Tallanstown retains bragging rights for Louth in Tidy Towns awards

Tallanstown has once again been named the tidiest place in Co Louth, following the release of the Tidy Towns results this afternoon.

While the Mid-Louth village missed out on the national title, which it claimed in 2010, it did pick up a gold medal in Category B, which earned them a prize of €1,900.

There was also a gold medal in Category D for Blackrock and for Dundalk and Drogheda in Category H, which earned each of them €900.

Moynalty in Co Meath was this year’s overall win of the Supervalu Tidy Town of the Year for 2013.

Other areas celebrating included Knockbridge, which picked up a silver medal in Category B and Ardee, which picked up a bronze medal in Category D. Knockbridge and Blackrock were also highly commended and commended respectively. Blackrock also picked up a Climate Change Award, which earned them an additional €1,000 from the Department of the Environment.

Louth Village, meanwhile, collected an endeavor award having seen a 10.2% improvement in their marks from 2012 – the largets increase in the country aside from Rearcross in Tipperary North and Craughwell in Galway.

Meanwhile, Dromiskin Tidy Towns won the Best Bring Bank Award for the Midlands and East District, earning them a €1,000 bonus.

The full list of marks can be found below:

Number of suicides in Louth on the rise

Despite suicide levels increasing steadily in Louth, our biggest suicide prevention organisation, SOSAD, still receives no government funding

Louth has been highlighted as an area of suicide concern after a new HSE report showed that the rate of suicides in the county has risen steadily since 2006.

The rate from 2006-2008 was 11.2 per 100,000 of the county’s population. This grew to 11.8 from 2007 to 2009 and the latest figures show it stands at 13.1 for the period 2008-2010.

The data in the report has been aggregated into three year moving averages, providing data for five different time periods in order to allow any potential trends to be identified.

Louth has been pinpointed in the report as an area showing a “steady increase”, along with Kerry, Laois, Offaly, South Tipperary and Westmeath.

The report also found that, relative to the national rate, a high rate of deliberate self-harm was recorded for men living in Louth.

The latest stats show that per 100,000 of population, only Offaly, Kerry, Leitrim, Cork, Laois, Westmeath, Tipperary North and South and Waterford had higher levels of suicides than Louth.

Despite this, the largest suicide prevention organisation in the county – SOSAD – continues to receive no government funding.

Louth GAA was praised in the report – titled the National Office for Suicide Prevention’s Annual Report 2012 – for their efforts in tackling the problem head on through education and openness.