Longford village wins Tidy Towns 2012 award

THE SMALL south Longford village of Abbeyshrule has beaten 854 other cities, towns and villages to win this year’s Tidy Towns award.

This is the first time Abbeyshrule has claimed the award, which comes with a €10,000 prize. Abbeyshrule has also won the tidiest village award, as well as a gold medal and the regional award for the midlands and east.

The village was awarded 312 points out of a maximum of 400. The judges praised it for its “splendid displays of landscaping”, its picturesque bridges, walking trails and “excellent” quality of houses. “On the day we visited, the sun was out, flowers were blooming and the village was gleaming,” the judges noted.

Just one point separated Abbeyshrule from Ennis, Co Clare, and Westport, Co Mayo, which both netted 311 points. Ennis was named Ireland’s tidiest large urban centre and was described as “a wonderful destination” by the judges, who said they never tired “of all it has to offer”.

Westport won the award for the tidiest large town. The Mayo town was still celebrating its title as “The Best Place to Live in Ireland” in the competition run by The Irish Times. It received its award at the weekend.

Clonakilty, Co Cork, was named Ireland’s tidiest small town, with 309 points. It had won the overall prize in 1999.

Last year’s winner, Killarney, was just two points behind Abbeyshrule and received a gold medal award.

Presenting the awards, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan noted that this year’s competition was the biggest to date, with 855 entrants compared to 821 last year.

The competition, run by the Department of the Environment, is in its 54th year and was “stronger than ever”, he said.

Mr Hogan said Abbeyshrule was “a really worthy winner”, but he also singled out Clonakilty’s award for mention because the Co Cork town had been flooded earlier this year. He said it was “a perfect example of where community and local authorities have overcome great adversity to win an award here today”.

Catherine O’Connor of the Clonakilty Tidy Towns committee said the town had been badly flooded on a night in June, and the committee feared this would affect their chances in the competition.

“We thought we’d be in trouble, but when you saw the way the town came back it was just unbelievable,” she said. Hundreds of people came out to help and the town bounced back quickly. “Two of our volunteers who are with us this evening are not back in their homes yet ,” Ms O’Connor said.

Almost 1,000 representatives from Tidy Towns groups attended the event at the Helix in Dublin yesterday.

Mr Hogan told them they were making “a very big difference” and were making Ireland a better place. “Tidy Towns is such a positive initiative. It is a catalyst for so much good work, so much voluntary effort. It makes an enormous contribution to improving our cities, towns and villages, making them better places to be.”

This year, for the first time, the competition has recognised 13 “local community heroes” who were described as the backbone of Tidy Towns committees around the country.

Other awards presented yesterday included Fáilte Ireland’s tourism towns awards. The 10 successful towns are Ballyvaughan, Clonakilty, Dundalk, Ennis, Kilkenny, Killarney, Letterkenny, Portmagee, Trim and Westport.

Ennis also won a national award for controlling gum litter, while Abbey village in Co Galway won the “Notice Nature Biodiversity” award.

The national sustainable development award went to Abbeyleix, Co Laois, while Athboy, Co Meath, was highly commended for its community allotment. Emly in Co Tipperary, which won the overall Tidy Towns award in 2009, won this year’s climate change award.

The Gaeltacht award went to Carraig Airt, Co Donegal, while Bere Island in Cork won the islands award.

For the full results, see tidytowns.ie