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Fermoy, Co Cork. David McCarthy photography via IBAL

Fermoy declared Ireland's cleanest town

Galway City Ballybane and Dublin North Inner City came in at the bottom of the rankings, described as “seriously littered”.

FERMOY HAS TOPPED the ranking of Ireland’s cleanest towns, according to the latest survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

Last year’s winner Ennis, dropped to 22 place while Waterford remained the country’s cleanest city. 

An Taisce assessed litter levels in 40 towns and cities on behalf of IBAL. This year, it found that just under 90% of areas were clean, with a top tier of 13 towns deemed “cleaner than European Norms”.

Praising the Cork town as having exceeded its “usual high standards of cleanliness”, An Taisce said: 

“Fermoy’s success, last achieved in 2007, will be marked by a specially commissioned public sculpture in the town this year to the value of €40,000.” 

Finishing just behind Fermoy was Athlone and Killarney, while Galway City Ballybane and Dublin North Inner City came in at the bottom of the rankings, described as “seriously littered”. 

As runners-up, Athlone and Killarney will each receive a number of Norway maple trees, courtesy of the Irish Tree Centre in Cork.

‘Landfill-like’

According to the report, disadvantaged urban areas occupied the bottom five places in the rankings.

Ballymun, Cork’s Northside and Mahon were littered, while Dublin City Centre was again moderately littered.

The report found that Dublin’s North Inner City suffered from litter blackspots on Oriel Street, Dunne Street, Sherrard Street Lower and Railway Street.

Fana Glas in Ballybane was also a litter blackspot, where “an air of neglect pervaded throughout”, with the communal areas “in very poor condition”.

PastedImage-48139 IBAL IBAL

According to the authors, Ballymun’s result was brought down by dumping and burnt items at the former Towers and recycle facility at the Shopping Centre, while the Maples in Mahon in Cork was criticised as “not just littered but subject to dumping with soiled nappies strewn about. There were very heavy levels of all manner of litter throughout.”

The report on Cork’s Northside highlighted the North Ring Road as being “almost landfill-like” in places and stated, “long-term littered sites that have been repeatedly highlighted in previous surveys are not being dealt with.”

“Three years ago we deliberately shone a spotlight on specific city areas in the hope that the attention would spur councils and communities into action,” Conor Horgan of IBAL said.

It is fair to say we have seen no noticeable improvement in any of these areas – nor have we seen much by way of substantial measures to them turn around.

“At a minimum, these repeatedly littered sites, often subject to dumping, need to be targeted and cleaned up,” said Horgan.

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    Mute Stephen Duggan
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:47 PM

    The two words, “Nanny State” spring to mind. Good Jaysus!!

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    Mute lambda sensor
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:55 PM

    @Stephen Duggan: when parents allow their kids to turn into overweight, fat and obese slobs then, yes, it’s up to the state to be the nanny. We all will pay for these fat kids health problems over many years. The ihf work is to be commended in this area. Far too much junk food targeted at kids.

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    Mute Tony Henry
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:55 PM

    @Stephen Duggan: Even Nannies love to see you eat :-) it’s a bad day when food is dangerous and offensive enough to ban its promotion

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    Mute Tony Henry
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:57 PM

    @lambda sensor: it’s about choice…. good food choice bad food choice…..

    19
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    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:01 PM

    @Stephen Duggan: Fair enough but when a junk food company is telling lies about its product and targeting children in particular you have to draw the line. Obesity, smoking, alcohol etc. is costing health problems and hundreds of millions of euro to the people of this state. Lets not add to it.

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:13 PM

    @lambda sensor: yeah right the pc brigade go mad when someone mentions anything about travellers or nigerians .. but its ok to xall overweight people fat or slobs !!!!!

    26
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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:15 PM

    @Fr. Fintan Stack: considering the vast majority of adults in this state are now overweight, it’s the fatties that actually paying for it, so the economic argument is weak IMO.

    70% of men, and 53% of women are now fat arses.

    18
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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:16 PM

    @Fr. Fintan Stack: yeah fine then .. lets ban fancy resturants also as they no need for them either.

    Are those obese,smokers drinkers not memebers of the state in your eyes or what, are you a real Father. if so have some compasion ffs

    11
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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:24 PM

    @Stephen Duggan: Indeed we a Nanny state when it suits them to show their EU masters how great we are .. there is no Nanny State where its reaslly needed though, Homelessness, the general housing crisis, careers, suicide prevention etc.

