, the town was ranked 38th on the list, under the category ‘Moderately littered’.
In the report carried out by An Taisce, over half the sites in town achieved the top litter grade and noted that Mullingar Railway Station was in good condition.
“2014 has been a year of improvement for Mullingar. While many sites got the top litter grade, some of them were only just within that category and could easily slip to moderately littered e.g. Dominick Street, R448 Waterford Approach Road and N4 Sligo – Mullingar Link Road. Mullingar Railway Station (interior and exterior) was in good order. This is a lovely old station with attractive brick façade which was very nicely presented and maintained. There was a complete absence of litter throughout the front and along the station platforms.”
GRAND PARADE
The report had great praise for Grand Parade stating: “This was a lovely environment with grass, trees and path in very good condition. The houses along two sides of the grassland were well presented – all in all, this was a top ranking site.”
CANAL BANK
The report did not speak highly of the Royal Canal bank, stating: “This site has had been mixed over previous IBAL Anti-Litter surveys – clearly it is an environment which requires plenty of attention. This time around it was in a seriously littered state with heavy levels of plastic bottles, fast-food wrappers and cans along the path and at the waters’ edge.”
MORE TO DO
Mullingar has a small distance to travel to compete with other nearby towns and achieve ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ status.
Tullamore came in at an impressive 5th joint position with Wexford town while Navan was positioned 13th on the results table. The county Offaly town is just three points behind Kilkenny City which was top of the table.
Set up in 1996, Irish Business Against Litter is an alliance of companies sharing a belief that continued economic prosperity – notably in the areas of tourism, food and direct foreign investment – is contingent on a clean, litter-free environment.
As part of the IBAL Anti-Litter League, An Taisce monitors towns independently and in accordance with international grading standards. The programme is run in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.
