Three Fingal Groups in Contention for Awards at the Finals of the 2022 IPB Pride of Place Competition
The finals of the 2022 IPB Pride of Place Competition takes place in Dublin city next weekend with three groups who represented Fingal last year in the annual north-south competition in the running for prizes as examples of the best of community development on the island of Ireland.
The finals of the 2022 IPB Pride of Place Competition takes place in Dublin city next weekend with three groups who represented Fingal last year in the annual north-south competition in the running for prizes as examples of the best of community development on the island of Ireland.
Balbriggan Men’s Shed, Oldtown Community Council and the Mountview Community and Youth Centre in Dublin 15 are representing the Council in three different categories in recognition of the hugely positive contribution they are each making to their local communities.
Now in its 20th year, the competition, organised by Co-operation Ireland, is part of a drive to foster better community relations on the island of Ireland. Pride of place invites local authorities in Ireland, north and south to nominate the groups and communities which make a difference in making communities places to be proud of.
In September the judges met with Balbriggan Men’s Shed who were competing in a new category which highlighted the best in Community Wellbeing. Meanwhile Mountview Community & Youth Centre flew the flag for the Dublin 15 community of Mountview in the Urban Neighbourhoods category and Oldtown Community Council represented the North County Fingal village in the category for populations between 300 and 1000 persons.
The awards finals will take place in the Clayton Hotel on Saturday, Jan 21st with Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony and Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly in attendance to support the Fingal groups along with Community Office Staff and Director of Services Robert Burns.
Speaking ahead of the finals, Mayor of Fingal Cllr Howard Mahony said, “I want to wish the three Fingal groups who took part in Pride of Place the very best of luck on the night and hope to see them follow on in the strong tradition of doing Fingal and the Council proud in this competition which recognises the huge importance of the community and voluntary sector in the life of the county”.
Chief Executive of Fingal County Council AnnMarie Farrelly added; “The great work of our voluntary groups, and the strong support they get from our Community Development Office is crucial to the community wellbeing of the county, and I sincerely want to wish all three groups great success on the night.“
Fingal County Council has an excellent record in this competition, having picked up the Local Authority of the Year Awards in 2017 and having had over 20 winning community groups over the last two decades. Bayside Community Association won the outright award for Best Urban Neighbourhood in the 2021 competition and Rush tidy towns picked up best runner up in the populations over 5000 categories.
The Awards will be livestreamed from The Carlton Burlington at 7pm on Saturday the 21st of January for supporters wishing to view the awards online at this link: https://prideofplace.ie/ - click on the button that states ‘watch live’. The viewing button will not be active until 7pm on Saturday the 21st.
For more information on Pride of Place you can contact the Council’s liaison officer, Rafe Costigan at 087-2203944 or at [email protected]
