Hard-working committees from around Donegal swept up medals at the SuperValu TidyTowns award ceremony for the North West and West region.
Winning teams were presented with medals today for their voluntary efforts at a prize-giving ceremony in Castle Leslie in Glaslough, Monaghan.
Letterkenny and Buncrana TidyTowns committees received Gold Medals in the national awards, with Carrigart, Glenties and Malin winning Bronze titles.
Letterkenny were also the county award winners for Donegal, with Buncrana being Highly Commended and Carraig Airt winning a Commended title. Maghery won an Endeavour award for achieving the greatest improvement in score in 2017.
Buncrana Tidy Towns Initiative 2018
Special Awards were presented to the Buncrana TidyTowns Initiative, which was the Large Town Category Regional Winner of the Let’s Get Buzzing Pollinator Award – sponsored by Local Authorities.
Raphoe TidyTowns earned third place in the Sustainable Development Award –sponsored by Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.
SuperValu TidyTownswinners were presented with their awards by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys, TD, and Eoghan Jones, SuperValu Regional Manager, long time sponsors of the competition. Also joining the Minister on stage was Colm Breheny of Fáilte Ireland.
At the ceremony, Minister Humphreys spoke of the grant scheme, recently announced by the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Michael Ring TD, which will enable TidyTowns committees to apply for a grant of between €1,000 and €4,000.
Minister Humphreys said: “I am delighted to be in a position to attend the awards on behalf of Minister Ring and encouraged committees to avail of the €1.4 Million in grant funding recently announced by his Department to assist committees in preparing for the 2019 competition.”
Minister Humphreys added: “It is fantastic to have the opportunity, this evening, to meet TidyTowns groups from across the North West and West region.
“These awards are just a small reward for the efforts of so many volunteers who take pride in their home town and work tirelessly to make it a better place now and for future generations.
“This unselfish effort and the generosity displayed by these volunteers makes a huge difference in our communities. We also recognise all the other TidyTowns groups not here today who are equally committed to improving their community year on year but have not achieved formal recognition in the competition this year, – well done to you all on the work you do and we hope to see you here with us next year.”