Carlow town has beaten locations across Europe in a prestigious competition celebrating environmental excellence at local level.
The south-east town swept the boards at the Entente Florale Europe Competition 2024 awards ceremony in Hungary on Saturday night.
These included an overall Gold Award, the President’s Prize for the town’s rain garden development and a Special Characteristic Prize for the Delta Sensory Gardens in Carlow.
The Europe-wide competition for villages, towns, cities, communities and public bodies highlights the importance of the green environment to improve people’s quality of life.
Carlow town was the only large urban town representing Ireland in the competition this year.
The judges were particularly impressed by the town park, rain gardens, the Delta Sensory Gardens and local sports and recreational facilities.
“To win a Gold Award in combination with the two other prizes is very rare,” said Carlow County Council’s Senior Executive Officer, Barry Knowles, who attended the ceremony with colleagues.
“The Gold Award is based on our individual merit but the President’s Prize is an overall European prize, judged against other participants.
“This is a huge achievement for Carlow and Ireland and it is the result of a significant group effort.”
The town won the President’s Prize for its innovative efforts to green its grey spaces by installing the first rain gardens to be retrofitted in an urban setting in Ireland.
Rain gardens comprise free draining soil mix that cleans, stores and conveys runoff water to a drainage layer.
Inlets in the kerb direct surface water runoff towards the rain gardens from the street, helping to prevent flooding and sewage overflow.
“These awards are an acknowledgment of the strides Carlow County Council has made to make the county a more sustainable and community-centred place to live,” said Cathaoirleach Fergal Browne, Carlow County Council.
“Our Climate Action Plan aims to reduce county emissions by 51 per cent and increase energy efficiency in the public sector to 50 per cent by 2030.
“From our rain gardens, to the new HVO-fuelled fire engine, Carlow is forging a path in sustainable innovation in Ireland and this Europe-wide recognition is yet another step along the way.”
A team of judges from the competition toured the town’s leading sustainable community initiatives on July 12.
In addition to the rain gardens, judges visited the Delta Sensory Gardens, a series of interconnecting award-winning gardens that form part of the Delta Centre, which provides services for young adults with an intellectual disability.
These gardens were awarded a Special Characteristic award for Outstanding Activities.
“I would like to congratulate all involved in this huge achievement – it is a significant accomplishment for a town of 27,000 people,” said Mayor of Carlow, Councillor Fintan Phelan.
“These awards are the culmination of years of hard work by members of Carlow County Council, Carlow Tidy Towns, as well as many community groups and external organisations – well done to them all.”