ENNIS residents are being urged to ensure that the town is looking its best this May with judges for the Ireland’s Best Kept Town Competition set to visit.
Aine Purcell, chairperson of the Ennis Tidy Towns committee explained that the competition is separate to the national Tidy Towns competition which starts in June. And she said that strong efforts are being made locally to give judges for the Best Kept Town a good impression of our county’s capital. Ennis will be competing in the large urban centre category.
The Ireland’s Best Kept Towns Awards ceremony will take place in S S Nomadic, Titanic Quarter, Belfast on Tuesday, June 24 at 12.30pm.
This North-South competition commenced in 1995 and is organised jointly by the Department of Environment and the Northern Ireland Amenity Council (NIAC), a voluntary organisation. The competition provides an opportunity for some of the high achievers in the national Tidy Towns competition in the South, and the NIAC’s Best Kept Awards competition in the North, to compete for the title of Ireland’s Best Kept Town.
Thirteen towns and villages will compete this year, with eight entrants from the South and five from the North. Two adjudicators, one from each competition, separately visit each of the thirteen centres during the month of May, and agree the results.
There are four awards in this competition – Best Village, Best Small Town, Best Large Town and Best Large Urban Centre and one of these winners will take the overall title. Also in Clare, Mountshannon will be competing in the Best Village category.