The Village of Tallanstown in County Louth has won the International Challenge Small population category of the 2011 National Edition of Communities in Bloom. The village also received the Tidiness Outstanding Achievement Award, presented by Communities in Bloom.

In 2010, Tallanstown, after many years of community effort, was awarded the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Town in the National Tidy Towns Competition. As result of this success Tallanstown was selected to represent Ireland in the International 2011 Communities in Bloom competition.

Tallanstown, County Louth has been awarded the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Town 2010. This is the first time that the Louth village has secured the title although it has been consistently a strong contender in recent years and has won many county and medal awards.

Tallanstown was chosen from 764 competitors in this year’s National TidyTowns Competition and also claimed the award of Ireland’s Tidiest Village. Other winners included Lismore, County Waterford which received the award of Ireland’s Tidiest Small Town; Killarney, County Kerry which received the Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town award; and Kilkenny was named Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre.

The winner of the SuperValu TidyTowns Schools Award was Ardee Educate Together NS, Ardee, County Louth. A new Smarter Travel Award, sponsored by the Department of Transport, was won by the TidyTowns Committee in Ballymun, Dublin 9 and The Repak sponsored Best Bring Bank National Award was taken by Kill, County Kildare.

The Tidy Towns competition is organised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and sponsored by SuperValu. SuperValu has sponsored the National TidyTowns competition since 1992.

A record 27 local authorities have switched to leading independent energy provider Energia for their unmetered electricity supply since this market was opened last year. The local authorities making the switch include Dublin City Council, Cork City Council, Laois County Council, Louth, Carlow County Council, Kilkenny County Council, Monaghan County Council, Wexford County Council and Wicklow County Council.

The unmetered electricity supply market covers an important number of local authority services such as public lighting. It differs from the conventional energy market by the fact that no meter is used to record the energy units consumed. Companies wishing to compete in this market require authorisation from the CER. Up to May 2009, ESB was the only supplier licensed to operate in this market.

Energia was the first independent power provider to be awarded a licence and this allows unmetered electricity users, such as local authorities and state agencies, to avail of Energia’s competitive energy offerings and significant discounts. Dublin City Council for example will save around Eur300,000 in their deal.

Energia has also concluded a number of major ‘green power’ deals for conventional metered electricity supply with leading local authorities throughout Ireland, including Waterford City Council, Wexford County Council, Waterford County Council and Cork City Council.

The green power will be sourced from Energia’s extensive network of wind power facilities across Ireland. Energia has 220MW of operational renewable electricity capacity contracted within its energy portfolio, with a further 400MW of wind farm projects currently in development. These include facilities in Sligo, Donegal, Tyrone, Tipperary, Kerry and Cork.

“The facts speak for themselves – over 27 local authorities have moved to Energia to save on the cost of their unmetered electricity supply. Energia’s decision to start competing in the unmetered electricity market was based on our aim of widening our competitive power offerings to all parts of the unmetered electricity market,” comments Gary Ryan, sales and marketing director of Energia (pictured). “The notable savings that we can offer local authorities on unmetered electricity costs are undoubtedly good news, given the considerable pressure that their budgets are under in the current economic environment.”

A member of the Viridian Group, Energia also sources conventional power from the group’s power stations in north Dublin, where the company has invested Eur500m with the capability to supply up to 17% of electricity requirements on an all-island basis.