Pullout from Tidy Towns mooted

Kilcullen may not enter the national Tidy Towns Competition in 2007.

That's a real possibility if ideas proposed at last night's meeting of Kilcullen Community Action are carried through.

The principle behind the move is to shame Kildare County Council into providing proper cleaning services for Kilcullen and other towns throughout the county.

The suggestion was raised by Esther Kiely, on the basis that there were a number of other towns in Kildare which were very dissatisfied with various aspects of the Council's litter and waste activities, or the lack thereof. This was clear from a recent meeting to which several such communities sent representatives.

J J Warren suggested that the idea could become a national talking point if several towns got together in a press conference to say they were refusing to participate because of the Council's failures in their duties.

"We could go on on TV3, for instance, and make a big blow about it," he said.

Following a lively discussion, it was decided that Esther Kiely and Celia Travers would find out what other towns in the county require from the Council, with a view to threatening a significant and embarrassing pullout from the prestigious competition.

Kilcullen has been continuously improving in recent years in the Tidy Towns awards.


Brian Byrne.