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Nov 26th 2019, 4:02 PM

    @Stephen Duggan: Advertising is a form of manipulation, restricting it for unhealthy or harmful is useful and isn’t being a nanny state at all. This doesn’t impact your ability to buy Pizza and Donuts at all, it just restricts the attempts to manipulate you into believing you need them.

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 4:12 PM

    @Rochelle: Yes but why just them then .. why should Black Friday nonsense be allowed here ?

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    Mute Rb1kan
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:51 PM

    Buy it don’t buy it. Can we stop babysitting people?

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Nov 26th 2019, 5:15 PM

    @Rb1kan: We can treat some foods like cigarettes and tax them so people will pay for their health care, then by all means fire away eat what you want its your life.

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    Mute Mickey Finn
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:54 PM

    Vat on bottled water is a joke . Start there

    78
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    Mute Lar Meyler
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:51 PM

    Ah here, enough is enough! No to censorship!

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    Mute Ro-your-nan
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:56 PM

    Love a pizza right now

    42
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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:53 PM

    Id be taking aim at parents actually, but they know if they did they’d be on the receiving end of a backlash.

    I’d love it if they said, “If you’re pre-teen kid is obese or morbidly obese without reasonable justification, you’re a failure as a parent as far as we’re concerned.

    Ruffle a few feathers wouldn’t it? And perhaps these are the feathers that should be ruffled, rather than targeting the low hanging fruit of fast food outlets.

    No parents are perfect,

    56
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    Mute Honeybee
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:15 PM

    @Perlum Sprite: Maybe fast food outlets should have entry gates and signs which read “If you can’t fit through,then our products are not for you” or else let people decide for themselves, this is getting over the top.

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:19 PM

    @Perlum Sprite: Yeah and a test for idiots like you to ensure that you cannot add to the gene pool with your racsism

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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:34 PM

    @Gowon Geter: parents aren’t a race dum-dum

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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:35 PM

    @Perlum Sprite: and neither are fat people. But I suspect you have difficulty controlling your mouth and either ate fat, or maybe have fat kids – which is why your feathers are ruffled.

    Shouldn’t you be off out on your exercise bike?

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:48 PM

    @Perlum Sprite: I suppose that was directed at me, no I am thin, too thin actually and have been all my life, I have no kids either, so put those assumptions with the rest of your opinions.
    And pot and kettle there when talking about controlling ones mouth.

    Yes it is a form of racism to single out any vunerable part of society and throw derogatory terms at them

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    Mute Tommy Roche
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    Nov 26th 2019, 5:39 PM

    @Gowon Geter: It’s not racism. Honestly.

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    Mute Do the Bort man
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:02 PM

    Why isn’t the journal covering the Farmer protests in Dublin today?

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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:05 PM

    @Do the Bort man: that would involve someone going outside in the rain.

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    Mute ed w
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:16 PM

    @Do the Bort man: farmers dont know how to tweet or Instagram so the journal dont know about it

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    Mute Liam Higgins
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:49 PM

    @ed w: if they disturbed cyclists then we’d hear about it on the Journal

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:51 PM

    @Liam Higgins: or if it was a cyclist protest or climate protest

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    Mute ed w
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    Nov 26th 2019, 4:43 PM

    @Liam Higgins: that’s because they can tweet . I rest my case your honour

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    Mute MickN
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    Nov 26th 2019, 2:53 PM

    Just add more tax that will solve it….

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Nov 26th 2019, 5:18 PM

    @MickN: Right on the money, tax like smokes let the gluttons pay for their own healthcare because in the future the system will totally collapse if they keep eating the way they do.

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:00 PM

    If you go to the doctor, and find out your blood type is ragu, then start worrying ..

    23
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    Mute Cynical
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:12 PM

    What does the Irish Heart Foundation do other than marketing? Doesn’t seem like a very impactful charity.

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    Mute Aidan
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    Nov 26th 2019, 6:50 PM

    @Cynical: I was at a CPR course run by the Irish Heart Foundation just last night.

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    Mute Gerry Quinn
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:00 PM

    They even put in a picture of Santa to show the effects of doughnut consumption, and they are still getting pilloried!

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    Mute Billy Walsh
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    Nov 26th 2019, 6:43 PM

    Nanny state

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    Mute Fergus
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:15 PM

    People burying their head in the sand as if to say business and corporations have not spent the last 90 years since Edward Bernays and before, incorporating psychology to convince you that you need want things you don’t need.

    And here the people are now, defending advertisements of all things, from corporations no less, on something as ridiculous as junk food. Insidious.

