Birr honoured at IPB Pride of Place Awards

Birr was a big winner at the All-Ireland 2019 Pride of Place Awards held in Kilkenny on Saturday evening.

The town took a special award after judges were impressed with how the local community “takes enormous and justifiable pride in enhancing the town’s built heritage to its full potential – and whose ongoing work in this area is exemplary.”

900 representatives from counties across Ireland gathered in the Lyrath Estate Hotel for the awards, hosted by Kilkenny County Council.

Sponsored by IPB, the Pride of Place competition was initiated 18 years ago though a Co-operation Ireland programme to acknowledge the invaluable work undertaken by volunteers and those involved in local community development. It has grown into the largest competition recognising community development achievements on the island of Ireland.

Pride of Place founder and Chairman Tom Dowling said: “These awards continue to be as important as ever after all these years and the purpose of the awards has never changed. They are about recognising and celebrating the extraordinary, inspirational tireless work being done by communities all over the Island of Ireland as they strive to make their place a better place in which to live”.

Dr Christopher Moran, Chairman of Co-operation Ireland added: “Pride of Place deserves its position as one of the most prestigious community awards on the island of Ireland and Co-operation Ireland is delighted that it continues to go from strength to strength.”George Jones Chairman, IPB Insurance said; “IPB Insurance is proud to be title sponsors of Pride of Place and most importantly what these Awards represent. As a mutual insurer of local authorities and their communities, these awards are an excellent fit as they recognise how volunteerism at a local level delivers an all-island social impact creating better places to live, work and socialise”.

Co-operation Ireland manages the delivery of the annual competition. For further information on the work of Co-operation Ireland visit www.cooperationireland.org.