Cork Tidy Town's group preparing for visit from judges for international event 

After proving its mettle as one of the nation’s tidiest towns, Ballincollig has a new target in its sights.

The city suburb has been selected to represent Ireland in the Communities in Bloom International Challenge 2026, where it will take on all-comers from around the world.

The army of volunteers at the Ballincollig Tidy Towns group is now sprucing up the town ahead of the judging on June 26, when international observers from Hungary and Canada cast a critical eye over its work.

Ballincollig will be competing against the town of Nagykoros in Hungary in the international challenge medium category.

Tom Butler, chairperson for Ballincollig Tidy Towns, said: “It is a huge honour for us to represent not only our city but our country on the international stage.”

He explained that the group was approached by Supervalu, who sponsor the annual Tidy Towns competition, and asked if they and Cork City Council would like to represent Ireland in the communities in Bloom Challenge.

There is a stringent marking scheme for this where 60% of the marks goes towards the work of the city council and Ballincollig Tidy Towns are marked out of 40%.

The 2026 National & International Awards Ceremonies along with a Symposium, will then be held in Montréal and Rosemère, Québec, in Canada in October.

The competition takes place annually with countries from all over the world competing against each other under different categories depending on the size of their town or city.

The theme of this year’s international challenge is Therapeutic Gardening, and Butler added: “We are a very progressive group and work really hard at sustainability.”

The international stage is the next logical step for the Ballincollig group, who were crowned National SuperValu TidyTowns Winner in 2024, and also named Ireland’s Tidiest Large Urban Centre that same year.

The town has won 13 gold medals down the years, and are usually in the top ten in the overall competition and in the top three in their category. This is all down to the hard work of the volunteers.

Ballincollig Tidy Towns was set up in 1965 in a time when it only had a population of 1,200. Currently, there are more than 22,000 residents in Ballincollig.

Butler took over as chairperson in 1999 when there were very few volunteers. Their numbers have grown to over a hundred now.

The volunteers do a litter pick every Sunday morning after which they go for coffee in The Plaza in Ballincollig.

Butler explained: “This is possibly as important as the litter pick and many friendships have been formed over the years where people who may not have met otherwise talk rubbish about rubbish!”

The focus of the tidy towns ethos has changed over the years from concentrating on litter picking and flowers to biodiversity and sustainability.

The group planted a pollinator corridor which stretches from one end of Ballincollig to the other. More than 50% of the plants now used are specifically to support pollinators, another change in recent times.

The group have their headquarters beside the community allotments in Ballincollig. Here, they harvest rainwater from the roof of the adjacent Scoil Barra. They segregate the rubbish they collect here and recycle items from it.

The group have also invested in a compactor which helps bale the rubbish they find. This in turn has helped them reduce the amount of skips they use to one a year, which decreases their carbon footprint

The group have formed a link with local schools where students going for their Gaisce awards help them to gather leaves to make their own compost.

Most of the plants the group use are bought from Ballinora Nurseries. However, they have an agreement with Tesco that if their plants are beyond resalable but could still be used, they donate them to Ballincollig Tidy Towns. They in turn revive them in their polytunnel, or ‘intensive care’ as they like to call it.

When the plants are brought back to health they are used or donated to local schools and organisations in the community.

The group does not use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides and helped changing the policy of the city council on this. They have also helped set up other Tidy Town groups in Bishopstown, Aherla, Cloghduv, and Ballinora.

The volunteers have stepped up their work for the international challenge, and created planters on the main street which contain herbs and flowers the residents can pick if they wish.

The group has also become involved with a project in Rosenalee Care Centre in the town. James Murphy, director of the nursing home, on advice from the Tidy Town group, bought wheelchair-friendly planters for the courtyard in the centre of the care centre. They helped plant these with residents using herbs and fruit and vegetables such as strawberries, tomatoes, onions and garlic.

Not only does it give some of the residents the enjoyment of gardening, the produce is also used in the kitchen.

Murphy said “The planters have been hugely therapeutic to his residents.”

He believes a busy house is a calm house. “The more active the residents are, the more at peace they are” he explained.

The courtyard itself is enjoyed because of the sound of birds at the feeders, with bees buzzing around the herbs and the water feature adding an atmosphere of tranquillity.

Murphy said he really appreciated The Tidy Towns advice in the centre and could already see the benefits to his residents.

Ballincollig Tidy Town’s mission statement is ‘Bringing together all that is good in the Community to create a town future generations can be proud of’.

Clearly, it is mission accomplished.