Westmeath Community Celebrating Tidy Towns 2026 Victory

Ballinahown landed this year's title with Abbeyleix claiming the tidiest small town gong.

The Tidy Towns title is heading to the Midlands.

Ballinahown in County Westmeath has been named as Ireland's tidiest town for 2026.

It's also been crowned as this year's tidiest village.

There was more success for the region with Abbeyleix winning Ireland's tidiest small town.

John Dolan is the Joint Chair of the Ballinahown Development Association.

He says it goes to show what can happen when a community comes together:

Over 600 TidyTowns volunteers were present at the SuperValu TidyTowns awards ceremony at Croke Park in Dublin.

The annual event was also livestreamed to large online audience.

This year 936 towns were competing for the awards.

Announcing Ballinahown as the overall winner, Minister Calleary said:

"I offer my heartiest congratulations to Balliahown and its TidyTowns volunteers for becoming Ireland’s Tidiest Town for 2026.

"This is a wonderful achievement and a special moment of immense pride for Ballinahown and indeed the wider county of Westmeath.

“Having consistently entered the competition over the last 40 years and winning the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Village in 2024, Ballinahown have finally achieved their goal of winning the competition outright. This achievement today continues to showcase all that is good about resilience, innovation, sustainability, community spirit and volunteerism. This is even more impressive given the fantastic results the village has achieved over the last 3 years with a population of just 160 people. This dedication is at the core of what the competition is all about.”

The Minister continued:

“I want to congratulate all the winners today. The standard of competition was exceptionally high this year in all categories, with a record 936 entries received overall from 1,000 active groups nationwide.

“In particular, I recognise the vital role of TidyTowns volunteers across the country who are working so hard all year round to ensure our communities are vibrant, sustainable places to live, work and visit. The passion and dedication of these volunteers is the embodiment of everything that is good in our communities.

“Investment in our communities through this wonderful competition reaps long-term rewards for all, as showcased by the winning groups here today. The impact of the Supervalu TidyTowns competition is clear to see, particularly in fostering inclusion, sustainability and community engagement.”

The main category winners announced today are:

• Ballinahown, Co. Westmeath awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Village.
• Abbeyleix, Co. Laois awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town.
• Buncrana, Co. Donegal awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town.
• Tralee, Co. Kerry awarded Ireland's Tidiest Large Urban Centre.