Tidy Towns groups help tackle climate change, minister says at launch of 2025 contest in winning Cork town

Minister for rural and community development Dara Calleary was in Ireland's 2024 Tidiest Town, Ballincollig, Cork, on Monday, to officially launch this year's national competition

Mon, 24 Mar, 2025 - 15:23

Eoin English

Tidy Towns groups can help mitigate the effects of climate change at a local level, the minister for rural and community development said, as he confirmed a review of the State's humanitarian aid scheme was under way.

Dara Calleary was speaking during a visit to Ireland's 2024 Tidiest Town, Ballincollig in Cork, on Monday, to officially launch this year's national Tidy Towns competition.

“Tidy Towns groups have been instrumental in supporting and enhancing the Government’s objective to ensure towns are sustainable, resilient and thriving hubs of commercial and social activity,” he said.

I would encourage everyone to reach out to their local group and volunteer — you will be surprised at the benefits that can accrue to you and to your wider community.

He said his department was still dealing with a backlog of applications for humanitarian aid arising out of storm Éowyn, and that the scheme was now set for a major review to ensure it could cope with bigger weather events.

“Previously, humanitarian assistance would have dealt with 1,500 to 2,000 applications,” he said.

“I'm going to review the scheme to make sure that it’s purposed for bigger events.

“Normally in humanitarian assistance, the event happened, and the consequences of the event were manageable within a couple of days. Obviously, with the power outages, it’s taken quite some time to deal with this.”

He also encouraged anyone whose initial application for aid was turned down to seek a review.

Minister for rural and community development Dara Calleary, far right, with, from left, minister of state at the department of rural and community development Jerry Buttimer; Luke Hanlon, managing director of SuperValu; and students from Scoil Barra, Ballincollig, Hailey O’Callaghan, 11, and Ciara MacCannon, 11, at the launch of the 2025 SuperValu Tidy Towns competition in Regional Park, Ballincollig, on Monday.

As the Government review into its own handling of Storm Éowyn continues, Mr Calleary said Tidy Towns groups would play a key role in the implementation of local community-led initiatives that raise climate and biodiversity awareness, and in the education of people about the role each of us can play.

Now in its 67th year, the national Tidy Towns competition, administered by the Department of Rural and Community Development, and sponsored for the 35th year by SuperValu, continues to be one of the most recognised sustainable, environmental and community initiatives in the country.

There are almost 1,000 active Tidy Towns groups, and last year saw more than 900 entries, with some 30,000 volunteers giving up over one million hours of their time to improve their local areas.

Luke Hanlon, the managing director of SuperValu, said its sponsorship of the event for 35 years was a testament to the tireless work of volunteers and the department in driving its continued growth and success.

“As a community retailer, we take great pride being involved for another year and our independent retailers play a vital role in supporting and engaging with this initiative,” he said.

Entry to the competition will only be accepted by email to the Tidy Towns email address, with entry forms available at tidytowns.ie.

The closing date for receipt of entries for this year’s competition is Monday May 12.