Galway plunges down the rankings in litter league

Galway City has plunged from being the cleanest city in Ireland at the start of the year to being the most littered.

And the city’s main arts venue – the Town Hall Theatre – has been branded a litter blackspot, with the area being strewn with cigarette butts when surveyed.

Councillor Niall McNelis, Chair of the city’s Tidy Towns Committee said he was very disappointed that a couple of blackspots had “dragged down the city’s image”.

The latest survey from IBAL (Irish Business Against Litter) has ranked the city as ‘moderately littered’, and is in 33rd place in a survey of towns and cities across Ireland.

It found that the likes of the Town Hall Theatre, Galway Retail Park, St Michael’s GAA Club and Westside Boxing Club were all litter blackspots, receiving a ‘Grade D’.

Areas which received a ‘C’ grade were the G Hotel – where approach paths were “riddled with cigarette butts” and the Pillo Hotel on the Headford Road, which was “considerably littered” in the grass and shrubbery area.

“A disappointing result for Galway, coming bottom of the five cities surveyed – six bad sites is disappointing and surprising. Sites don’t become litter blackspots overnight, it is usually as a result of long-term abuse and neglect,” the report reads.

Mayor Padraig Conneely said that Council management must accept that there is a litter problem in Galway.

“My outspoken criticism of litter management on the streets of Galway has been vindicated by the latest national litter survey.

“Photo opportunities of litter clean-ups are a pretence that the city is not dirty.

“The city’s litter management is in denial, and must face the reality in relation to litter, and accept there is a problem before it can be resolved,” said Mayor Conneely.

A spokesperson for the City Council said they were disappointed with the results, but pointed out that they were based on a ‘snapshot’ of one particular day in the city.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel.