A survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) has deemed Kilkenny the cleanest out of 40 towns and cities across Ireland.
The business group said that for the first time, all of the city centres surveyed were clean.
However, it said that overall litter levels in Ireland’s towns were up on 2018, and it branded Dublin north inner city as "seriously littered".
According to IBAL, sweet wrappers, chewing gum and cigarette butts are the most common forms of litter on streets.
The group said that while there has been a 13% decrease in litter levels around city centres in the past decade, litter in towns remains constant.
It also said that there has been little reduction in litter in disadvantaged areas over the last five years.
"We’ve seen the fruits of the greater attention given to keeping our city centres clean, to the point where they are now almost as clean as our towns. In 2019, for the first time, all were deemed clean," says Conor Horgan of IBAL.
"Unfortunately, the gap in cleanliness between these neglected areas and the high-profile city centres is not closing," he added.
IBAL says that from 2021 an EU directive will force tobacco manufacturers to cover the cost of cigarette butt collection and processing in an effort to reduce the number of cigarettes disposed of in the environment.
It is the fourth time that Kilkenny has topped the litter rankings, having last won in 2014.
The surveys were conducted by An Tasice on behalf of IBAL, and deemed 21 out of the 27 towns inspected as clean. Galway edged out Waterford to claim cleanest city as it enters its year as European City of Culture.
The city areas of Galvone in Limerick, Ballymun in Dublin and Cork northside were "littered", with Dublin north inner city at the bottom of the rankings.
