Westport in Co Mayo was named yesterday as the overall winner of this year's Tidy Towns competition, finishing ahead of more than 700 towns and villages in the annual event.
Representatives of towns and villages throughout the State attended the awards ceremony in a crowded St Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle yesterday morning.
It was the first time in the history of the competition that the main award had gone to Westport. In addition to winning the overall award, the town also won the tidiest "small town" category, as well as county and regional awards.
Westport, an 18th-century planned town, impressed the judges as "a perceptibly tidy town with special character".
The general impression of Westport recorded in their report was of "a vibrant, vigorous town, handsome and debonair, too busy and businesslike to become over-gentrified or theme park-like, where public and private enterprise is creating an enviable environment for living and working.
"It is always impressive to note the high level of enthusiasm and consistency of presentation in all aspects of the competition in the town," the report added.
Westport's Tidy Towns committee was presented with a trophy and a cheque for £10,000 by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey.
The other two main awards went to Ennis, Co Clare, which took the title of tidiest large town and Castletown, Co Laois, which was named the tidiest village in the Republic.
Mr Dempsey congratulated all 720 entrants and emphasised that the competition was about more than winning prizes.
"It's about working together for an interesting, beautiful and sustainable environment for our urban communities. Even if your town doesn't feature among the prizes, every resident - man, woman and child - gets a lift from the efforts of Tidy Town committees," he said.
Mr Dempsey paid tribute to the committees for the way they worked for change and preservation in a spirit of co-operation and partnership. They were positive, prepared to talk and listen, and never operated on the basis of blind opposition, he said.
"You set a great example to the community at large. These days it can seem that every proposal for change is met with strident opposition," Mr Dempsey said.
Seven regional awards were also announced. The winner of the Dublin City and County award went to Skerries; in the Midlands East region the winner was Castletown, Co Laois; the North-West regional award-winner was Malin, Co Donegal; Ennis won the award for the Shannon region; the winner in the SouthEast region was Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow; Kenmare, last year's overall winner, this year won the South-West regional award; and Westport took the Ireland West region award.
Eight gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze medal winners were also named. The mark achieved by the overall winner of the competition sets the standard for the award of all the medals. This year gold medals went to Keadue, Co Roscommon; Newtowncashel, Co Longford; Rathbarry, Co Cork; Castletown, Co Laois; Kenmare and Killarney, Co Kerry; Westport and Ennis.
The national winner of the best shopfront award went to Madden's Bar of Lismore, Co Waterford, and the landscape award was presented to Mountshannon village in Co Clare.
Earlier in the year the threat of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease put the Tidy Towns competition, which has been running since 1958, in doubt. This did not happen, however, and, as the organisers said yesterday, standards were as high as ever and "in fact improved on previous years' levels".
The Tidy Towns competition is organised by the Department of the Environment and Local Government and sponsored by SuperValu.