Tidy Towns groups in Tipperary still doing their best despite cancellation of competition

Photo © Birdhill Tidy Towns

Local Tidy Towns groups are still working to remove litter from roadsides despite the cancellation of this year’s event.

Chair of the highly successful Birdhill group, Denis Floyd, says that littering remains common along the side of local roads despite a drop in traffic since the Covid-19 outbreak.

The CEO of Tipperary County Council, Joe McGrath, has spoken out against fly tipping incidents recently.

And Denis says they’ve also experienced such dumping in their own community:

“They could maybe have waited a month or so and put the competition back maybe a little bit later in the summer because we can still get work done.

“We have been working ourselves here in Birdhill picking litter, doing a bit of painting, a bit of planting, sowing shrubs and maybe flowers later on.

“So all that can be done with people working individually on their own, in isolation. That works under the current restrictions.”

He also believes it may have been possible to hold the Tidy Towns competition later in the year.

Denis says the decision to cancel the 2020 event was understandable, but thinks they may have been able to hold off on making the move for another month.