Picture: Marie Carroll-O’Sullivan
Killarney has won gold in this year’s national Tidy Towns competition, increasing its overall mark by an impressive nine points in the process.
The adjudicators awarded the town a total of 384 marks with increases in every single category and it earned Killarney the county award in addition to the gold medal.
Here, in full and in their own words, is what the adjudicators had to say
Community planning and involvement
My first memories of Killarney, stretching back more than 40 years, were of a High Street with somewhat garish plastic signage. How delightful it is now to see traditional shopfronts with a sensitively restored streetscape.
The other significant memory was the presence of a brown carpet of horse droppings for the many jaunting cars, now totally cleaned up with the ‘nappies’, the cause of some controversy when first mooted.
You have a committee 15 core members from the community sector with representatives from Kerry County Council, Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, Mountain Meitheal groups and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and two new sub-committees this year – the Killarney Coffee Cups Project and the Killarney Green Hubs Committee.
You have an amazing 400 volunteers making up the Killarney Looking Good/Killarney Tidy Towns. The very wide scope of your application suggests a very deep community involvement and support. It would be interesting to estimate the total hours put into the annual Tidy Towns effort by the sum total of all your members and community and other supporters.
You have an impressively long list of supporting organisations with a helpful table indicating the nature of the support given.
You use the Killarney Tidy Towns Facebook as a communications channel with 3,300 followers – it is very up-to-date and interesting. The website is attractive and looks like an effective way of recruiting volunteers.
There is also excellent engagement with the local national and secondary schools, led by your Schools Liaison Officer. The Killarney Coffee Cup project was chosen as your designated specific project and is widely publicised throughout the town and surrounds.
Streetscape and public spaces
Along Rock Road, St Columbanus Community Hospital and nearby Registry Office were to be seen, with the Mercy Convent also visible on the New Road, with the Mercy School, the Mon and the Community College on the fine tree-lined street. On Rock Road there is a fine terrace of two-storey traditional houses with a freshly painted St John Paul Pastoral Centre across the road.
Aras Phadraig on Lewis Road looks like an exciting development as a community, cultural and commercial hub.
The Fáilte Hotel and Adams Jewellers add interest to the street. College Square entices one towards High Street with, at one end, the restored Hilliard’s facade and signage, the Town Hall with eye-catching window boxes and the elegant St Mary’s Church of Ireland across the road.
All along the High Street the nice blend of shop-front colours with well-crafted traditional signage is epitomised by Salvadors, Brian de Staic, Foley’s Restaurant and guesthouse. The discreet traditional street lighting and wire-free aspect make High Street an attractive commercial space.
On the Port Road we glimpse the modern Community College, contrasting with the Old Monastery and the imposing St Mary’s Cathedral. The outdoor dining area and nearby Kenmare Place were admired. Caragh Restaurant, Danny Mann and the newly restored Kingdom Lodge on New Street were also eye-catching.
The Anam centre grabs attention in a good way; the nearby railway station and Great Southern Hotel are Victorian gems.
The new public conveniences in Kenmare Place must be a most welcome practical addition. The well-maintained street furniture looked well. Would you consider making a poster of the old ER postboxes mapped and photographed by the students?
Green spaces and landscaping
The roundabouts on all approaches to the town had well-designed planting with pollinator friendly flowers and shrubs giving a wonderful blend of colour.
There are many well-tended green spaces such as the rose bed in front of the High Street car park and the on-street planters, with trees and colourful pollinator friendly planting,
The large green space between the Old Monastery and the Cathedral looks very bare – it would be interesting to explore potential landscaping options, subject to getting the landowner’s approval. A relatively unsightly large heap of grass-cuttings was observed just over the wall, very visible from Port Road.
The fern garden on Mission Road is easily overlooked and is a hidden gem.
Killarney House and Gardens is a superlative park with the formal and informal seamlessly blended together. The extensive gravel and tarmac paths, some lined with lime trees and beech hedging fitting for the Earl of Kenmare, is now part of Killarney National Park.
