€10,000 nature boost for Ballinahown

Ireland's Tidiest Village, Ballinahown, has received a nature funding boost to the tune of €10,000 which will be used to implement a number of imaginative projects in the award-winning village, including a bee insect hotel and a 'green wall' of herbs, tomatoes and strawberries.

Ballinahown was one of six areas across Westmeath to receive funding under a long-standing partnership between Community Foundation Ireland and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Under the partnership, local communities are provided access to expert ecologists to decide the best ways to protect or promote wildlife, and to implement them through an Action Plan.

Athlone GAA Club was awarded €5,000 from the funding to work with an expert ecologist on the development of a community biodiversity action plan. The plan will highlight species which live on, or adjacent to pitches or buildings and make recommendations for the protection and promotion of plants and wildlife.

Ballinahown Development Association is planning to use the funding to enhance the existing flower beds and install a bee insect hotel to the front of the Parochial House. Flower beds at the local church are also due to be planted with pollinator friendly flowers, and the group is planning to partner with the local school on a novel project to increase awareness, which will see one, or more 'Green Walls' on the school building to be planted with herbs, tomatoes and strawberries.

Making the announcement of support for the latest biodiversity projects, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan TD urged local communities to “work together” to tackle the national bidiversity projects, and said he was “really impressed” with the range of projects involved and excited to see the outcomes of their work.

Denise Charlton, Chief Executive of Community Foundation Ireland said Westmeath is “particularly proud” of the fact that local efforts being made to protect habitats, plants and wildlife are increasingly growing into “a national movement.”