Muintir cancels 2020 ‘Pride in Our Community’ competition
THE popular annual Muintir Na Tire Cork ‘Pride in Our Community’ initiative has become the latest victim of the COVID-19 pandemic after organisers announced the cancellation of this years competition.
Organising committee member and Cork County Federation Muintir vice-chairman Sean Holland said that after much deliberations it was felt that the prudent approach was to cancel the 2020 competition “in the interests of public health and safety”.
“We are doing this to provide certainty to all groups around the county at this stage,” said Mr Holland.
This year would have marked the 15th outing of the competition, which challenges volunteers and community groups across County Cork to develop innovative new sustainable amenities, or enhance existing ones, for the benefit of their communities.
“The competition also seeks to make people conscious of their environment, promote litter-free communities and the overall development of their area. The initiative also supports the County Cork Biodiversity Action Plan through conserving and enhancing biodiversity in our daily lives,” said Mr Holland.
Since its inception the competition has grown from humble beginnings to become a hugely popular initiative attracting dozens of entries from across the county each year with a prized fund of more than €10,000.
Past category winners have included the Glanworth Community
Development Group for developing a playground in the village and Coolagown for their pollinator friendly mini-orchard.
Mr Holland said that in light of the current restrictions in place relating to public gatherings, travel and social distancing it would not be appropriate to ask groups to work on community related projects at this time.
“Hopefully, if restrictions are eased, there may be an opportunity for groups to undertake some work when it is safe to do so and in a way that is manageable later in the year, but unfortunately this will not form part of our competition for 2020. In the meantime, we would urge all groups to follow HSE advice by staying at home, only travel for essential purposes and practice social distancing,” said Mr Holland.
“We want to thank our main sponsors, Cork County Council and Cork City Council, for their understanding of the situation we find ourselves in at this time. I know that they, too, will look forward to being able to celebrate the return of the competition in 2021,” he added.