Mr Michael Kitt TD, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, presented the winners of the National Tidy Towns Competition (west region ) with their prizes on Monday afternoon and also commended five local Tidy Town heroes for their tireless endeavours in selflessly contributing to the public good in their communities.
The Minister was joined by Cathaoirleach of Westport Martin Keane; Mr Brian Quinn, acting general manager, Fáilte Ireland West; and Ciaran Levis, sales director, Supervalu in praising all recipients of the well-merited award in the Wyatt Hotel, Westport.
In this the 50th year of the awards, the Minister said that the “west region once again set the standards for the country with Westport leading the way, securing their third national title in eight years and winning seven awards in total” and setting the standard “not just for the region but for the country”.
Fáilte Ireland representative, Mr Quinn said that the award makes a huge difference to Irish tourism particularly in economic hard times when “tourism is bleak”.
According to Mr Levis, SuperValu, who are the national sponsors, the awards help build community spirit, foster team work, create 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”.
Apart from representatives from Galway, Mayo and Roscommon collecting the awards for their areas, which were announced in September, five local heroes from the west region were announced on Monday afternoon and were presented with special awards for their efforts. The three Mayo recipients were named as Frank Dolan, Westport; Eddie Conway, Ballycroy; and Nuala Matthews, Crossmolina.
