There's been a number of wins for Waterford at this year's Tidy Towns Awards.
There were gold awards for Stradbally and Lismore; silver awards for Ballymacarbry, Dungarvan, Tramore and Ardmore - and the County's Highly Commended Award went to Lismore while the County Commended Award went to Ardmore.
Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, today (28th October) announced Trim, Co. Meath as Ireland’s Tidiest Town for 2022.
Over 750 TidyTowns volunteers were present at the SuperValu TidyTowns awards ceremony at the RDS in Dublin – with thousands more watching online.
It was the first full-scale Awards Ceremony since the onset of the Pandemic.
This year’s competition received the third highest number of entries in its almost 65-year history.
Rosscarbery, Co Cork was named as Ireland’s Tidiest Village.
Cahir, Co. Tipperary was named as the overall winner of the Young Persons in TidyTowns Award and also the overall winner of the SuperValu AsIAm Inclusive Communities Award.
Announcing Trim as the overall winners, Minister Humphreys said:
“I want to sincerely congratulate Trim and all of its TidyTowns volunteers for being crowned Ireland’s tidiest town for 2022. This is a moment of great pride for Trim and indeed the wider county of Meath. Having first entered the competition in 1959, Trim today continues to showcase all that is good about community and volunteerism. I have no doubt that the TidyTowns Group in Trim will receive a warm and deserving homecoming as they celebrate this wonderful occasion. The level of competition was extremely high this year with the third highest number of entries ever recorded. I want to pay tribute to all the winners today but, above all, I want to say a huge thank you to the thousands of TidyTowns volunteers across the country. The time and effort that you put in to making your town or village a better place says so much about your commitment and dedication to your community. Your hard work and enthusiasm is nothing short of inspiring.”
The SuperValu TidyTowns competition has been in existence since 1958 and Trim (Baile Átha Troim, Co Mí) was judged to be the best from a number of 882 entries to the competition this year.
On hand to announce the results of the 2022 competition with Minister Humphreys was Mr. Ian Allen, Managing Director of SuperValu, the competition’s sponsor for over 30 years.
Some of the other big winners on the day included:
· Rosscarbery, Co. Cork (Ros Ó gCairbe, Co Corcaigh) awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Village.
· Clonakilty, Co Cork (Cloch Na Coillte, Co Corcaigh) awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town.
· Trim, Co Meath (Baile Átha Troim, Co Mí) awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town.
· Ennis, Co Clare (Inis, Co Clár) awarded Ireland's Tidiest Large Urban Centre.
Minister Humphreys also announced a special allocation of €1.4 million in funding to support the work of individual TidyTowns Groups around the country to assist them in their continued efforts to enhance their towns and villages. This is the sixth consecutive year that funding has been provided to support these Groups and brings the total allocated since 2017 to €8.1 million.
A further €25,000 in funding has been made available to Waterford Tidy Towns groups for the forthcoming year.
