“It gives people a sense of pride of place which is so, so important,” said Mr Barry.
After many years of consistently strong progress and their medal wins in recent years, the county Louth village secured the top prize this time, which was the culmination of a journey that started 26 years ago.
In recent years Mr Barry has had the opportunity to share his experiences with other tidy towns groups, and his number one tip is to photograph your area early and regularly, because you will be surprised with the progress you make, even in a short period of time.
“It’s very easy to forget what your village looked like 26 years ago, sometimes people don’t appreciate how far you have come from to where you are now—people forget.”
“The advice I always give is photograph, photograph, photograph, so you can look back on the years and see [the progress]; I wish I had photographed Tallanstown 26 years ago, because the difference between then and now is unbelievable.”
Mr Barry said that people tend to forget where they started from: “Tallanstown was a very grotty place … but it has come on in leaps and bounds over those 26 years.”
When Mr Barry and the community embarked on the their tidy towns journey, they were starting from “rock bottom” – after year one in 1984, they were ranked 730th out of 760 entrants. Tallanstown had its work cut out, if they wished to climb the rankings to the number one spot.
With hard work and community effort Tallanstown managed to fulfil their goal of becoming Ireland’s tidiest town this year.
Commenting on what the win means for Tallanstown, Mr Barry said “It will mean an awful lot to the community because we were a very run-of-the-mill, probably not very nice village at all, and we set about making it a better village.”
The key to Tallanstowns' success, according to Mr Barry, was that each year after the results came in, the committee would analyse the judicators reports, and the following year they would focus their efforts in the areas they did not score so highly on, while trying to maintain the standard in the areas they did do well in.
“We basically used the Tidy town’s competition as a catalyst to make Tallanstown a better place to live in, to work in and to visit, and that was the basis of it all."
Tallanstown is now a clean and tidy village to live in, and according to Mr Barry this has also changed the community itself as they now look upon themselves differently compared to how they did 26 years ago.
“When people live in Tallanstown, I think it engenders a spirit of looking after the environment in the people of the village … I think our village is becoming more and more environmentally friendly with time,” said Mr Barry.
Aspects of antisocial behaviour such as vandalism have almost disappeared, and when and if they do appear they are just dealt with immediately with no big fuss.
“We don’t dwell on it or blame anyone, we just repair it … if a small piece of graffiti appeared in our village we just cleaned it straight away.”
On what lies ahead for Tallanstown, Mr Barry said that this is not the end but the beginning of their journey: “I think we will strive to make Tallanstown an even better place to live.”
Winning the title is a big boost, not only for their town but for the county as a whole. The Tallanstown committee takes part in an initiative called “Tidy Towns Together”, which is a group of around 20 towns who share their tidy town experiences, and it is organised by Louth County Council’s Senior Executive Environmental Officer, Ms Mary Murtagh.
The idea is for towns in Louth to share best practice with respect to what works for them in helping to keep their community clean. “Whatever works with one group, we share it to all the other groups and they try to implement it in exactly the same way,” said Mr Barry.
“Tallanstown wouldn’t have great amenities—we just worked with what we had, we advanced our strengths and worked on our weaknesses.”
Mr Barry’s advice to other villages who wish to commence the journey like they did 26 years ago is to do as they did, “sit down and analyse where you are and where you want to be, and then set out a plan to get there … I think we are a shining example of what a community that works together can achieve … it doesn’t come overnight but we never gave in – we always worked on.”
In parting, Mr Barry's two main areas of advice are to photograph early to remind you of your progress, and to plant trees early, so that in around ten years you will see the benefits of your early work. 
Prize giving
Mr John Gormley, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Mr Ray Kelly, Marketing Director of SuperValu, the competition’s national sponsor, named Tallanstown the Tidy Town of 2010 at The Helix, DCU.
Minister Gormley said after the awards ceremony, "the adjudicators were extremely impressed with Tallanstown this year and they commented that ‘Tallanstown has an idyllic rural charm that has been enhanced by the considered approach the TidyTowns Committee have taken to projects within the village area’. It is a remarkable achievement to win this award in the face of such strong competition and I wish to express, again, my deep appreciation and admiration for the work that all involved carry out in their communities.”
Ray Kelly of SuperValu said “TidyTowns is the public expression of the work countless individuals undertake to build community spirit and make their local area a better place to live. SuperValu, together with its countrywide network of local retailers, is – through the continued sponsorship of TidyTowns—committed to helping build and support vibrant local communities. I am delighted to congratulate this year’s winners and to recognise the commitment and dedication of TidyTowns committees nationwide who make such a real difference at a local level”.
The Tidy Towns competition is organised by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and sponsored by SuperValu. SuperValu have sponsored the National TidyTowns competition since 1992.
