TidyTowns Ireland: competing communities take care of own local environment
For more then a decade, Irish towns have been competing against each other in improving their own local environment. The annual TidyTowns competition encourages towns to make their area a better place to live, work and visit. Thousands of people have already participated, and an average of 700 towns a year to subscribe is not unusual. The Irish towns combined contribute to a significant transformation of the country’s landscape.
Summary
The national TidyTowns competition is an annual competition organised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with the support of the main sponsor SuperValu and other agencies. The competition involves participating areas being rated on different aspects of their local environment. The winner of the competition is "Ireland's Tidiest Town", which is announced at a national ceremony in September each year.
History
The TidyTowns initiative was launched in 1958 by Bord Fáilte, the Irish Tourist Board (now Fáilte Ireland), as part of the 'Tostal', a nationwide festival celebrating Irish culture. Originated from the National Spring Clean Campaign which ran between 1953 and 1957, TidyTowns rapidly developed its own identity and has become Ireland's most well known and popular local environmental initiative.
Approach
The competition aspect was an important element in developing friendly rivalry that would help boost standards across the participants. However, the emphasis was always on participating rather than winning as the very act of taking part brought benefits to the community.
Results
Many of the local initiatives are still going strong, some with a new title and different focus, but their ongoing success implies that TidyTowns today means more than just the national competition.
Resources used
TidyTowns is funded through a mixture of public and private money which pays for the organisation of the competition, promotion and the substantial annual prize fund. The public element is provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The private element is supplied by a number of agencies, but by far the biggest supporter is Supervalu which has been principal sponsor of TidyTowns since 1992.
Beneficiaries
The towns take care of initiatives in their own local environment; therefore the beneficiaries are the communities themselves and the results are directly visible to the ones who initiated and participad in the projects.
The case of Ballymun
Ballymun is a town in Dublin which was created to relieve the inner city. Unfortunately drugs, decay and unemployment became regular problems within Ballymun. The Irish municipality hired district manager Ciarán Murray (58) to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood. In no time Murray was able to clean up the town together with all the inhabitants of Ballymun. This meant that companies decided to house there offices in the neighborhood which created possibilities for neighbors to work. Unemployment levels dropped and the overall quality of Ballymun had improved drastically. Murray now travels around Europe to get inspired by other towns with common problems such as Ballymun, but also to inspire others with the good practice that is Ballymun.
Organisation
TidyTowns Ireland
Contact details
Phone: 053 9117347
E-mail: tidytowns@environ.ie
Postal Address: TidyTowns Unit, Department of the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government, Newtown Road, Co. Wexford.
Contributing country
Ireland
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