Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce has said there is real cause for celebration this week following the town’s return to the top ten in the Irish Business Against Litter League (IBAL).

Killarney has been declared Cleaner than European Norms – the highest possible rating – and the adjudicators were lavish in their praise of the effort being made in the town.

Chamber noted that the judges were particularly impressed by the work put in to tackle the commercial bins storage area at the Glebe car park which was identified as a problem area in previous reports but it was awarded the top grade on this occasion.

The Chamber executive said there is great credit due to the management and staff and the elected members of Killarney Municipal District Council for successfully addressing that issue and to the outdoor staff who work tirelessly every day to continue the war against litter on the streets and approach roads.

It was also very noteworthy, Chamber added, that very favourable mention was made of the campaign to eliminate single use coffee cups and Killarney is leading the way nationally in that regard.

It is now hoped that the government will introduce the long-promised levy on single use cups so that the rest of the country can benefit to the same extent that Killarney has.

“The most pleasing aspect of the entire report is that the IBAL adjudicators noted that there were no heavily littered sites in the entire town and that most of the areas inspected were deemed to be spotless and deserving of an A grade,” Chamber added.

The business organisation said the reintroduction of the Killarney Looking Good Competition and the huge effort being put in by tidy towns volunteers, business owners and residents has contributed enormously in maintaining the town in such pristine condition and it all augurs well for the national tidy towns competition later in the year.

“The tidy towns adjudication and the Looking Good Competition judging has commenced and we would encourage everybody in the town to continue their great efforts to ensure Killarney is in the mix for the top honours,” Chamber added.