FERMOY BACK ON TOP OF IBAL LITTER LEAGUE
JUDGING PANEL AWARDED EVERY SITE IT SURVEYED IN THE TOWN TOP MARKS
“It is rare to visit a town with an almost complete absence of litter, not just in the town centre but also in residential and other areas surveyed – with all the sites getting the top litter grade’.
These comments from the An Taisce judging panel were music to the ears of volunteers in Fermoy this week after it emerged the town was placed top of the pile in the latest edition of the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) league.
With the exception of last year, when the town was not included, Fermoy has performed particularly well in the annual IBAL competition, finishing in the top three on three separate occasions.
An Taisce assessed litter levels over the summer months on behalf of IBAL in 40 towns and cities across the country – with Fermoy being crowned as the Cleanest Town in Ireland and regaining the coveted ‘ Cleaner Than European Norms’ designation which it lost back in 2016.
Paul Kavanagh, project manager for the Fermoy Tidy Towns Group, said this was a wonderful achievement for Fermoy, coming off the back of winning the ‘ Best Improved Town’ category in Cork County Council’s Anti-Litter Challenge and breaking the “magical 300-point barrier” in the SuperValu Tidy Towns Competition.
“This is fantastic news for everyone involved. We started the journey of making Fermoy a cleaner town just five years ago and are now in a strong challenging position for the overall IBAL national top spot, which will be announced in January,” said Mr Kavanagh.
He said the latest IBAL standing was a reflection of the hard work done since the establishment of the ‘Fermoy A Cleaner Town’ initiative five years ago.
“We are all volunteers and with the cooperation of Fermoy Forum representing local business, Residents Associations, Cork County Council staff, Avondhu Blackwater Development Ltd and the Fermoy Image Improvement Community Employment Scheme, we have been successful in changing people’s bad habits into good habits,” said Mr Kavanagh.
He said the formation of the Town Co-operation Committee had helped bring these various groups under a single umbrella to help make Fermoy a better place to live, work, shop and do business in.
He cited the Barnane River Walk, which had become a “huge litter problem”, as a perfect example of how a community effort can make a huge difference to the environment.
“Our group, in association with the Municipal Council and Fermoy Rowing Club, has voluntarily used our own bins and successfully proved they are used correctly by young and old alike. Moreover, we have changed people’s attitudes, and there is now a huge civic pride in Fermoy town and how clean it is,” said Mr Kavanagh.
“Together, we want to attract tourists and new business to Fermoy, and by working together we have ensured that Fermoy is ‘a cleaner town’. This result was just the motivation we all needed to go on and do the extra work, to go the extra mile and put Fermoy firmly on the map and show its true potential.”