Tidy Towns winners had their evening of glory in Emly in south Tipperary, where Minister of State Máire Hoctor presented the them with their prizes at a ceremony held in The Golden Thatch Inn.
Several winners from Carlow and Kilkenny were presented with their awards on the night.
The Minister was joined on stage by Joe Palmer, general manager of Fáilte Ireland South East, Ray Kelly, marketing director of SuperValu, and Ray Foley, regional manager, SuperValu.
In congratulating everyone involved, the Minister pointed out that there was unprecedented interest in Tidy Towns in this the 50th anniversary of the competition.
“Standards in the south-east region continue to be extremely high,” she said. “The region secured five gold medals in 2008; Leighlinbridge, Kilkenny, Emly, Clonmel and Lismore.” The Minister also congratulated the four national award winners in the region — Fenor Tidy Towns Group (Notice Nature Biodiversity Award ); The Blackberry Café, Thomastown, Co Kilkenny (Best Shop-front Award ); Awareness Programme, Carlow, (Gum Litter Taskforce Award ); and Rothe Garden, Kilkenny City (Landscape Award ).
Mr Kelly said that, “Tidy Towns is not just about the process of improving our local areas; it is about building community spirit, fostering team work, creating a sense of pride and respect in what is around us, an awareness of how precious our natural environment is, and it is about realising what we can do when we work together for the common good.”
The TidyT owns competition is organised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and sponsored by SuperValu.
