REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT TIDY TOWNS CELEBRATION DAY, WESTPORT, CO. MAYO SUNDAY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT TIDY TOWNS CELEBRATION DAY, WESTPORT, CO. MAYO SUNDAY, 14 JULY, 2002
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.
I am delighted to be with you today in Westport to celebrate your fantastic achievement on winning the National Tidy Towns Competition, and I very much appreciate the wonderful welcome you have given me.
Whether it’s the World Cup, General Elections, or the Tidy Towns Competition participating is important. But ultimately, being chosen as the winner really does matter. In 2001, from more than 700 other keen competitors, Westport was deservedly judged Ireland’s Tidiest Town. And from what I know and have seen of Westport this year, the rest of Ireland had better look out! This town is not about to rest on its laurels. With Clew Bay and Croagh Patrick as a backdrop, geography has been kind to Westport. History has been benign too for it is one of Ireland’s very few planned towns. It has been blessed in its people whether in the foresight and imagination of James Wyatt and Richard Cassels who gave it its unique Georgian elegance or in those who worked so hard to bring the Tidy Towns prize to Westport today. No matter how exquisitely beautiful the location, nor how serene the architecture, winning this competition takes hours of planning, fundraising and sheer hard labour. Above all it takes a community to work together with pride in itself and faith in its capacity to reveal the fullness of its own beauty.
This is where the Tidy Towns movement plays a crucial role and is seen by communities all over the country as the perfect vehicle for co-ordinating the many talents, gifts, strengths and potentials that lie within our towns and villages, so that when harnessed they can showcase their place to new levels of perfection. Today we acknowledge the work of the committed volunteers of the Tidy Towns movement. Their work allows us to look with fresh eyes at the wonderful landscape we have inherited and to wonder at the joy we are capable of bringing to each other when we work with generosity and selflessness for the good of all. Each generation of Tidy Town volunteers in Westport paved the way to this day and each is entitled to take great pride in the part they played on the journey to success. The Town’s results in the Competition in recent years speak volumes for that persistence. To climb from a very respectable 225 marks in the competition in 1996 to 263 in 2001 is nothing short of remarkable. You also took the SuperValu Endeavour Award for Mayo in 2001. And, of course in my home city of Belfast, Westport was awarded the prestigious title of Best Kept Small Town in Ireland.
When the Tidy Towns movement started out more than 40 years ago Ireland was a hugely different place. Like so many towns in Ireland Westport experienced immense economic and social changes since then. Adapting to those changes without losing the integrity of Westport’s beauty and spirit, adapting to them and at the same time enhancing the beauty and spirit of Westport, these were the challenges you faced, transcended and triumphed over.
The Competition broadened its criteria dramatically in those 40 years. Nowadays a neat town is only part of the story with increased emphasis on on-going and sympathetic care for your built environment, for green spaces, local wildlife and all this in one coherent, single-minded and workable plan. Then of course you have to deliver the plan and to get that done – well, you know better than anyone the arduous journey but the fulfilling vocation that is. Many communities have gone that same difficult journey but only Westport knows the joy of reaching the top in 2001.
I’m here today to acknowledge that great victory and to thank, on behalf of the citizens of Westport and all those visitors who relish this place, the litany of people who made that victory possible among them - people like Ann Moore, our MC heading up the very dedicated team at Westport Town Council, Des Mahon at Mayo County Council and of course Bride Moran of Westport Tidy Towns and all of the volunteers who contribute to Tidy Towns in Westport.
Perhaps the most vital component in the continuing success of this competition is the unflagging support, on the ground from store-owners around the country and financially, from the team at SuperValu Supermarkets. On behalf of everyone here today – I extend our thanks to Michael Nason and all the team at SuperValu. Your sponsorship and support is vital and through it not only are communities strengthened, not only are our towns and villages revealed in all their deepest beauty but all of us are given the gift of pride in our beautiful country and respect for our hardworking bighearted people. Our young people are blessed to grow up in communities with such courage, heart, self-confidence and self-respect.
Today Westport looks stunning, not just because of its legendary exterior beauty but because of the radiance and lustre added to that God given beauty by its people.
Congratulations and continued success to you all. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.