Ballina’s rating in Tidy Towns was ‘baffling’

Councillors in the Ballina Municipal District have said the recent Tidy Towns results do not reflect the level of work put into the town by the council and local volunteers over the past 12 months.

Ballina got a total mark of 354 in this year’s competition, an increase on last year’s rating of 342. The town scored at least one mark higher in each category including the tidiness and litter control category, where it improved by one mark on 2022’s result.

However, Cllr Mark Duffy described the rating as “baffling”.

“I’m disappointed with the result. It’s not reflective of what we all see. There are great things being done and we should not get disheartened by it.”

Cllr John O’Hara said Ballina has been transformed by the work of the council and volunteers.

“It is now an entirely different town to three years ago. We know it ourselves, how much work is being done.”

Cllr Annie May Reape said the town should have at least been given a silver medal, if not a gold medal, especially for the hard work put for the visit of US President Joe Biden in April.

“The town has never been looking so well. I have a lot of sympathy for Jim Friel and the volunteers from the Ballina Tidy Towns for the hard work they do,” she said.

Cllr Reape said the adjudication does not match how the town looks and suggested asking the Tidy Towns adjudicators to reconsider their ranking of Ballina.

Cllr Jarlath Munnelly said all that Ballina can do now is take the results and recommendations and use them to make improvements.

Cllr Michael Loftus said he was concerned that smaller towns and villages in the municipal district have not entered the Tidy Towns and was surprised to only see Ballina among the entrants around north Mayo. He said some places were no longer putting themselves forward for the Tidy Towns competition due to a lack of volunteers and difficulties in completing the required documentation.

Cllr Loftus said he had inquired into the matter and learned that Killala, Foxford and Knockmore did not enter because of a lack of volunteers.

“It is so difficult to get volunteers to help in their local area,” he said, adding that the Tidy Towns application form is a complicated document and smaller committees have found it difficult to complete.

“Our outer towns need help if this is the case,” he said.

Cllr Loftus noted that all towns deserve the chance to enter and be successful, pointing to his native Crossmolina’s previous successes in the Mayo Litter Action League.