A survey by Irish Business Against Litter has found the majority of Ireland's towns are clean, but two-thirds of city areas are littered.
An Taisce found Maynooth to be the cleanest of 40 towns and cities reviewed across Ireland, while Dundalk was "seriously littered".
Vaping devices were included as a litter type for the first time, which IBAL described as an "especially toxic form of litter".
As the peak summer tourist season begins, over 90% of towns surveyed were deemed clean, compared with just 28% of city areas.
Waterford and Galway were found to be the only clean cities, while Dundalk and Tralee were the sole towns to miss out on clean status.
The survey showed Dublin city centre has deteriorated from 'moderately littered' to 'littered'.
"Clearly, tourism is a focus of this annual summer survey and unfortunately the major urban gateways to our towns and countryside - notably Dublin - are falling short of the mark, and creating an underwhelming first impression for visitors," according to Conor Horgan of IBAL.
"As a high-cost destination, tourists to Ireland can expect better. It's a fact, too, that the great work being done in our towns is negated by litter in our cities."
Vaping devices were evident in 6% of sites surveyed, IBAL said.
"Not only are they single-use plastic, but the lithium battery within them is an especially toxic form of litter. Unfortunately, as is our experience with coffee cups, consumers tend to opt for the convenience of the disposable product. In striving for a circular economy, the case for banning them is a strong one," Mr Horgan said.
The number of heavily littered sites or 'blackspots' across the country fell in 2022 and continued to fall in 2023.
Cork city and Limerick city were improved in this regard, as was Drogheda, which bounced back from 'seriously littered' at the foot of the rankings 12 months ago to 'clean to European norms' this time round.
However, An Taisce encountered discarded furniture, sleeping bags and blankets off Thomas Street in Dublin, and a basement on O'Connell Street that "wasn't just littered but subject to dumping".
Cork northside's Cathedral Walk was subject to dumping and "an eye-sore for children playing in the school yard directly opposite".
Masks were found in 7% of sites, and there was a slight fall in the prevalence of alcohol cans and bottles. However, coffee cups were present in 20% of sites.
"With cleaning schedules normalised and PPE litter not a major factor, we can no longer look to Covid as an excuse for littered city streets. Now is the time to assign a new priority to litter, with concrete, resourced actions. In the absence of this, things will not get better," said Mr Horgan.
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