Emly, Co Tipperary has been named Ireland’s tidiest town for the first time.
The south Tipperary village was chosen from 720 competitors in this year’s National Tidy Towns Competition.
Other winners included Aughrim, Co Wicklow, which was named Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town; Westport, Co Mayo, which received the Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town award; and Ennis, Co Clare, which scooped the award for the country’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre.
A new climate change award, introduced this year, was won by the town of Rathangan in Co Kildare. The Repak-sponsored Best Bring Bank Award was taken by Tallanstown, Co Louth, which also secured the Regional Award for Midlands East.
Organised by the TidyTowns Unit at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and sponsored by SuperValu, the TidyTowns awards were announced at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham in front of 500 invited guests.
Awards were presented by the Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
“The adjudicators were extremely impressed with Emly this year and they commented that the pride of the inhabitants is expressed in the every corner of the village," he said. "I would like to congratulate everyone involved, the TidyTowns committee, the schools, the businesses, the local authority and the residents; it is a remarkable achievement to win this award in the face of such strong competition."
Full details of all this year's winners are available at www.tidytowns.ie