Wexford graveyard through to the final stages of Ireland's Greenest Places 2025

The shortlist for Ireland’s Greenest Places 2025 has been announced with fourteen entries from around the country making it through to the final stage of the competition.

Across categories for Ireland’s greenest suburb, village, town and community, Wexford has secured one nominee on the shortlist, with Ambrosetown Cemetery in Duncormick now in contention to win the community category and potentially the overall title of Ireland’s Greenest Place 2025. In the highly competitive community category, the Wexford project will be up against four others: Taplin’s Fields Community Gardens and Coolmine Lodge in Dublin, the Dingle Peninsula in Kerry and the Dysart River Project in Westmeath. As well as the five community nominees, the shortlist includes 4 villages, 3 towns and 2 suburbs. Dublin and Kerry lead the way with 4 and 3 nominees respectively, with Mayo next on 2. Then its Wexford, Cork, Tipperary, Clare and Westmeath with one each. The full shortlist below shows who will be going up against whom in the different categories. ‘Ireland’s Greenest Places 2025’, an initiative, which is being run by The Irish Times in association with Electric Ireland, began in late May when members of the public were invited to nominate a special place or project which they believe contributes to a genuinely greener environment. The Ambrosetown Cemetery Project was among over 120 projects or places put forward by members of the public from all over the country and one of just three entries from Wexford. The Chair of the Judging Panel, Irish Times Features Editor Mary Minihan said they had been blown away by the quality and diversity of the environmental projects being undertaken around the country. “All 14 community entries which have made it through to the final stage have demonstrated clear evidence of widespread action on climate and sustainability goals. Many of the locations have benefitted from truly transformative action, changing both physically and culturally as a result of collaborative green projects.” “It was extremely difficult in the first instance for us to come up with the long list and more difficult again to come up with the shortlist. Congratulations to the 14 projects who made it on the shortlist but also to everyone who entered and is doing such valuable work.” She said each place was judged on specific criteria including its beneficial environmental impact, level of ongoing collective engagement by the community and evidence of behavioural change by people. “Our judges have visited all the wonderful projects and places which made the shortlist, and we will be sitting down over the coming weeks to decide the winners. We know already it is going to be so so difficult,” Ms Minihan said. The Wexford Nominee – Ambrosetown Cemetery Project Though graveyards are ubiquitous in townlands around Ireland, the idea of sacred ground as a green space is a novel one. Management of Ambrosetown Cemetery in Duncormick, Co Wexford, has shifted from the extensive use of pesticides to control vegetation, to an environmentally friendly method involving the occasional use of a strimmer once flowering plants and grasses have matured and gone to seed. Zoe Devlin captures the graveyard in her book, Blooming Marvellous: A Wildflower Hunter’s Year. Inspired by a cemetery in St Helier on the Channel Island of Jersey, this is a story that could be taken on board around Ireland. Judge Eamon Ryan The panel of five judges includes Eamon Ryan, former leader of the Green Party, who said the Ireland’s Greenest Places initiative shows just how much community-led- environmentalism has deepened and spread in recent years. “At a time when people are anxious about climate change and biodiversity loss, it helps to think global but act local. The short-listed entries show the variety of what is taking place around Ireland. People in every community seem to be looking to see what they can do by promoting pollinators, planting trees or establishing sustainable energy or transport solutions”. The category winners and overall winner of Ireland’s Greenest Places 2025 will be announced on the weekend of the 12th/13th of September. Ireland’s Greenest Places 2025 – The Shortlist Ireland’s Greenest Suburb (2) Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin v Harper’s Island, Cork Harbour Ireland’s Greenest Village (4) Louisburgh, Co Mayo Castlegregory/Maharees, Co Kerry Inagh, Co Clare Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Co Tipperary Ireland’s Greenest Town (3) Skerries, Co Dublin Killarney, Co Kerry Ballina, Co Mayo Ireland’s Greenest Community (5) Dysart River Project, Co Westmeath Taplin’s Fields (Bridgefoot Street Park Community Garden), Dublin Coolmine Lodge, Dublin The Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry Ambrosetown Cemetery, Co Wexford For more information about ‘Ireland’s Greenest Places’ go to www.irishtimes.com/greenestplaces