The overall Environment Awareness award for 1998 has been won by Mr Frank Quigley, of Larne, Co Antrim, for a project which improved the Inver river and McCammon's Lake. He is a voluntary project leader for environment improvement with Larne and District Game Angling Association.
The awards are an all-Ireland initiative, sponsored by the ESB, the NIEB and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. They were presented at a ceremony in Belfast Castle yesterday.
Four awards were made in individual categories. Ms Elizabeth Fairweather received the Local Environment Improvement award for the Daisyhouse Recycling Project, based in a premises at Emor Street, Dublin 8, which offers temporary accommodation to homeless women. Ms Fairweather is a resident who initiated a number of recycling and composting projects in the area.
The National and Local Environmental Campaign award went to Ms Anna Doran for her work with Sonairte, the National Ecology Centre in Laytown, Co Meath, which promotes environmental education.
The Protection of Ireland's National Heritage award went to Ms Margaret Gallagher of Co Fermanagh for the Mullcovet Mill Project, restoring an 18th-century mill complex, and the Youth Programme award went to Ms Ruth Irvine from Coleraine, Co Derry, for an environmental awareness scheme for pupils and the wider community.