Irish Towns Guide

Yet another litter survey by  IBAL  . The 2009 results were released today (Jan 4th 2010)  The  litter survey covers 60 towns with  over 6,000 population . Sites are graded by An Taisce according to international standards.

The cleanest town was Bray – whilst the two dirtiest were Limerick and Wicklow.

IBAL Anti Litter League Final Results 2009

1 Bray

2 Cavan

3 Drogheda

4 Clonmel

5 Longford

6 Wexford

7 Carlow

8 Sligo

9 Celbridge

10 Blanchardstown

11 Ballincollig

12 Dundalk

13 Mullingar

14 Trim

15 Portlaoise

16 Navan

17 Roscommon

18 Dún Laoghaire

19 Tramore

20 Shannon

21 Killarney

22 Leixlip

23 Dungarvan

24 Ballina

25 Castlebar

26 Kilkenny

27 Fermoy

28 Swords

29 Balbriggan

30 Newbridge

31 Newcastlewest

32 Midleton

33 Ashbourne

34 Thurles

35 Enniscorthy

36 Youghal

37 Monaghan

38 Lucan

39 Cobh

Moderately Littered

40 Waterford City

41 Buncrana

42 Tullamore

43 Arklow

44 Gorey

45 Galway

46 Ennis

47 Tuam

48 Tralee

49 New Ross

Littered

50 Cork City

51 Dublin City

52 Naas

53 Nenagh

Seriously Littered

54 Ballinasloe

55 Tallaght

56 Letterkenny

57 Athlone

58 Mallow

Litter Blackspots

59 Wicklow

60 Limerick City

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According to the Sunday Times league table of the top secondary schools in Ireland 2008 – these are the top 20 schools in Connacht. The positions are based on entry to third level institutions only – so may not be a very accurate assessment of a school. (Pupils may have taken Grinds elsewhere). In the absence of any government assessment  of school performance in Ireland – it is all we have to go on and is better than nothing at all.  There are no published figures or exam results for schools in Ireland – mainly because teachers are against it. Maybe if we saw exam results some  teachers might not stay in their jobs .
(M=Mixed, B=Boys, G= Girls)
The figure shown next to each school is thepercentage of Leaving Cert pupils entering third level in Ireland.

1 Scoil Damhnait, Achill, Co Mayo M 7 84.6
2 Seamount College, Kinvara, Co Galway G 76.2
3 * Marian College, Mohill, Co Leitrim M 75.0
4 Mount St Michael, Claremorris, Co Mayo G 74.5
5 Jesus & Mary Secondary School,Salthill, Galway G 70.4
6 Colaiste Iognaid SJ, Sea Rd, Galway M 70.0
7 Ursuline College, Sligo G 69.6
8 Colaiste na Coiribe, Tuam Road, Galway M 67.7
9 Presentation College, Athenry, Co Galway M 63.8
10 Scoil Muire gan Smal, Roscommon G 61.7
11 Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew, Co Galway M 60.5
12 Dominican College, Taylor’s Hill, Galway G 60.3
13 Scoil Mhuire, Ballinasloe, Co Galway G 60.0
14 St Mary’s Secondary School, Ballina, Co Mayo G 58.7
15 St Joseph’s College, Nun’s Island, Galway B 58.3
16 St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, Co Mayo B 57.5
17 Colaiste Cholmain, Claremorris, Co Mayo B 54.9
18 Colaiste Cholmcille, Inverin, Co Galway M 53.1
19 Sligo Grammar School, The Mall, Sligo M 52.8
20 Presentation College, Tuam, Co Galway G 52.7

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Tallaght is the dirtiest town in Ireland – that’s according to “Irish Business Against Litter “  They are an alliance of companies who say they share a sharing a belief that continued economic prosperity  is contingent on a clean, litter-free environment. As part of the IBAL Anti-Litter League, An Taisce monitors all towns of population 6,000 and over, independently in accordance with international grading standards.

The first round of results were published today and 3 towns came out as being Litter Blackspots. These towns were  Tullamore , Roscommon and worst of all was Tallaght .
The towns of Bray , Ballina,  Cobh,  Enniscorthy,  and Longford did not come out too well  either – they were all classed as Seriously Littered.

Slightly better – but still classed as Littered were the towns of Athy, Kilkenny ,Limerick City, Cork City, Ranelagh and  Mallow
Ennis came out top of the League out of  55 towns and cities in Ireland.

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Census 2006 figures released last week – show that Ballina in  Mayo  has 92.9% of it’s population that stated their religion was Roman Catholic. Of all the towns with more than 5000 population – Ballina was the town with the  highest percentage of Catholics.
The total percentage of Catholics in Ireland as a whole is 86.83%

Top Ten  towns for percentages of Catholic residents:
Ballina  92.9%
Carrick-on-Suir  92.82%
Buncrana  92.54%
Thurles 92.37%
Clonmel  91.99%
Tipperary  91.47%
Dunboyne  91.41%
Newcastle West 91.33%
Mallow  91.24%
New Ross 90.96%

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The streets of Letterkenny must be quiet in the mornings. Letterkenny has the lowest percentage of workers who leave home before 6.30am to go to work. Just 2.24% of working people in Letterkenny said that they leave the house that early . Census 2006  figures  from towns with more than 5000 people – show that  154 people out of 6883 in Letterkenny – said they have to leave the house before 6.30 in the morning.
At the other end of the scale we have Edenderry in Offaly where almost 1 in 5 workers (18.84%)  have to leave home before 6.30.
Other irish towns where  not many workers don’t get up before 6.30
Sligo  2.62%
Killarney  2.63%
Castlebar  2.9%
Passage West 3.24%
Ballina 3.26%
Westport  3.37%
Limerick City  3.59%
Cork City  3.63%
Carrigaline 3.73%
Dungarvan  3.74%
Galway City  3.78%

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According to census 2006 figures on the time that people leave the house to go to work – Westport has the highest percentage of workers who don’t leave the house until after 9.30 am. (Out of all towns with more than 5000 population)
298 workers in Westport out of 2013 (1.48%) said in the census that they left their house to go to work after  9.30am. Other towns with high percantages of  late risers include  Ballina Longford Birr
 Castlebar Athlone Galway City Sligo Killarney .
At the opposite end of the scale is Lusk – where only 0.38% of workers manage to get such a good lie in each weekday.

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The town of Longford has the highest unemployment rate in Ireland – of all towns over 1500 population.
Census figures show that the percentage of unemployed people in Longford is 11.14% – compared to a national figure of 5.89%. Longford has  almost double the average rate of unemployment.
Top Ten Towns for Worst Unemployment
Rathnew
Abbeyfeale
New Ross
Ballina (Mayo)
Carrick-on-Suir
Enniscorthy
Athy
Castlecomer-Donaguile
Cootehill
All these towns have rates of unemployment above 8.68%

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The 2006 census asked people if they were of Traveller background. In Tuam Co Galway -  7.81% of the town answered Yes – the highest percentage in Ireland. The town with the second highest concentration of Travellers is Longford at 4.63%. Other popular towns for travellers are:
Birr  – 4.15%
Ballinasloe   3.2%
Ballina   2.83%
Tullamore   2.81%
Newcastle West  2.46%
Monaghan  2.21 %
New Ross  2.15%
Castlebar  2.04%

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