Tidy towns incentive - Communities at their best

YEAR after year the tidy towns competition gives us all a chance to celebrate what can be achieved by a community with the enthusiasm and energy to come together to make their home place better than it is.

This year Killarney has won the top honour, but many other communities have had their efforts vindicated by living in a more satisfying, uplifting environment. Maybe it’s easier to gauge the impact competitions like these have when we travel beyond the familiar. We have all seen places we’d happily leave behind because they are neglected and shabby — places that seem symbols of a broken, disengaged community.

Just as we must do all we can to recover the reputation of our schools and colleges, we must do all we can to show that this society is, by and large, made up of energetic, committed communities if we are to attract essential foreign investment. Participating in tidy towns is one of the best ways of doing this.