Minister for Foreign Affairs welcomes Dundalk’s outstanding performance in Ireland’s cleanest towns’ survey.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern T.D. expresses congratulations on Dundalk being named Ireland’s cleanest town/city for 2007. The Minister said “this is an outstanding performance by one of Ireland’s largest towns and shows that all sections of the community have been involved. I would like to congratulate the Council, business community and the residents of Dundalk who have all worked together to achieve this great result for the town. It is an exceptionally consistent result when you consider that Dundalk was named the second cleanest town in Ireland in 2006”.

“Irish Business against litter (IBAL) are to be commended for promoting a litter free environment and the great strides made by so many Irish towns since 2002 is a testament to the value of exercises such as this”.

Editors note:

Set up in 1996, Irish Business Against Litter is an alliance of companies sharing a belief that continued economic prosperity - notably in the areas of tourism, food and direct foreign investment - is contingent on a clean, litter-free environment.

The IBAL Anti Litter League is the largest ever litter survey conducted in Ireland, with all areas of over 6,000 population covered over the course of the year, ensuring that the areas covered, have an overall population of close to 2 million people. Sites are graded by An Taisce according to international standards. 

An Taisce, in its report on Dundalk, commented: “Nine out of ten sites surveyed got the top litter rating and all of the approach routes into Dundalk were excellent. Dundalk stands out for the consistent cleanliness of its environs, from the approach roads to the main streets and municipal areas”.

++ENDS
7th January 2008
Press Office