Getting rid of bin bags is the key to cleaning up Dublin's north inner city.
That's according to the latest survey from Irish Business Against Litter.
Once again, the north inner city has been named the most littered part of the country, deteriorating since IBAL last inspected a list of 40 towns and cities.
Spokesperson Conor Horgan says the continued use of bin bags for waste collection is a major problem;
“No progress is likely in the north inner city without a ban on bags. We need the council to come good on its intention to convert the entire city to bin collection services. In addition, it is high time that appropriate legal changes were brought into effect to allow the council to pursue those responsible for littered basements, an age-old blight on our capital city.”
Dublin City Council plans to eliminate bag collections by the end of next year.
Local Green Party councillor Janet Horner says that's one of a number of measures local reps are pushing for:
"We want to see CCTV being brought in so we can target people who are deliberate dumpers, we want to see investment in the public realm so that streets that are just grubby in general get a lift, and we want to see support for more waste crews in the City Council so the manpower is actually there to deal with it."
Councillor Horner says locals struggle to feel pride of place when the area is so rundown;
"When bags are left out and when they are being torn about by seagulls, and you can see, when you walk out the front door, all around you the streets are kept so poorly, it means that people no longer feel a sense of pride in the streets and they're not making an effort to upkeep it - it sort of feeds into a poor behaviour cycle."
Tallaght has suffered a dramatic fall - it's now among four areas in Ireland branded "littered" or "seriously littered".
While the area around the airport, which is normally "clean", was this time found to be "moderately littered".
There is some good news.
The city centre has been cleaned up ahead of the peak tourist season, with noticeable improvements around Abbey Street, O'Connell Street, North Frederick Street and the Jervis Luas stop.
Dumping on Dominic Lane and a littered basement on Parnell Square prevented the city centre from attaining “clean” status.
While Dún Laoghaire is now ranked the 12th cleanest area in the country.
Naas in County Kildare has once again taken the top spot, as the least-littered town in Ireland.
