PrintGold Medal Award for Kilrush for 5th Year Running
Helix Centre, Dublin, 5th September 2011 - Kilrush has been awarded a gold medal in the annual National Tidy Towns Competition.
The prestigious award was announced by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan at an awards ceremony in the Helix Centre, Dublin which was featured on “Nationwide”, RTE1 on 5th September at 7pm and main news bulletins.
The County Clare town scored 303 points, an increase of 3 points on last year’s result, to beat off competition from all over Ireland and claim the accolade. The town first received it’s Gold Medal award in 2007 and since then has been gradually increasing it’s marks year on year.
“Retaining the Gold Medal is a massive achievement for everybody involved as at this level the competition gets more difficult”, stated Paul Edson, Chairman of Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee. He added that the award marks the culmination of months of hard work by local volunteers and members of the Kilrush Tidy Town’s Committee to improve the appearance of Kilrush.
Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee acknowledged all the local volunteers FAS participants who work tirelessly and selflessly to improve the appearance of Kilrush. The volunteers toiled throughout the summer in various public areas to create and maintain flowerbeds, keeps streets tidy, cut grass and pick up litter.
According to Paul Edson, Chairperson of the Kilrush Tidy Towns Committee, “Key to our progress in the Tidy Towns scheme has been the partnership approach that we adopted some years ago. There is a broad range of groups and organisations now involved in promoting and enhancing the appearance of the town including the local Tidy Towns Committee, FAS schemes, the staff from Kilrush Town Council, the local business sector, and the community of Kilrush.”
Mr. John Corry, Kilrush Town Clerk explained that taking part in the Tidy Towns Competition has impacted positively on the appearance of the town.
“In recent years, Kilrush has been scoring consistently high in many categories of the competition. The improved appearance of the town has been observed and commented upon by the many thousands of visitors to the town each year. This can only have positive consequences for the town’s image and future growth.” He added that it is so encouraging to see the children of the local primary school acknowledged for their role in working with the local committee and hopes their participation can now be strengthened further during 2012.
The Tidy Towns competition is a national competition organised by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The competition involves participating towns being rated on all aspects of their local environment. The Tidy Towns competition has now been running in Ireland for 53 years and each year attracts entries from more than 840 local communities throughout the country.