Leighlinbridge crowned south-east winner in this year’s Tidy Towns
LEIGHLINBRIDGE was crowned South East winner of the 2026 Tidy Town’s competition.
The Tidy Town’s group achieved 408 points and won overall across the south-east region of the country, which includes Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.
Leighlinbridge also came County First and was awarded a gold medal, coming within 15 marks of the winner.
Secretary of Leighlinbridge Tidy Towns Committee, Mary Meaney, said the whole group was thrilled to come County First and even more so to win the regional award.
“I was hopping around the place,” said Mary, who watched the awards online.
The award ceremony took place 23 October at Croke Park, with chairperson Paul Haughney attending on behalf of the committee.
Leighlinbridge Tidy Town Committee was established in 1980 and since then the village has taken home the gold medal 21 times. However, this was the first time it has won the regional award since 2001.
The town was awarded a plentiful sum of €4,000, taking home the regional award valued at €2,000, the county first prize valued at €1,000 and a gold medal valued at €1,000.
There were 936 towns competing for the grand prize, with Ballinahown in Co Westmeath taking the overall award for Tidiest Town. It achieved 413 points.
Leighlinbridge was awarded an additional 19 points compared with last year. Mary said the committee took time early in the year to figure out what criteria they could target to improve their score.
“You nearly want to be a genius,” said Mary, as the criteria were quite complex.
The committee of more than ten strong, along with an army of volunteers, worked throughout the year in the evenings after work and on weekends to keep the town tidy. Local schools were also instrumental in the effort. Leighlinbridge National School also achieved its sixth Green Flag for global citizenship, litter and waste.
They focused their attention on dog fouling and Tidy Towns held a competition for the best campaign poster and displayed the winners around the village.
Mary said the Tidy Towns group gets along well with the local businesses in the village who help massively, along with local sporting clubs.
Other towns across the county picked up awards on the day. Tynock received the Endeavour Award for Co Carlow, improving the most from last year. Ballon was announced as County Second, coming in behind Leighlinbridge, and Bagenalstown as County Third.
Ballon and Carlow town both received a bronze medal.
Rathvilly is the only Carlow town to have received the Tidiest Town award, winning three times in the 1960s.
