‘Nenagh is very much on the up’

Nenagh has received a largely positive report in this year’s Tidy Towns competition, the results of which were published last week.

The town bettered last year’s score by eight points, winning a total of 370 and earning praise for the local Tidy Towns committee of eight. The adjudicator noted that 40 volunteers are involved in Nenagh’s Tidy Towns work but that this number rises above 100 when including overall community effort.

Among the highlights of this adjudicator’s visit to Nenagh last summer were the Shane MacGowan and Rex Ingram murals, as well as the kingfisher painting at the Gaelscoil and “some excellent panels in progress at St Paul’s Playground”.

Shopfronts and commercial buildings were generally well maintained, though the adjudicator found it “hard to believe that there are only five derelict sites in Nenagh; no doubt more will be ‘identified’ through Tidy Towns and council’s new dereliction team.”

‘BEETLE ATTACK’

As with the previous reports, the Historic & Cultural Quarter left a lasting positive impression on this year’s adjudicator. However, the “Castle Garden was unfortunately a victim of a beetle attack and hopefully it can soon be restored to its former glory.”

It was quite overgrown in places, albeit being energetically addressed by a very busy CES worker, who had a large list of activities to attend to. Nest boxes may attract birds that eat beetles!”

Elsewhere, the adjudicator ventured along the River Walk and found it “lovely, tranquil and incredibly interesting from a biodiversity and mindfulness perspective”. Also visited were approximately 15 residential developments around the town.

“Nearly all houses were well presented and had well maintained gardens,” the adjudicator reported. “Both Ballygraigue estates were exceptional in their approach to biodiversity and showcase many initiatives that are transferable elsewhere.

“Whilst there were many exceptional gardens, a standout for me was the colours in the new development adjacent to the crescent in Coill na Fuinseoige, which is a gem of a development. Melrose and Castle Crescent were also impressive.”

‘BLACK SPOTS’

“Nenagh town centre is tidy with minimal clutter,” the 2025 Tidy Towns report states. “As one leaves the town centre, things are a little patchier; some streets with kerb weeds and dirt accumulations on footpaths and at least one street with a proliferation of satellite dishes to the front of properties.

“Graffiti was noted in leisure areas, and damaged sections of pedestrian railings were encountered… Overall tidiness is very good but need to be vigilant and active in regards a small number of black spots, which undermine the very significant efforts and progress you are making.”

The adjudicator regretted finding “a rather large heavily littered area on a walk from Abbey Court Hotel, past Homesaver’s to Lidl, where very significant amounts of accumulated litter were encountered both on and off street, in parking areas and planters, including broken bottles, cans, large and small litter, organic matter and cigarette butts.”

The local Tidy Towns committee was advised that once-off initiatives such as litter picking can impact positively on communities’ attitude to littering. “But allowing black spots to fester in any location undermines this, and can only be addressed by vigilance and regular cleaning.”

Overall, however, the town yielded another favourable report for 2025. “Nenagh is very much on the up,” the adjudicator stated in their concluding remarks.

“Your Town Centre First and planned projects that will stem from this; heritage and cultural areas initiatives and continued progress with your effective traffic management and Active Travel initiatives all have the potential to be transformative in further improving the wonderful town you have.

“However, don’t lose sight of the fundamentals. Continued focus on doing the basic things well, maintaining and incrementally improving what you have, joined up thinking and above all engaging with and getting community buy-in, empowerment and action to continue to deliver improving what appears to be a lovely place to live in.”