REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF A PLAQUE TO MARK THE 2004 TIDY TOWNS AWARD
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE UNVEILING OF A PLAQUE TO MARK THE 2004 TIDY TOWNS AWARD TO LISMORE, CO. WATERFORD
Dia dhaoibh a cháirde!
Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh inniu agus muid ag céiliúradh an ócáid mhór seo. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an gcuireadh agus as fáilte a bhí caoin, cneasta agus croíúil.
We gather in celebration of Lismore’s historic victory as National Tidy Towns Champion for 2004. It is a day of shared pride and shared credit and I feel particularly privileged to be part of it. My thanks to Rose O’Dowd, Chairperson, and Mary O’Brien, Honorary Secretary, of the Lismore Tidy Town Committee, for their kind invitation to Martin and to me and to all of you for that great Lismore welcome.
Now an elegant plaque tells citizens and tourists alike of Lismore’s triumph in the Tidy Towns competition but what it doesn’t say is how that accolade was achieved.
To tell that story you have to go back through fifteen years of effort by volunteers who loved this place and wanted to showcase it at its absolute best. Year in and year out they toiled. They had regional successes, achieved high marks, but outright victory overall arrived only recently. In those fifteen years the standards have soared and the competition, between the now seven hundred towns and villages, has become as sophisticated as it has become intense. Each worked with determination to be the winner. Lismore carried the day.
Some might argue that nature and history gave Lismore considerable advantages in the valley of the beautiful river Blackwater and the dreamy towers of Lismore Castle. The combination of canal, Cathedral and Church, its listed buildings and designation as a heritage town, made it the envy of others long before this award was won. But it was none of those things which gave us this day but the work of the hands and hearts of Lismore’s people who complemented its lovely heritage with their skill and their imagination. On this day we offer gratitude to those who committed to the sheer hard work that is invested in this win, for it took a veritable army to make it happen. And I’m told that army is eternally vigilant – nothing is left to chance – the street cleaning machine has even been known to put in appearance at dawn on a Sunday morning, just in case some less than careful character dropped a sweet paper, or a cigarette butt, on Saturday evening. Now that’s commitment! And it makes our towns and villages pleasant places to live and to visit. No-one has to do this work but we are so grateful and fortunate that they do, for through it they lift our hearts, give us pride in our place, and in our people and, crucially they strengthen and enrich our community life.
Winning this competition was a communal ambition that was not achieveable without cooperation and partnership, generosity and neighbourliness. From fundraisers, to sponsors, to gardeners, cleaners, decorators, persuaders, cajolers, all sorts of talents have been employed here and in Tidy Town’s committees all over the country. Only a community working easily and well together with self-respect, respect for others and love of heritage could achieve the prize we celebrate today. A community spirit such as you have here in Lismore does not happen by coincidence. It takes the kind of investment you and your families have made over decades of the kind of active citizenship which alone turns strangers into a caring community. We who are visitors can see and feel that community spirit immediately in the shining environment, the cleanliness, the colour, the evidence of daily care. Lismore is as good as you could make it and Lismore is the best there is in Ireland. I hope many others will follow your lead.
I wish you the very best of luck as you go forward this year to represent Ireland in Europe’s prestigious Entente Florale competition and I wish you well, too, with the ambitious plans for a new wildlife area beside the canal. Ireland could not have better ambassadors than the people of Lismore and the town of Lismore.
Let the footballers and hurlers of Waterford do their best for Munster, one trophy is already safely home!
And now, it gives me great pleasure to unveil the plaque marking Lismore’s success in the Tidy Town competition.
Comhghairdeas libh arís inniu. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.