The top tourist centre scooped the top overall large town award at a prestigious Department of the Environment awards ceremony held in Belfast and the success is considered a major reward for the great progress made in the town in recent years.

Killarney won the Best Kept Town title in the large town category and the prize was presented to a delighted Killarney contingent last Thursday which included the town clerk, Michael O Leary, and other members of the Killarney Looking Good competition committee, including chairperson, Yvonne Quill, Cormac Foley and Cllr Sean O Grady, who represented the mayor.

The contest is a North-South initiative which brings together previous winners in the Tidy Towns competition in the South and the North s best kept town contest.

In order to qualify, a town must be a previous category winner of either.

"Killarney was a gold medal winner in last year s Tidy Towns and was just 15 marks off being the winner," Mr O Leary told The Kingdom. "

We also won the population category which was how we qualified for the recent contest."

The town clerk declared that the local delegation was delighted Killarney was deemed the best-kept large town in Ireland.

"It s the first time we ve won that particular category," said Mr O Leary.

He added that the "tremendous involvement" on the part of the community, local authority and businesses in keeping up appearances in the town played a large part in Killarney s success in the competition.

Mr O Leary also described initiatives such as the Killarney Looking Good competition, which is sponsored by The Kingdom, as major factors in the town s development.

"There s a great feeling of civic pride in Killarney following the award," said Mr O Leary. "

It s an acknowledgement that the town is looking well and that we re going in the right direction," he added.

The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, John O Donoghue, congratulated Killarney on its success.

"I am absolutely delighted that Killarney is the recipient of this award as participating in a competition like this acts as a catalyst for everyone to focus on the environment around us," he said.

The South Kerry TD said that business people, local residents and visitors to the town all benefit from this initiative.

"An attractive local environment is a tremendous asset to any community," said Minister O Donoghue.

"Working together to create and maintain this builds up community among people and presents a very welcoming town to all visitors."

A cheque for 3,200 was presented to the county s award-winning centre and Killarney also received a specially designed commemorative piece of sculpture.

Now hopes are high that the town can go one better and win a major award at this year s national Tidy Towns competition.