'This is for everyone in Blackrock' - Blackrock Tidy Towns celebrate award

“We are shocked, surprised and excited,” said John Horan, chairman of the Blackrock Tidy Towns committee, following the news that the seaside town was awarded Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town at the 2019 SuperValu Tidy Towns awards at The Helix in Dublin on Monday.

“This is for everyone in Blackrock. We didn’t expect to get the county award, the regional award and category winner. 

On top of scooping the coveted award, Blackrock held onto their Gold Medal status, winning the County award and also the Midlands & East Regional award, and were just a single mark away from winning the overall Ireland’s Tidiest Town award!

“It is a testament to the work of many hands over two and a half decades,” he added. "It is something to be proud of and to be shared by the entire community.”

Louth TD Declan Breathnach was among the first to offer his congratulations.

 “It’s a fantastic achievement for Blackrock Tidy Towns to have won the Tidiest Small-Town Award and the volunteers deserve immense credit for putting their town and county on the map,” he commented.

“It is sure to be a source of pride for the town for many years to come, and will provide an invaluable boost to tourism for the area.”

Louth’s performance in this year’s competition was lauded by Deputy Breathnach, who added:

“It was a great day for Louth as a whole with bronze medals for Knockbridge, Tallanstown and gold medals for Ardee, Blackrock. Drogheda and Dundalk.”