Ardagh, Co Longford, has been named Ireland's Best-Kept Town, beating strong competition from other towns and villages in the Republic and Northern Ireland.
The picturesque village, which has a core population of just 70, has already taken the overall award three times in the annual Tidy Towns competition, inaugurated by Bord Failte in 1957 and now run by the Department of the Environment.
Mr Seamus Kenny, chairman of Ardagh's Tidy Towns Committee, said it had also won the Best Village award seven times and, such was the village's repeated success, he joked that it might be excluded from future competitions.
Mr Kenny put it down to "pride in our own place plus the community working together". He also acknowledged that another reason for Ardagh's success is that it was deliberately planned as a picturesque estate village by Lady Frances Fetherston in the 1840s. The awards for the Best-Kept Small Town went to Warings town, Co Down, and for Best Kept Large Town to Kilkenny. They were presented at a ceremony in Dublin Castle, attended by representatives of the communities which had competed, both North and South.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said the awards scheme - which is sponsored by SuperValu Supermarkets - had developed its own niche since it started four years ago, with a strong North-South dimension that forged new links and friendships.
Mr Eoin McGettigan, chief executive of SuperValu, said one of the reasons his group became sponsors was that all of its outlets were family businesses, owned by people who live in the local community, rather than branches of multinational companies.
Ardagh received a prize of £5,000, with £2,500 each going to the two runners-up. Asked what the money would be spent on, Mr Kenny said it would probably go towards new lawnmowers and other equipment which had become worn out over the years. Other competitors this year included Killarney and Kenmare, Co Kerry; Clonakilty, Co Cork; Terryglass, Co Tipperary; Skerries, Co Dublin; Malin, Co Donegal; Loughgall, Co Armagh; Limavady, Co Derry; and Broughshane and Carrickfergus, both Co Antrim.
