Ireland gets 'filthy' tag in survey
16 June 2005 17:03
A survey on litter out this morning shows that many of Ireland's urban centres and universities are filthy.
Galway fares worst in the study, with tourist attractions like the Spanish Arch described as a dump while bins overflow with beer cans and plastic rubbish.
Limerick and Waterford are the cleanest cities in Ireland despite having heavily littered areas strewn with cigarette butts and chewing gum.
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The study was carried out by An Taisce on behalf of the Irish Businesses Against Litter lobby group, headed by Dr Tom Cavanagh.
Cities are rated from A to D in a Europe-wide rating, with A being litter-free.
Kilkenny was the largest urban area that came close to being rated A. Dún Laoghaire also rated very highly, but failed to get litter-free status.
Almost all Scandinavian, German, Dutch and some Italian cities are described as litter-free.
The survey says you would have to visit North Africa to find a capital city as dirty as Dublin.
Universities across the country also come in for some criticism; UCD is the worst and Trinity the cleanest. ITs were not necessarily dirtier than universities.
This survey was carried out by monitoring each area for general littering, graffiti, grass areas, unwashed signage, dog waste, etc.
There are an estimated 1.3m people living in areas that are either heavily or very heavily littered.
Dr Tom Cavanagh argues that litter controls are not properly in place. He says just 137 fines were issued in Galway alone between January and June 2002 and only 59 were paid.
This is a poor record he says and highlights that things could be easily improved with more stringent controls.
He says a representative sent by the Swedish government's tourist board spent two to three weeks in Ireland this year.
When he returned home, he recommended that Ireland was not a suitable place for Swedes to holiday in because of the filth.
[Modificato da acescape 30/08/2005 11.19]