Approaching through the Golden Gates, the relatively small Killarney House fronts a spectacular formal garden leading to the Cherry Drive and the Long Terrace Walk. Further out is the wilderness with a natural wildflower meadow. The pathways wind their way through a forest of specimen trees.
This adjudicator is surprised that the Killarney House and Gardens does not get a mention in the Tidy Towns application. It is a major, positive, national landscaping asset.
At Muckross the bike park was admired and the A3-sized information signs stuck in the grass beside the roadway/cycleway – ‘Things you may not know about Killarney National Park’ – were quirky and informative, such as capital projects planned for 2024, Innisfallen, bats, bioblitz and volunteers.
Nature and biodiversity
It was fascinating to read that 5,400 hours of voluntary work was put in the remove invasive rhododendron at the Abbey Road walk and that you have been successful in getting a grant from the Local Biodiversity Fund for further action.
Congratulations on the reintroduction of the osprey to Killarney National Park following your earlier success with the white-tailed eagle project. The cuckoo tracking project is very innovative.
The biodiversity themed events you reported are impressive and should stimulate a deep interest in nature in the younger generation. Well done to the local honey award winner and also to the reporting of a new Northern Grey moth.
The adjudicator would like to ask if you have a Biodiversity Action Plan to enable Killarney Tidy Towns continue to expand the range of activities and actions in a methodical manner?
Sustainability – doing more with less
The Coffee Cup project is a very comprehensive, innovative and practical measure which could provide a template for other towns and villages to replicate. It would be great if you could compile a ‘How to’ guide to show others your learnings from the project. Congratulations and well done for driving this project and getting national recognition.
Killarney Tidy Towns have been very active in a wide variety of sustainability initiatives such as promoting a Killarney Green Hub, getting the Killarney Chamber to form a sustainability sub-committee, getting the ESB to install more EV charging points, installation of solar PV and rainwater harvesting at St Brendan’s Secondary School, the bus link to Waterville, hosting the Biobus, solar bins (with coffee cup logo). Perhaps you might consider an additional energy initiative such as registering as a sustainable energy community.
Tidiness and litter control
The town was essentially litter free on adjudication day.The town motorised street sweeper was spotted in action. Willow Grove had four pieces of fresh litter (Red Bull can, Kit Kat wrapper, pieces of tissue, Fruit Fusion wrapper,
The pathways in the Killarney House and gardens were litter free as were all the town centre car parks. A dog poo was spotted on the footpath on Port Road opposite the New Road junction.
The county clean-up was completed in the spring. The waste bin facilities are good. The fact that the car parks were litter free testifies that your organisation and practical litter pick-ups is working well. The Bring Banks were neat and tidy.
The extensive nature areas and trails were neat and tidy. The roadway signage presentation was excellent.
We note your on-going dog fouling campaign and the efforts of the gum litter taskforce. The festival management, Adopt a Road and disposal of unused phone boxes is excellent.
Residential streets and housing areas
Willow Grove, Bruach na hAbhainn, Coill na Darrach and Holy Cross Gardens estates were neat and well presented as were Woodlawn Park and Dromhall Park. Bruach na hAbhainn was litter free.
Rookery Woods was an example of a new development but somewhat bare. The estate signage was often bilingual and nicely carved in stone. It would be helpful if housing estates were marked on the map.
Encourage householders to start a small wildflower meadow in their garden by marking out and not mowing one small area, then let nature take its course and wildflowers will appear if sufficient patience allows. Further sympathetic hedge and shrub/tree planting by householders should also be encouraged.
Residents might be encouraged to plant an appropriate species of tree or shrub (pollinator friendly, of course) in the front garden – space allowing – to add visual and biodiversity interest.
Approach roads, streets and lanes
The entrances to Killarney raise a growing exciting expectation as one nears the town, emphasised by its unique setting with the mountain backdrop. The busy approach roads have well-ended fence lines, walls and pavements and well-planted roundabouts. The road surfacing and signage is good.
Killarney has a variety of inter-connecting lanes which are well kept and provide interesting connectivity between streets and neighbourhoods.
Concluding Remarks
Killarney is a uniquely attractive town set in a marvellous location. It is a bright, attractive, colourful heritage town busy with visitors.
