Ecotourism award for northwest businesses

Fourteen guesthouse and hostel owners in the northwest will today receive a new ecotourism award.

The first Irish recipients of the internationally recognised quality mark are all based in what is being called the Greenbox, Ireland's first ecotourism destination which includes counties Leitrim, Fermanagh, and parts of Cavan, Sligo, Donegal and Monaghan. The Environmental Quality Mark is known as the Flower Eco- Label.

The businesses which will receive their awards at a ceremony in Sligo today include a Co Leitrim B&B that boasts outdoor hot-tubs beside the farmyard and a Co Sligo hostel that has hosted Sunday sermons as well as archaeology tours and alternative weddings.

Eleven award winners are from the Republic while three are across the Border. To achieve the label, they had to satisfy rigorous green standards establishing, for example, that at least 22 per cent of their electricity comes from a renewable energy resource.

The "eco audit" of their premises covered everything from the cleaning agents used to the shower pressure.

"They must serve organic food and it is important to stress that the standard is first class because today's traveller is very discerning," said Mary Mulvey, chief executive office of Greenbox.

She said the northwest, which is still mainly a rural destination, was well placed to tap into the growing eco tourism market. "In some of the better-known tourism destinations in other parts of the country, lakes are polluted and tourism has actually damaged the environment.

"A lot of our area is in many respects a pre-Celtic Tiger landscape."

Ecotourism: award winners

• Janet Bennet (B&B), Prospect Bay, Brackley Lake, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan;

• Albert and Theresa Morrow (guest house and restaurant), Donegal Town, Co Donegal;

• Barbara O'Shea (community owned accommodation), Rossnowlagh, Co Donegal;

• Sheila Kerins, Hillview Lodge B&B, Drumfin, Boyle, Co Sligo;

• Noleen Tyrell, Ard Nahoo Health Farm, Mullagh, Dromahair, Co Leitrim;

• Colm Stapleton, The Gyreum Hostel, Corlisheen, Riverstown, Co Sligo;

• Katherine Keaney, The Oaks B&B, Gortnaderry, Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim;

•Assumpta Clancy (restaurant and B&B), Glenfarne, Co Leitrim;

• Patrick Curran (B&B), The Old Rectory, Fenagh, Glebe, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim;

• Ruth Meade, (community owned accommodation), Ballyshannon, Co Donegal;

• Beatrice McCauley, (self-catering accommodation), Ballyshannon, Co Donegal;

• Rosemary Armstrong, (farmhouse accommodation and restaurant), Arch House, Tullyhona, Florencecourt, Co Fermanagh;

• Marius Leonard, Corralea Activity Centre and Cottages, Belcoo, Co Fermanagh;

• Damien O'Keeffe, (self-catering), Clones Road, Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh.