Dumping at civic site hits Athlone's ranking in litter survey

Dumping at the council's civic amenity site in the Golden Island area has again impacted on Athlone's performance in the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey.

Athlone was declared 'clean to European norms' and received a mid-table ranking, 18th out of 40 towns, in the end-of-year IBAL report which was issued this morning (Tuesday).

The town was ranked slightly higher than Tullamore (20th) and Mullingar (22nd) in the litter survey, but it was not among the top nine towns, including Longford, which were found to be 'cleaner than European norms'.

The IBAL assessments for each town are conducted by the heritage body, An Taisce.

In its latest report on Athlone, the Golden Island Shopping Centre, Athlone Training Centre and "the main shopping street" were all commended for being in the top litter grade.

Athlone Castle was singled out for praise in particular. "Not only was the exterior of the Castle spotless, the whole environment was exceptionally well presented," the report said.

Ten areas of the town were examined for the IBAL report and all received 'A' or 'B' grades, which the exception of the Golden Island civic amenity site which was strongly criticised and given a 'D' rating.

The report said the site was "in a terrible state" and that its perimeter was "lined with a wide variety of litter." It said there was also "significant dumping" to the rear of the clothing recycling units there.

"This is a 'managed' facility. What kind of a cleaning regime is in place here? It didn't get into this state overnight and there was no change since it was surveyed earlier in 2021," the report said.

Another area of the town that came in for less than favourable comment was a section of the N62 close to the Kilmartin N6 Centre.

"Food related litter was very much in evidence along this stretch of road between the main motorway and the N6 Kilmartin Centre. Examples included plastic bottles, coffee cups, fast-food litter and mineral cans," the report said.

Naas received the top ranking in the latest IBAL report, followed by Portlaoise.

Reacting to the survey's findings, Athlone's Deputy Mayor, Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, said he struggled to understand the "huge fluctuation" in the way towns performed in the rankings on a year-on-year basis.

"This (fluctuation) makes it not only hard to follow but also suggests it lacks consistency and even credibility," commented Cllr O'Rourke.

"For example, Naas gained the top spot this year, and congratulations to them, however, they didn't feature in the top 40 positions last year!

"Compared to the forensic and comprehensive methodology and reporting of the National Tidy Towns system, the IBAL seems to be a 'mixed-bag' approach.

"I can only assume from the information provided by IBAL that their assessment is nothing more than a 'drive through' or a 'snapshot' in time."

Despite his scepticism of the IBAL survey, Cllr O'Rourke agreed with its assessment that the civic amenity site in Golden Island was a problem.

"People regularly bring their household waste and dump it around the perimeter of the facility after closing time," he said.

"In fairness, this is a problem identified by IBAL in the past and clearly the lack of action in this area has resulted in a downgrading of the town's position for 2021 to 18th place from 11th in 2020.

"I will be addressing this matter with the council at our monthly meeting next week, it must be dealt with once and for all," he stated.