Kilkenny has retained the title as the cleanest Irish city at an awards ceremony in Dublin. It is the first time a town or city has retained the title in the survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

They narrowly beat Cavan and Tramore to take the crown in the ranking of 42 towns and cities.

An Taisce, who conduct the surveys on behalf of IBAL, commented in their report about Kilkenny "Great care has been taken with the streetscape along High Street and surveyor noted a significant improvement at the parking by Dunnes Stores. All aspects of the train station were in very good condition, with the interior in pristine condition, and the Recycle Facility off Nuncio Road was in good order".

It also found that the N11 approach from Dublin was an excellent route into Kilkenny, creating "a very positive first impression of the town".

Congratulating Kilkenny, the Chairman of IBAL Dr. Tom Cavanagh said Kilkenny's standing as a major tourist attraction in Ireland made it an appropriate winner of the IBAL initiative. "As a busy city, with lots of visitors throughout the year, Kilkenny faces certain challenges in keeping clean all the time. Winning this award for the second year shows they have really found the right formula".

Meanwhile Dublin city centre got a clean rating for the first time in 18 years of monitoring - but the area to the north-east of the city centre was found to be exceptionally dirty. 

Dun Laoghaire and Swords have also fared particularly well, while Tallaght and Dublin Airport have slipped down the league tables.

IBAL Spokesperson Conor Horgan explains why Kilkenny were the outright winners.