Ennis has been named Ireland's tidiest large urban area at the 50th National Tidy Towns Competition.

The County Clare contingent remained strong with both the county capital and Kilrush retaining the Gold Medals they won in last year's competition.

There were a number of other successes for Clare in this year's competition. Ennis picked up the overall County Award with Kilrush and Ballynacally being named second and third respectively. Ballynacally won a silver medal, and Kilkee and Mountshannon both received bronze medals

Elsewhere, Lissycasey won a Best New Entry Award in Category B, Ennis was named Regional winner of the Best Presented Bring Bank, Labasheeda Community Pride was named the winner of the Regional Notice Nature Biodiversity Award, Killaloe won the County Endeavour Award, Ennis Tidy Towns Committee was presented with the Regional Award in the 'Don't Let it all go to Waste! Recycle Initiative 2008' category, while Holy Family Senior NS in Ennis won the Regional School Award.

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Commenting on Clare's participation in this year's competition, Minister of State and Clare TD, Tony Killeen, said: "The standards in County Clare were extremely high again this year and I am delighted to see that so many local participants were officially recognised, which is a testament to the efforts of those involved.

"I would particularly like to acknowledge the efforts made by new entrants to the Tidy Towns competition."

The Junior Agriculture Minister said the achievements of large towns such as Kilrush and Ennis could not have been accomplished without the support of the wider community.

He said: "Tidy Towns provides members of the local community with the opportunity to show their pride in their respective towns and villages. It is evident from Clare's outstanding success in this year's competition that the spirit of volunteerism and pride of place is very much alive in this County.

"There was unprecedented interest in Tidy Towns this year, and I would urge everyone to participate in 2009," added Mr Killeen.

The Tidy Towns competition is organised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and sponsored by SuperValu.

Judging of entries takes place in June, July and August each year.

See: Confidence For Limerick 'To Take' Tidy Title

(PR/JM)