SKERRIES came close to retaining their SuperValu Tidy Towns title when they narrowly lost out to Tipperary town Birdhill for the overall title.
Skerries finished with 330 points in Category E (population 5001,-10,000) and were once again the Dublin regional winners.
Also in Category E, there were very good results for Lusk (308 pts), Raheny (308), Howth (272), Rush (270) and Portmarnock (234).
In Category B, Ballyboughal and The Naul finished with 279 and 210 points respectively, while in Category C, Balrothery received 246 points.
Malahide, who won the overall title in 1990, received 313 points in Category G, while Balbriggan scored 285 points in the same category.
A big success for the Northside was the performance of Swords which scored 205 points in Category H, and also won the national SuperValu Diversity Award.
The TidyTowns committee was recognised for its efforts to include all of the Swords community, on an inter-generational and inter-cultural basis, in the work they do to enhance the town.
Martin Kelleher, managing director of SuperValu, said: “The SuperValu Diversity Award demonstrates the competition’s clear capacity to grow, attracting all age groups and embracing all cultures with our communities.
“The tireless dedication of volunteers young and old is truly inspiring. This is a great achievement for Swords TidyTowns and we would like to extend our congratulations to the committee on a well-deserved win.”
Senator James Reilly (FG) congratulated all the towns and communities in Fingal who took part in this year’s competition.
“For the last 59 years the Tidy Towns competition has brought enormous improvements to our local towns, villages and rural areas in Fingal,” said Senator Reilly.
“I was particularly pleased to see our own towns and villages doing very well. Last year’s national winners, wonderful Skerries, nearly pulled it off again scoring 330 and the 2017 winners (Birdhill) scored 332.
Interest in the SuperValu Tidy Towns competition continues to grow every year and this year saw 870 towns and villages entering. Full details of all this year’s winners are available at www.tidytowns.ie and at www.supervalu.ie
