The picturesque lakeside village of Terryglass, Co Tipperary, has been voted Ireland's tidiest town for the second time. Last night, the village won the 1997 Tidy Towns competition, an achievement it first attained in 1983.
Along with the honour and a perpetual trophy, the village's Tidy Towns committee receives a £5,000 cheque.
The prize was presented to the Terryglass committee by the Minister for the Environment and Rural Development, Mr Dempsey, at a ceremony in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, last night.
Terryglass, on the shores of Lough Derg, received 249 marks out of a possible 300 and was also named Ireland's tidiest village.
The other two principal awards - the tidiest small town and the tidiest large town - went to Clonakilty, Co Cork, with 244 marks and Kilkenny city with 234. There were 721 entries.
Mr Dempsey recalled his own association with the Tidy Towns competition. He was, he told last night's audience, an active member of the committee in his home town of Trim, which was the overall winner three times. The Minister said he could not think of a better example of local community effort. The competition was also fostering links with Northern Ireland, through Ireland's Best Kept Towns competition in which the winners of the Tidy Towns were brought together with the winners of the sister competition in Northern Ireland.
In the process, many NorthSouth friendships were being built. Relationships such as these were crucial in breaking down barriers, something which was vital to building a lasting peace on this island, he said.
Over the past 40 years the competition had "caught the imagination and enthusiasm of communities in every corner of the country". The chief executive of the competition's main sponsor, Super Valu Supermarkets, Mr Eoin McGettigan, said that just by participating in the competition, committees made significant improvements in their local environment and fostered a sense of community spirit. The competition was now a national institution. Last year, the overall winner was Ardagh, Co Longford. The first winner was Glenties in Co Donegal, in 1958, which went on to win the award four more times.
In their report, the judges said the impact on entering Terryglass was "stunning", and even the wet weather on the day of the adjudication did not diminish "the beauty of the village and surrounds in any way".
Last year, Terryglass achieved 246 marks.