Veteran Offaly businessman hails Tullamore's litter league success

VETERAN business man and former long serving councillor John Flanagan has hailed Tullamore's achievement in the nationwide anti-litter league competition last week.

Mr Flanagan said: ”As an old Tullamore resident I was very pleased and impressed to find the town had been ranked among the top four centres in the country.”

Tullamore was ranked cleaner than European norms in the competition coming home in 4th place behind Kilkenny, Killarney and Ennis.

“This achievement is so important for the future of the town,” said Mr Flanagan who was presented with the prestigious Offaly Person of the Year Award in 2017.

“I want to congratulate all members of the Tidy Towns committee and all the volunteers who worked so tirelessly over the years,” he added.

Mr Flanagan also congratulated Offaly County Council and in particular the outdoor staff of the council for their work.

“As a previous member of the council it is heartening for me to say that we have come such a long way in Tullamore. It is so encouraging and rewarding to find ourselves in this position.”

He stressed that such a ranking would play an important part in encouraging business people to view Tullamore as a suitable location for their enterprises.

Mr Flanagan also noted, that in this Covid-19 era of working from home, it would act as an incentive for employees to relocate to Tullamore.

He predicted that many people from outside the county would look at buying houses and relocating to Tullamore on the strength of the town's ranking in the anti-litter league.

“Offaly County Council have been enormously enouraging down through the years in supporting Tidy Towns and improving the streetscape and overall appearance of Tullamore,” observed the business man.