Get Involved in the Community

There are many community projects running in Ireland that always welcome enthusiastic volunteers! The following are some of the well known national initiatives that you can get involved with.

• Tidy Towns: most towns and villages in Ireland now participate in the Tidy Towns competition. If you would like to become involved in cleaning up your locality, landscaping open spaces, or helping to investigate the carbon footprint of your area, contact your local Tidy Towns group or Local Authority.

• Pride of Place: this competition encourages social cohesion and aims to show what can be achieved when people work together. Groups have the freedom to decide what type of project they would like to do, whether raising environmental awareness or promoting local heritage etc.  

• National Spring Clean: this anti-litter campaign is run throughout the month of April each year. It focuses on cleaning up the environment, promoting recycling, raising awareness of responsibility for waste etc. and involves the whole community working together.

• Clean Coast Project: do you live near the coast? Voluntary Coastcare groups are currently in operation in Meath, Dublin , Wicklow, Wexford and Waterford . They aim to manage stretches of coastline in their area and keep them clean. If a high standard is achieved, then the area will be given a Green Coast Award. If there is no Coastcare group in your area, contact An Taisce about setting one up.

• An Taisce: An Taisce is the National Trust for Ireland and is concerned with heritage and environmental issues. They are always looking for volunteers to help with the upkeep of their heritage properties, administration, planning and fundraising.

The enthusiasm and effort of everyone involved in these extremely worthy projects makes it a fun way to get to know more people in your community.