Ballincollig in Co Cork has been named the overall winner of the 2024 Supervalu TidyTowns Competition.
Westport in Co Mayo was named Ireland’s tidiest large town, while Ballincollig also received the award for tidiest large urban centre, securing the award for the second year running.
The coastal town of Blackrock in Co Louth received the award for tidiest small town while Ballinahown in Co Westmeath, which has a population of just 75 people, was named Ireland’s tidiest village.
Some 30,000 volunteers from 904 towns and villages across Ireland took part in this year’s competition, representing one million hours of work.
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Cork City Councillor Garrett Kelleher, a long-standing member of the award-winning Ballincollig TidyTowns group, said the nearly 90 local volunteers represented “everything that’s best about community” and gathered together to work “for the greater good, for the benefit of the community”.
He noted the group’s work also focused on taking “small steps” to encourage the wider community and local businesses to get more involved in adapting to the climate crisis. “A lot of people on the outside might associate it with the likes of litter picking and nice floral presentations but there’s so much more to it now.”
The group brings together “people from different ethnic backgrounds” and “different ages, old and young” who under normal circumstances might never meet one another, he added.
Mr Kelleher also paid tribute to former “stalwart” of the Ballincollig group, the late Tony Whelan. “He actually didn’t really want to win the national award because he said, by not winning it, it kept the standards high, and we were always striving to achieve it. But two years after his passing, the great Tony Whelan is looking down on us and would be very proud.”
The winners of the 2024 competition were presented with their awards by Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys and Supervalu managing director Luke Hanlon at the ceremony in Croke Park on Friday. More than €270,000 in prize money was awarded to groups across all categories in this year’s competition.
Welcoming all participants to Croke Park, RTÉ broadcaster Marty Morrissey, who hosted the awards for the first time, underlined the national importance of the event.
“This is Ireland,” said Mr Morrissey. “This is pride of place, this is about being from somewhere, wherever it is and it’s your country, your village, your town, your province. And we’re all from somewhere.”
Mr Hanlon said that when individuals act together “no action is too small, local initiatives can spark global change, TidyTowns is testament to this”. The work of these communities focuses on “planting trees that will outlive us, clearing spaces where our children’s children will play and building communities that will thrive for generations,” he said.
Mr Hanlon paid tribute to the 15 per cent of TidyTowns volunteers who were born outside Ireland and who bring “fresh perspectives” to the work.
Ms Humphreys paid special tribute to all the children involved in the youth award, adding that all volunteers had been “instrumental in making our communities more attractive, inclusive and sustainable places for everyone”.
Some 80 groups across the State received gold medals with special mentions for the town of Clane in Co Kildare, Monaghan town in Co Monaghan and the parish of Abbey in Co Galway.
Bere Island off the coast of west Cork received the national island award; Beal an Mhuirthead TidyTowns in Co Mayo received the Gaeltacht award; Carrickmacross TidyTowns in Co Monaghan received the award for best town centre and the Balla Community TidyTowns group in Co Mayo received the inclusive communities award.
Other winners of special awards included Dunboyne Senior National School in Co Meath for the School award; the Cork suburb of Ballyphehane in Co Cork for the Young Persons award; Ardmore Tidytowns in Co Waterford for the Heritage award and Portlaoise TidyTowns for the Tree Project award.
The Supervalu TidyTowns competition, which is now in its 66th year, was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, while in 2021 it was operated as remotely as possible and under strict social distancing rules. It returned as normal in 2022.
In June of this year, Randalstown in Co Antrim was named Ireland’s Best Kept Town for 2024 in the separate all-island competition. Also among the winners were Malin in Co Donegal, which won Best Kept Village, and Roscommon which won Best Kept Large Town.
The Ireland’s Best Kept Towns award, which is run by the Northern Ireland Amenity Council and the Department of the Environment and Local Government, allows the top towns from the Northern Ireland amenity council’s Best Kept Awards and the Supervalu TidyTowns Competition to compete with each other.
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