Limerick loses clean city status

Limerick City Tidy Towns Committee have been frustrated in their efforts to remove litter from basements of buildings in the city centre.

LIMERICK has dropped 18 places in the Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL) league and has lost its status as a clean European city.

Galvone on the south side of the city came in for particular mention as being dirty,  placed 38th of 40 towns and cities inspected and the city as a whole coming in 35th.

IBAL inspectors made unannounced visits to various areas of the city and singled out Cecil Street as being littered and sites near Parnell Street Upper William Street and High Street were described as being areas where there are “huge levels of dumping”.

The report states that Limerick City’s rating was brought down by dumping in the basements of Cecil Street and an area at Upper William Street, described as “filthy, one of the worst sites in a city centre environment”.

The inspectors pointed to dumping in basements as being a particular problem.

Sign up for the weekly Limerick Post newsletter

Dumping at the rear of the Galvone estate brought that area in for unfavourable mention but despite being littered, inspectors found that there were improvements on previous inspections.

The inspectors also criticised the recycling facility at the Roxboro Shopping Centre, describing it as “abused and neglected”.

Limerick was the only city in the country which failed to get a “clean to European standards” ranking from the inspectors this time around.

Newly elected Mayor Michael Sheahan is calling on everyone to help in the fight against litter.

He said that “overall, the results are disappointing, despite the great efforts of Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Tidy Towns, businesses, community and voluntary groups, members of the public and the thousands of volunteers who came out for TLC 5 last Good Friday.

“There continues to be an overall improvement around litter across the city and county,” he said.

Out of the 25 areas surveyed in the Limerick City report, 20 of them received a grade of A or B, while in the Limerick City South report, eight out of the ten areas surveyed received Grades A or B.

“However, a couple of key areas have let us down, notably Galvone Industrial Estate, basements of buildings in Cecil Street, and laneways off Upper William Street and Parnell Street.

“I want to thank all those people across Limerick who take the time to dispose of their litter properly.  We all want Limerick to be the best it can be, and we all have to do our bit.”

“The IBAL report has highlighted a number of issues.  I am particularly calling on all basement owners to clean their basements today and keep them clean.  It is not good enough to leave it to City Centre volunteers who have done marvellous work on basements or to wait for an enforcement notice to clean up.  Clean Up for yourselves, your neighbours, visitors to our city.  Clean up for Limerick.”

“I would encourage Limerick people not to be disheartened and to keep up the fight against litter.  Remember this was one survey on one day – a snap shot of a point in time. Be responsible and put your litter in a bin.  Take part in community clean ups, join the city centre tidy towns volunteers and I will be liaising with council staff to see how we can ensure Limerick improves in the next IBAL survey.”

“And to those who are littering, please stop and think.  Please dispose of your litter responsibly.”

LIMERICK has dropped 18 places in the Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL) league and has lost its status as a clean European city.

Galvone on the south side of the city came in for particular mention as being dirty,  placed 38th of 40 towns and cities inspected and the city as a whole coming in 35th.

IBAL inspectors made unannounced visits to various areas of the city and singled out Cecil Street as being littered and sites near Parnell Street Upper William Street and High Street were described as being areas where there are “huge levels of dumping”.

The report states that Limerick City’s rating was brought down by dumping in the basements of Cecil Street and an area at Upper William Street, described as “filthy, one of the worst sites in a city centre environment”.

The inspectors pointed to dumping in basements as being a particular problem.

Dumping at the rear of the Galvone estate brought that area in for unfavourable mention but despite being littered, inspectors found that there were improvements on previous inspections.

The inspectors also criticised the recycling facility at the Roxboro Shopping Centre, describing it as “abused and neglected”.

Limerick was the only city in the country which failed to get a “clean to European standards” ranking from the inspectors this time around.

Newly elected Mayor Michael Sheahan is calling on everyone to help in the fight against litter.

He said that “overall, the results are disappointing, despite the great efforts of Limerick City and County Council, Limerick Tidy Towns, businesses, community and voluntary groups, members of the public and the thousands of volunteers who came out for TLC 5 last Good Friday.

“There continues to be an overall improvement around litter across the city and county,” he said.

Out of the 25 areas surveyed in the Limerick City report, 20 of them received a grade of A or B, while in the Limerick City South report, eight out of the ten areas surveyed received Grades A or B.

“However, a couple of key areas have let us down, notably Galvone Industrial Estate, basements of buildings in Cecil Street, and laneways off Upper William Street and Parnell Street.

“I want to thank all those people across Limerick who take the time to dispose of their litter properly.  We all want Limerick to be the best it can be, and we all have to do our bit.”

“The IBAL report has highlighted a number of issues.  I am particularly calling on all basement owners to clean their basements today and keep them clean.  It is not good enough to leave it to City Centre volunteers who have done marvellous work on basements or to wait for an enforcement notice to clean up.  Clean Up for yourselves, your neighbours, visitors to our city.  Clean up for Limerick.”

“I would encourage Limerick people not to be disheartened and to keep up the fight against litter.  Remember this was one survey on one day – a snap shot of a point in time. Be responsible and put your litter in a bin.  Take part in community clean ups, join the city centre tidy towns volunteers and I will be liaising with council staff to see how we can ensure Limerick improves in the next IBAL survey.”

“And to those who are littering, please stop and think.  Please dispose of your litter responsibly.”

Advertisement