UpbeatA village of 160 people is Ireland's tidiest town — after 40 years of trying
Ballinahown, a village in County Westmeath with just 160 people, was named Ireland's Tidiest Town for 2026 at the SuperValu Tidy Towns awards at Croke Park in Dublin. The village has entered the competition for 40 years and won Ireland's Tidiest Village in 2024 before taking the top prize outright. This year a record 936 towns and villages took part — the highest number of entries in the competition's history since 1958 — powered by more than 31,000 volunteers who together gave over one million hours to clean-ups, planting and protecting local biodiversity. Mullingar, also in Westmeath, took a silver award.
The upbeat factorforty years of trying, and a village of 160 finally took the top prize.
SDG 11 · Sustainable cities and communities — Mechanism: community action
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