Posted online: Jan 11th, 2008

By Siobhan Cronin
siobhan.cronin@kildarepost.com
Newbridge has once again fared badly in the recently-published litter league tables, ranking at just 41st place in a survey of 50 Irish towns.

Meanwhile, Newbridge’s latest poor showing is further highlighted by neighbour Naas which has made huge strides, jumping from 39th place to 13th.
The two towns were among 60 surveyed by An Taisce for the Irish Business Against Litter league tables which were published this week. Dundalk was ranked Ireland’s cleanest town, and Sligo the dirtiest.

Newbridge’s showing – which sees it rising from last place in June 2007, up just 9 places, comes in the same week as the Post was contacted by an angry citizen who reported unsightly rubbish left along the riverbank throughout Christmas and the New Year.

Michael Loughman was so infuriated by the lack of action to clean up the town over the holiday period that he took his camera and forwarded pictures of the litter, which included some swans trying to negotiate a shopping trolley in the river, discarded drinks cans, and over-flowing bins, near Rowan Terrace, College Park and the Priory estate.

Newbridge’s ranking of 41st place out of 50 sees the town going from a ‘Litter Blackspot’ status to ‘Littered’.

Newbridge Chamber of Commerce president Joe Fennell said the results were ‘disappointing’ although there had been an improvement from June. However, he admitted the Chamber was aware of certain ‘blackspots’ around the town, like the Athgarvan Road, which was littered with plastic bottles. “This is down to personal responsibility – a small number of individuals letting us down,” he said. He questioned the timing of the inspections, as he walks through the town in the mornings when the cleaners are doing a great job, he added. And he said the Tidy Towns competition, which awarded a bronze medal to the town, may be a better indicator of the town’s tidiness.
A spokesman for Newbridge’s Tidy Towns Association said he had no comment to make on the findings.

Meanwhile, Naas has undergone a rapid turnaround, jumping from a ‘Littered’ ranking in June to gaining the much-coveted ‘Litter Free’ ranking at the start of the new year.
Maynooth has also seen a big improvement. In June it was ranked 46th – ‘Seriously Littered’.

But when the results were announced this week, Maynooth had jumped half-way up the table, to a very respectable 25th place – giving it the title of ‘Moderately Littered’.
Athy has also improved, jumping from 31st place to 17th, giving it a ‘Litter Free’ ranking.
Despite the local Tidy Towns Committee congratulating itself on the town’s improvement, Leixlip still languishes in the bottom half of the table – at 32nd. This is a rise from 37th place.

“Since first entering the scheme in April 2006, Leixlip has risen in the ranking on each successive occasion from 2nd worst (52nd out of 53 towns or cities) to 32nd,” John Colgan of the town’s Tidy Towns group said yesterday. “The Association aims to secure litter-free status by the end of the next year.  This will, of course, depend largely on the performance of Kildare County Council, the primary road or litter cleansing authority serving this area.”