Competition gets harder each year

THE Tidy Towns competition does not get any easier the more often you enter. "It gets harder every year," said Ms Maeve McGann, a founder of the Skerries, Co Dublin, tidy towns committee in 1986.

"When we started the town was a bit grotty, and we thought that if we did a certain amount it would be lovely. Then we thought it would be nice to win a category and people would have more respect for what we're doing and get involved. Now we want to win it," she said.

"When you're starting, you think you're working hard but you don't know what work is. By the time you get to the top you know exactly what is involved. And at that level it is attention to detail that counts."

Tidy towns competition is intense. "But when somebody wins you can never say they didn't deserve it because you know how hard they worked. And if we're looking for help or advice, other tidy towns committees are very co-operative and we do the same for anyone who contacts us."

Ms Anne Doyle, chairwoman of the Skerries committee, said of the competitive streak. "We call it friendly rivalry."

Ms Doyle feels strongly about the amount of litter dropped in all towns. "People should not be able to drop their litter," she insists. All the tidy towns committees have worked for years against litter "but there should be more litter wardens, fines, a review of services".

She points to a letter in The Irish Times on Saturday from a tourist complaining about the litter. "It's the third letter this week it's not just the children."