Call to clean up 'Ireland's dirtiest town'
Navan’s reputation as Ireland’s dirtiest town could deter business investment and tourism and detract from quality of life unless an effort is made to clean it up, it was claimed today.
Navan in Co Meath came bottom of a survey of 57 towns across the country carried out for the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) by An Taisce.
Labour Party representative for Meath, councillor Dominic Hannigan, said that a co-ordinated response was needed from local people, authorities and businesses to make sure it shed the label quickly.
The accolade was one that the town definitely did not want, he said.
“However it should jolt the entire local population, the County Council, and local businesses into thinking more about how we dispose of our rubbish to ensure the whole community does not suffer,” Mr Hannigan said.
“I am particularly concerned at the detrimental effect this survey may have on efforts to market the entire county of Meath as a tourist destination.
“We are currently in the middle of a major publicity campaign in Ireland and abroad to market Newgrange as a major tourist site.
“All this could be jeopardised if word gets out that the major town in the area has the reputation of being the dirtiest place in the country,” he said.
Carlow was the cleanest town in Ireland in the survey, which is the first round of the 2005 IBAL Anti Litter League, supported by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
It was one of 12 towns with populations of more than 6,000 that were awarded “litter free status”, which means they are clean by European norms.
At the bottom end of the table 14 places surveyed were “litter blackspots” while a further nine were deemed to have a serious litter problem.
Litter levels worsened by 7%, but cities made progress, with Dublin City Centre recording its best result since being included in the league.
The survey for IBAL found that a quarter of all industrial estates reviewed were “litter blackspots” and were three times as likely as other sites to be so.
In addition, more than half of recycling centres were heavily littered, which IBAL said was as a result of resistance to “pay by weight” charges.
IBAL chairman Tom Cavanagh warned that Ireland’s “landscapes of litter” could be putting off potential investors in the country.
“We’re showing not our best face, but a dirty face, to the commercial interests which are vital to our economy.
“High-tech overseas investors expect industrial estates to be pristine, not focal points for widespread litter and dumping,” Dr Cavanagh said.
