A new survey has found that although Ireland's tourist towns and cities are cleaner than ever, one Dublin area has been given the tag of 'litter blackspot'.
The results by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) showed that Ballymun recorded one of the worst results since the league was founded 17 years ago.
It's the first time in three years that an area has received the lowest grade of 'litter blackspot'.
The examiner of the survey noted that it was “especially disappointing that sites which had been top ranking in previous surveys were littered”.
The car park at Ballymun Shopping Centre was described as “a complete ‘eye-sore’ right in the centre of Ballymun” while Balbutcher Lane wasn’t just littered but subject to dumping, as was Shangan Road.
As well as this, Dublin's north inner city has been described as 'seriously littered'.
IBAL’s Conor Horgan said: "An indication of the progress we’ve made over past 5 years has been the absence of litter blackspots in our survey.
"However, as the Ballymun and other results show, there has been little if any progress in disadvantaged areas of our cities.
"The gap between these areas and the commercial high-footfall commercial city centres is widening.”
He did however praise the cleanliness of Dublin Airport and surrounding areas in the capital.
“It is also important that their first impression be a good one, so it’s pleasing to see the roads around Dublin Airport are again to Clean to European norms.”
Dublin Airport came 15th in the IBAL anti-litter league, Swords came 18th while Tallaght was 22nd.
Dun Laoghaire and Dublin City centre filled the last two places of the top 25.
