Aughrim cleans up as Ireland’s tidiest town

THE Co Wicklow town of Aughrim was yesterday named as Ireland’s Tidiest Town 2007.

The small town located at the southern end of the Wicklow Mountains beat off strong competition from a record entry of 830 towns and villages to win the coveted award.

It also marked a coming of age for the local tidy towns committee in Aughrim as the award coincided with celebrations to mark the 21st anniversary of the establishment of the group.

“It has been a long time coming. It’s a bit like the Muiris Ó Suilleabháin novel Fiche Bliain ag Fás (Twenty Years A Growing), only our gestation has taken slightly longer,” said Bernard Keating, the delighted chairman of Aughrim’s tidy town committee.

He was presented with the prize of a perpetual trophy and cheque for €15,000 by Environment Minister John Gormley at a ceremony in Dublin Castle yesterday.

“It is a fantastic achievement for Aughrim and the local community,” said Mr Keating.

Although the south Wicklow town is occasionally mistaken as the location of a famous battle, (it shares the same name as the

Galway village that is the real site of the Battle of Aughrim) Mr Keating pointed out that the local committee had been fighting hard to win the overall Tidy Towns award for many years.

“We were just one point behind the overall winner, Westport in 2006,” said Mr Keating.

This year Aughrim scored a total of 299 points out of a maximum 400.

Inspectors complimented the Aughrim committee for its “first-class entry” which had set its primary objective as improving the quality of life for its residents and visitors to the town.

The only black mark against Aughrim was its poor score on tidiness which was due to the state of a residential site in the town and small amounts of construction waste.

However, Mr Keating singled out local builder Jim O’Brien for praise for his vision of transforming the village over the past two decades and for “turning a dream into a reality”.

Retired press photographer Jack McManus, who lives in Aughrim and is a member of the tidy towns committee, was also congratulated for his help in providing a photographic record of their work.

Aughrim, which has a population of a little more than 1,100 people, also scooped the title of Ireland’s tidiest small town for the second year in a row.

It also won the award as Wicklow’s tidiest town — a title which it has now held for an unbroken run of 13 years. In the past, the south Wicklow village has also received a gold award in the international Entente Florale competition.