Ennis strikes blow for larger urban areas with tidy town win

Ennis in Co Clare was named Ireland's tidiest town yesterday - less than a month after being identified as one of Ireland's dirtiest places.

The market town of Co Clare beat off competition from almost 700 other towns and villages to emerge overall winner in 2005. The placing follows four years as a gold medal winner in the large towns category.

The Tidy Towns judges praised litter control, amenities, the built environment and landscaping, remarking that the "litter situation was well contained both in the town and in the suburbs". The judges said the tree planting scheme in particular had given the town "a sylvan aspect".

Less than one month ago, the Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) campaign, which is judged by An Taisce, said Ennis was one of Ireland's dirtiest towns in their summertime league. The results were released on August 28th, in the same month that the Tidy Towns judges concluded on their second visit to the town that it should be given 49 out of 50 marks for cleanliness.

In its summary, the Ibal group concluded Ennis had a serious litter problem and singled out cigarette butts strewn around the town centre. The business body compared Ennis to Mayfield in Cork and Finglas in Dublin.

However, the mayor of Ennis said the town had been vindicated by yesterday's news. Speaking immediately after the announcement of the results by Minister of State Batt O'Keeffe, mayor Frank Neylon accused the business league of "coming in on a Monday after a weekend when there would have been 10,000 to 12,000 visitors in the town and counting the cigarette butts on the street".

Members of the Ennis Tidy Towns committee also expressed their disappointment with the Ibal finding. "They are entitled to their opinion, but I personally found it very demoralising. I thought it would affect the Tidy Towns judges. Others didn't, but I did," said Teresa McGrath.

Mary McAllister praised the co-operation of all contributors to the Tidy Towns effort, particularly young people and the business community in industrial estates.

Tidy Towns committee chairman Donal Horgan extended his thanks to everyone including the competition judges: "I don't know who they are, but if I did, I'd buy them a pint," he said.

Mr Horgan said the success was built on effort that began 25 years ago but which had picked up in the last 10 years. He paid tribute to the local town council which had developed the planting scheme much-praised by the judges.

Each year, the committee had taken note of where marks had been lost and had worked on eliminating those deficiencies the following year, he explained.

For the last four years, this had paid off in the form of a gold medal in the large towns category. This year's top prize includes €15,000 for further town improvements.

Other winners in the Tidy Towns competition which is sponsored by SuperValu, were Moynalty, Co Meath and Lismore, Co Waterford - the Tidiest Village and Tidiest Small Town respectively. Moynalty and Lismore each receives a cheque for €4,000 and a trophy. Lismore was the overall winner in 2004.

Presenting the prizes, Mr O'Keeffe said the competition had shown that even urban areas had the potential to become a Tidy Towns winner.