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:21 PM

    @Fergus: Its an fn ad ffs notiing else, ads on tv’s for decades .. be better off to ban Black Friday here

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    Mute Peter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 4:00 PM

    Last thing I talked about at work yesterday: Double Cheese Burgee Pizza

    First ad I heard on the radio yesterday coming home: Apache Pizza

    Got home, opened twitter and the ad at the top was Apache!

    After all that, I might get a pizza but I’m not gonna binge on pizza for the rest of the week

    6
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    Mute Allison Fegan Molloy
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    Nov 26th 2019, 7:38 PM

    I think we need to look across a number of government departments to really focus on this.
    Education: When I was in primary school, we cooked every week. By the time I was 12, I could do stews,bread, shepherds pie, casseroles, soups, roux, pastry etc, there were competitions run by the Bord Iascaigh Mhara and board bia. I remember getting a bus to watch some lady show us how to cook fish .My children were shown how to make chocolate chip cookies and rice krispie cakes. If children don’t have the basic skills, what will they cook when they are adults ? How will people know that a RDA portion size of pasta is a fist size and not a plate full ?

    Sugar: Years ago they took out of the fat and everything became low fat. But then the food tasted odd so they added sugar instead.It’s in everything that is not fresh, from ketchup, soup to granola. I genuinely don’t think people know how much sugar is in our food.

    Confusing: Labelling is confusing, you are given the nutritional content for a 1/3 of the product when its a protein bar. It is so easy to get confused if you are using a processed item which we all do sometimes. Hidden sugars are so simple to hide in food and then they get called different names. There are actually 56 different names for different varieties of sugar, who tells the public about this ?

    Health warning: All fast food, sweets, chocolates, all high sugar or processed foods, all foods from take always should contain the calorie content per portion. Shops at the moment are just covered in sweets/chocolates/biscuits again the RDA should be labelled on the front of foods like cigarettes.

    Obesity is going to be the next big killer for young adults. The Irish heart foundation , other charities that are government funded and government itself need to target much more than Pizza and doughnuts. There is a level of responsibility as a parent but if they don’t know any better , how can they improve the diets of their children ?. I heard one doctor from Temple Street ask parents what their child had to eat the day before, they had bought Chinese and put a chicken curry in a blender and fed a toddler who was just 12 months of age.

    Talking about nanny states and making digs at parents is not going to help us tackle this problem. We need to do much more, adding a tax on to soft drinks etc is just not good enough, we need to start back at the schools and teach children from a young age.

    5
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    Mute Roughan Mac Namara
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    Nov 26th 2019, 4:17 PM

    Junk food companies are targeting & tracking kids online with these ads. A recent study shows 1/3 of Irish kids are overweight. Of course parents have a key role to play but junk food companies shouldn’t be able to target kids in this way right to their phone! The UK & many other govts are already banning and curtailing these ads. It is not the solution by itself but it is part of the solution just as it was with smoking.

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Nov 26th 2019, 5:19 PM

    @Roughan Mac Namara: Pure child abuse no other word.

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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:32 PM

    Advertising, by its very nature, is misleading. But we all know it’s just that. It doesn’t take a clever person to figure that out.

    They are defending, I think, a company advertising products that people freely chose to consume or not consume.

    They’re trying to sell something – which in a capitalist society you must do to survive. If you can’t offer someone goods or services of some kind you are otherwise known as unemployed.

    So a balance has to be struck between businesses and the public interest. restricting alcohol advertisers at sporting or kids events, banning cigarette ads – all good. I know people who drink every day. Smoke every day. But no-one goes to fast food outlets daily.

    People are buying and eating processed shit, in bulk and weekly, from the supermarket chains.

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    Mute Perlum Sprite
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:32 PM

    @Perlum Sprite: meant for Fergus above

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    Mute Gowon Geter
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:50 PM

    @Perlum Sprite: Go back to bed you clown .. how do u know that no one goes to fast food outlest daily ? where is the evidence for that ?

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    Mute Pat Savage
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    Nov 26th 2019, 4:26 PM

    @Perlum Sprite:
    The IHF do a lot of great work.Discovering you have a heart condition,it is no respected of age ask any paediatric cardiac specialist is a frightening experience.The first help they give is support and guidance .They lobby for change yes even on people’s diets. Those objections were upheld.The adds were wrong and dangerous

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    Mute Splat
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    Nov 26th 2019, 3:45 PM

    Sourdough base has to be

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