This article is from page 28 of the 2008-02-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
THE driving force behind the Ennis Tidy Towns committee, Donal Grif- fin, has resigned after 13 years as Chairman.
Mr Griffin announced his decision at the AGM of the Ennis Tidy Towns Committee on Thursday night.
He said he was very proud of the progress made by Ennis in the annual Tidy Towns competition. The princi- pal highlight of his time, Mr Griffin stated was Ennis being named Ire- land’s tidiest town in 2005.
He also highlighted the challenges faced by a growing town like Ennis in trying to maintain the high stand- ards achieved so far.
Last year Ennis was again success-
ful in the Tidy Towns competition (1) Gold Medal status (2) County Award (3) Category G & H Building a Bilingual Society Award and (4) Notice Nature Biodiversity Award.
In his address Mr Griffin said En- nis’ had achieved global recogni- tion for its achievements in the Tidy Towns.
He said, “Our success has been recognised locally, regionally and nationally and internationally. We peaked in 2005 winning Ireland’s Ti- diest Town. In 2006 we won Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre. As a town with over 25,000 population we are unique in these achievements. Winning a Silver Award in 1997 in the Entente Florale and Gold in 2002 put us on the map internationally. We
also entered and won Pride of Place Award in 2003 which is an All-Ire- land competition”
Mr Griffin said partnership be- tween Ennis Town Council, Shannon Development, Clare County Council and FAS along with the important role played by resident’s associations and schools, was at the heart of En- nis’s success.
He said, “I would like to thank all the schools both primary and sec- ondary for their involvement and for their interest in the environment. In particular for inviting us to give a presentation on the Importance of Caring for our Environment”
“I congratulate Scoil Chriost Ri on being awarded two Green Flags one for waste recycling and one for ener-
gy conservation and Ennis National for achieving a green flag for waste recycling last year. Ennis CBS is, I believe, is in the process of applying for a waste recycling green flag this year’.
Mr Griffin said many challenges lay ahead for Ennis.
He said, “In trying to maintain the high standard achieved to date, En- nis 1s facing many new challenges in 2008 such as a rapidly increasing population, the planned drainage of the Fergus, the completion of the inner relief roads, the upgrading of Market Street and the laneways, etc. It is vital that we hold on to our Gold Medal Status which we have for the last seven years and that we continue to develop”’.