QUESTIONS have been asked over why the national award winning volunteers of Ennis Tidy Towns were omitted from a planned mayoral reception organised by the Ennis Municipal District.

Councillor Mary Howard, a member of Ennis Tidy Towns, raised the matter under Any Other Business at the monthly meeting of the local authority.

She stated she had been “surprised” not to see the Ennis volunteers among the list of people to be honoured at the reception.

The councillor asked “was this a genuine oversight or was there a reason? I can’t work it out”.

She pointed out that the work of the Ennis Tidy Towns is done by volunteers, many of whom have been involved for decades and she would like to see their work acknowledged.

However, Mayor of Ennis Councillor Ann Norton assured that the Ennis Tidy Towns groups would be honoured at a reception being given by Clare County Council.

Councillor Howard replied that the volunteers are from Ennis and represent the town “and would like to be recognised by Ennis”.

Leonore O’Neill, Senior Executive Officer explained that it is the norm for individuals or groups to be acknowledged at one event and that the County Council reception supercedes the Ennis Municipal District honour.

In November Ennis took home the overall title of Ireland’s Tidiest Town 2021. Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, announced the win at a ceremony in the RDS, Dublin.

Ennis was judged to be the best from 847 entries to the SuperValu TidyTowns competition, which has been in existence since 1958. Ennis first entered the competition in 1959 and has won the competition on one occasion previously, in 2005.

The overall award wasn’t the only win for the county capital, with a total of ten awards presented to the Ennis committee.