Calls for IBAL to only consider commercial and open areas

Councillors have called for Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) to “only consider commercial and open public realm areas” when compiling their yearly reports.

The 2025 IBAL report was met with much disapproval in Tallaght earlier this year after it transpired the group had included two residential estates in the areas it looked at.

In the first round of the IBAL report 2025, released in June, Tallaght ranked 38th out of 40 towns and cities surveyed and was deemed “littered”, a significant drop of 10 places from the previous year.

Tallaght was credited with a “much improved performance” in 2024 thanks to several locations receiving the top grade such as The Square, the Civic Centre, the village and West Park.

Tallaght Community Council released a statement at the time saying that “something seems amiss” with IBAL’s approach to the survey and questioning why residential areas like Sheehy Skeffington Meadows and Aidan’s Close had been included.

A motion was agreed by councillors at the full council meeting on Monday, October 13, to send a letter to IBAL over the issue.

The motion, brought by Tallaght councillor Mick Duff (Ind), called on IBAL “and their agent, An Taisce, to refrain from including small social housing areas in their annual report, when considering the overall littering report on the general area and should only consider commercial and open public realm areas in their report”.

South Dublin County Council agreed that if the motion was passed, a letter would be sent and the reply circulated among council members once received.

“The Executive met with representatives from IBAL in July to discuss the survey,” the reply from SDCC director of community Lorna Maxwell read.

“SDCC highlighted their concerns with the recent survey results and engaged in a productive and constructive discussion.

“We look forward to continued collaboration with increased communication going forward.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme