Galway City Council has again achieved three prestigious Green Flag Awards, at the announcement this week by An Taisce Environmental Education Unit. The Green Flag Awards acknowledge Ireland’s best public parks and gardens, with Quincentennial Park in Salthill achieving the award for the fourth time, Children’s Millennium Park retaining the honour for a fifth year in a row and O’Sullivan Park in Mervue achieving the award for the second time.
The Green Flag Award is an international mark of excellence for parks and green spaces, with applicants marked on stringent environmental standards in green-space management, and excellence of visitor attractions.
The Awards are judged every year by a peer jury of green space experts, who volunteer their time to visit applicant sites and assess them against eight strict criteria, including horticultural standards, cleanliness, sustainability, and community involvement.
Speaking about the Awards, Patrick Greene, Director of Services with Galway City Council commented said Galway City Council is delighted to see the work of its staff in Environment and Recreation and Amenity recognised with the award of three Green Flags for the City.
“Staff are engaged on a daily basis in planting, cleaning, upgrading playgrounds, supporting biodiversity, protecting wildlife, litter-picking, and creating beautiful, engaging and playful spaces for the people of Galway. I would like to acknowledge their efforts in bringing about these awards today.
“Galway City Council continues to invest in recreation facilities in our parks and planting for biodiversity across the city, among other initiatives. Each year new work is carried out in each of our Green Flag Parks in order to maintain the award. Many thanks also to the volunteers who assist us in maintaining parks and green spaces in the City. We look forward to adding more parks to the list of awardees in future,” he said.
More information on Green Flag Awards can be found at www.antaisce.org/green-flag-for-parks
