This article is from page 6 of the 2012-09-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
THERE were five Clare centres awarded in the National Tidy Towns Awards initiative on Monday as the results for the 2012 competition were announced at a gala presentation in the Helix in Dublin.
Ennis, a former winner of the overall national title, led the way for the Banner County as the county capital was named the tidiest large urban centre in Ireland.
The other big winners, along with Ennis, were Ballynacally and Kilrush, who also produced Gold Medal performances, while Mountshannon, which won the overall title back in 1981, captured a Silver Medal, with Bronze going to Kilkee and Tuamgraney.
The results from the competition, which is now in its 54th year and attracted a record entry of 856, were announced by the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan on Monday. Ennis was marked against strict adjudication criteria and beat off stiff competition from other large urban centres, such as Kilkenny City. It’s the fourth time that Ennis has been designated Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre, having won the award in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Meanwhile, Ennis also retained the Clare County Award for the 14th successive year, while it has received its 12th Gold Medal in as many years.
Furthermore, the town was named overall winner of the Gum Litter Task Force National Award, a category in which Newmarket-on-Fergus was also a finalist. Ennis also won the Mid-West Endeavour Award, for which the villages of Connolly, Ballynacally and Mountshannon were also named finalists.
“The standards in County Clare were extremely high again this year and I am delighted to see that our county capital has received national recognition in numerous categories,” said Deputy Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald, who attended the presentation ceremony in Dublin in the absence of Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Daly.
“I would like to congratulate all participants from Clare who have done their county proud. There was unprecedented interest in Tidy Towns this year, and I would urge everyone to participate in 2013,” he added.
Thirty-four Clare centres participated in the 2012 competition, the same number as last year, with O’Callaghan’s Mills coming in as a new entry, while Kilmurry did not take part. The only centre to fare worse in 2012 than it did in 2011 was Kilmihil as their overall score dropped from 266 to 265, while the biggest mover was Newmarket-onFergus as their score jumped by 18 from 256 to 274.