At this morning's award ceremony at Croke Park, it was also named Ireland's Tidiest Large Urban Centre for the second consecutive year.

It survived fierce competition from 904 towns and villages nationwide for the top honour.

Ballinahown, the tidiest village, and Blackrock, Co Louth, the tidiest small town, were the two major winners in the Supervalu Tidy Towns competition. Westport, County Mayo, was the winner of the title of tidiest big town.



Ballincollig Tidy Towns chair Tom Butler credited the achievement to 25 years of hard work, saying they raised their grades "year-on-year" during that time.

"We worked steadily, and it's a constant 52 weeks of the year that we work and it has eventually paid off," he stated.

It was a "fantastic" experience for the committee and volunteers, adding that it was a "group effort" backed by the local government.