A visit there is a memorable event with many types of in-built attraction that insist you come back again. I look forward to seeing the town and environs develop and visiting it again in the very near future.
Second round adjudication
What a joy to be back in the beautiful town of Killarney in the height of the summer with the town in full splendour and a hive of activity in every direction.
On the morning of our visit, the buzz and vibrancy of the town centre was palpable and it was great to see the jaunting cars packed with visitors enthralled with their surroundings.
Our visit commenced at High Street and we were impressed with the overall quality of the streetscape – all commercial premises so tastefully and colourfully presented enticing the passer-by.
Well done to the Killarney business owners who, quite obviously, are putting a great effort into the presentation of their shopfronts and the upper floors of their properties.
We took a moment to review the laneways in this area, including New and Old Market Lanes and Bohereencaol. Killarney is fortunate to have a superb network of laneways providing important connectivity to off-street car parking areas and opportunities for small businesses to thrive and eateries with outdoor seating areas.
We particularly liked the photographic exhibition which added interest to a blank wall at Newmarket Lane. Empty beer kegs used to provide colourful seating was a novel idea.
Bilingual signage is used to great effect in all parts of the town. The expertly clipped Hornbeam trees outside the Weavers of Ireland shop added interest to the streetscape here. The tiger mulch finish around the base of the trees provides an attractive and safe surface for the passer-by.
Street furniture in this area, including seating, lamp standards, bollards, litter bins and planters, are presented to a very good standard, enhancing the quality of the surroundings.
Street name signage is evident on buildings at many road junctions. Window boxes and hanging baskets are not overdone in the town centre, although they do provide a welcome splash of colour at the International Hotel, Quill’s Irish Jewellery and Woolen Market, John M Reidy and the Weavers of Ireland premises.
The very few vacant premises are suitably enhanced with attractive window displays, e.g. the closed Brian James retail unit.
The installation of a defibrillator in a restored phone box at Main Street was a very innovative and practical solution.
St Mary’s Church was admired with eye-catching red railings along the road and handsome mature yew and pine trees successfully framing this landmark building. Additional colour and interest in this part of the town is provided by tiered planters and container grown trees.
The attractively designed public toilet facilities on the large traffic island exhibit the successful use of stonework, glass and timber panelling. These public facilities were in pristine condition. Generous natural granite paving, seating and floral displays completed the scene.
The array of commercial premises fronting the HaHa area are a very positive addition and we admired the linear water feature here. Well-designed perennial plantings on traffic islands and low hedge plantings soften the presentation of this area.
In a similar way, planting could be used to screen the large car park areas on both sides of Beech Road, which are visually prominent seen from the Mission Road. The Vatican Pimpernel sculpture feature and information plaques are a marvellous addition to the town and very informative for the visitor unaware of this amazing history.
We entered Killarney House and Gardens. What a wonderful experience. Views from the park to the mountains never disappoint. The park is a real gem and we particularly admired the avenue of cherry trees which must be a great spectacle in springtime.
The Lime Avenue was similarly admired. Wide perennial beds were in full bloom and the vibrant Canna Lilies provided a good contrast to the tall ornamental grasses. The formal gardens in the vicinity of the stately Killarney House were a feast for the senses and we could have stayed a lot longer if time allowed.
For a town with a large footfall and significant tourist offering, and in the height of the summer tourist season, litter could be expected to be a problem but in Killarney this was not the case. Killarney Tidy Towns are commended for all their work on this issue.
Floral displays and presentation of roundabouts on approaches were excellent and we particularly admired the approach to grass maintenance with closely-mown strips close to roads and footpaths and adjoining areas retained as wildflower meadows.
Overall, the presentation and maintenance of Killarney was superb and congratulations to those involved with the work of Killarney Tidy Towns over the last year. Your committee is pivotal in guiding local developments in your town.
What is presented to the adjudicator on the ground confirms you are approaching your activities across all categories in a sustainable and considered way. We look forward to the next phase of Killarney Tidy Towns future programmes and thank all volunteers for their hard work to date. I fully agree with the markings and detailed contents of the first adjudication report.
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