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Westmeath Village Crowned As Ireland's Tidiest Village

Friday, 1 November 2024 14:16

Photo Credit: Google maps

The town is the county winner for the second year in a row.

Ballinahown has been named as Ireland's Tidiest Village in this years Tidy Towns competition-and just missed out on winning the national title.

They've also been named at the Westmeath winner for the second year in a row-and have picked up the Midlands & East Regional Award.

A Highly Commended honour was also picked up in the Water and Communities Award category.

This years overall winner was Ballincollig in County Cork.

Committee member John Dolan says it's a testament to the high standards of the town:

In its 66th year, 904 towns entered the nationwide Tidy Towns competition, with 600 of them represented at the awards ceremony in Croke Park this afternoon.

More than 30,000 people across the country volunteer to help clean up and improve communities, with projects like landscaping, social development, and creating murals.

Jared Keogh from the winning Ballincollig Tidy Towns group says it was a hard-earned achievement:

Rural and Community Development Minister Heather Humphreys has announced an additional €1.5m secured by her department for the Tidy Towns scheme.

At the awards ceremony today, Minister Humphreys applauded the work of Tidy Towns teams up and down the country - but says Ballincollig went above and beyond:

Minister Humphreys also presented the Young Person in TidyTowns award to Ballyphehane TidyTowns, Co. Cork as well as the ‘Town Centre First National Award’ today to Carrickmacross TidyTowns, Co Monaghan recognising their tremendous efforts to address vacancy and dereliction in line with the Government’s ‘Town Centre First‘ policy.

Announcing Ballincollig as the overall winner, Minister Humphreys said: “I offer my warmest congratulations to Ballincollig and all of its TidyTowns volunteers for being crowned Ireland’s tidiest town for 2024. This is a truly great achievement and a special moment of immense pride for Ballincollig and indeed the wider county of Cork. Having first entered the competition in the 1960s, Ballincollig today continues to showcase all that is good about innovation, sustainability, community spirit and volunteerism.  This is at the core of what the competition is all about. As in previous years, the standard of competition was exceptional this year in all categories, with 904 entries received overall from the almost 1000 active groups nationwide. I want to pay tribute to all the winners today across all the various categories. In particular, I want to recognise the vital role of 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. You are truly an inspiration, and 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 Supervalu TidyTowns can be seen, particularly in fostering inclusion, sustainability and community engagement.”

Some of the other big winners on the day included:
Blackrock, Co. Louth awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town. 
Westport, Co. Mayo awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town.

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