Things are picking up for Cork litter
Cork is officially getting tidier with new figures showing marked improvements in litter levels across the city and county.
According to the latest litter survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Mahon has now joined Cork City centre and Fermoy in claiming a ‘clean’ status.
Cork’s Northside, while still considered “littered”, also showed year-on-year improvement.
Overall, Cork city had just three heavily littered sites out of 25 surveyed and none of which were subject to dumping.
IBAL noted that MacCurtain Street “was looking particularly well”, while St Patrick’s Street “was looking its best ever”.
Mahon
Coming from the bottom of the table a few years ago, Mahon has seen one of the IBAL league’s biggest successes. The business group said improvements in Mahon “didn’t just occur overnight” and are the result of both heavy investment in infrastructure, combined with a committed Tidy Towns group. Areas with significant improvement included Avenue de Rennes, Mahon Drive, Ringmahon and Skehard Road.
Fermoy
This year saw a welcome bounce-back from Fermoy after a disappointing result last time out. IBAL noted “very encouraging” improvements at Pike Road which barely missed the top litter grade after being noted as “heavily littered” during the last survey. IBAL said the residential area of Barry’s Court was particularly freshly presented and maintained. Other top ranking sites included Fermoy Town Park and McCurtain Street and Patrick Street. By far the most heavily littered site surveyed in Fermoy was Lidl car park which IBAL said was let down by heavy levels of litter in the surrounding shrubbery and grass area.
Cork city’s Northside
IBAL noted major improvements in Cork’s Northside in 2025. The vacant property on the corner of Bride Valley and Upper Fairhill was much improved compared to previous IBAL surveys and a vacant property at Mount Agnes Road was also somewhat improved. There were some minor improvements at a car park adjacent to Blackstone Rovers FC but litter levels were still very pronounced. Top-ranking sites included Glenheights Road, Cathedral Road, and the “lovely park environment” at Gerry O’Sullivan Park. However, IBAL said the waste ground at the corner of Fairfield Meadows was subject to “phenomenal levels of dumping”, while boarded up houses at Killala Gardens and Kilmore Road also suffered from dumping.
Commenting on the 2025 reports, IBAL's Conor Horgan said: “The most pleasing finding of 2025 was the progress made in socially disadvantaged areas.
“Even areas at the foot of our rankings have significantly lower litter levels than a year ago.”
A significant improvement in city cleanliness
Cork city centre has been ranked as “clean to European norms” in the latest publication of the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) report, which Cork City Council has welcomed.
The report, which was released on Monday is based on surveys of individual locations and represents a snapshot at a particular point in time.
A total of 22 out of the 25 sites assessed received either an A, B, or C grade. In total there were 11 As, 11 Bs, and three Cs. Both St Patrick’s Street and MacCurtain Street were given A grades, which the report said was “particularly welcome”.
“It is some achievement to have such a large and heavily trafficked site in such good shape – well done to all concerned. All elements were in excellent order – paving, stainless steel bollards, seating, tree planting, bicycle parking etc. The wooden seating which surrounded the large planter boxes are a lovely addition. It was very much deserving of the top litter grade,” said the report.
The report also found that the Lee Banks Walkway was virtually free of litter.
A spokesperson for the City Council said that the “classification of the city as Clean to European norms is the result of the hard work and dedication of the city council’s street sweeping and cleansing crews who are out seven days a week from early morning to late in the evening, investment in new street cleaning equipment such as the Multihog power-washer, and the commitment of the majority of businesses and property owners in the city.”
The report found that Mahon was on of the League’s “big successes", coming from bottom of the table just a few years ago to 18th of 40 towns surveyed. Of the ten areas in Mahon surveyed, there were six A grades, two Bs, and two Cs.
Moving forward, the council said that it will “study the issues of concern noted in a small number of areas and assess what changes, further actions, or new initiatives need to be carried out to help bring about further improvements”.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.