Swords Tidy Towns was formed in 2005 as a result of Swords being designated the dirtiest of 30 towns in Ireland in the 2004 Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) report. We have come a long way since then, this is due mainly to all the trojan hard work put in by our Tidy Towns volunteers over the past sixteen years with the support of Fingal County Council. The hard work of the many volunteers over the years was rewarded in 2017, 2018 and 2019 with a national Silver Medal, the competition was not held in 2020 due to Covid. Our group has worked very hard this past year under very difficult circumstances prepping and preparing for this year’s National Tidy Towns Competition, all eyes are firmly focussed on achieving a Gold Medal this year (fingers crossed). Due to the inconsiderate behaviour of certain individuals, our work has been made unnecessarily harder and is a cause of much annoyance within local communities. Inconsiderate behavioural attitudes: Dog Fowling: Not cleaning up after your dog poos, no bin is no excuse. Bagged Poo: The discarding of bagged dog poo into the undergrowth is worse than not bagging it at all, it takes much longer to biodegrade and is very unsightly to others. Masks: These have become the bain of our life, they are strewn everywhere, there is no excuse whatsoever for this kind of behaviour, use a bin or take them home. Fly Tipping: The dumping of household waste in isolated country lanes and even into ditches, is environmental vandalism pure and simple. Graffiti: This has become another pandemic within a pandemic which uses up a lot of our time and resources, please refrain. Picnics: Rubbish left by people after a picnic on a sunny day has become a major problem, please bring a bag and take your rubbish home with you. Again, no bins available is never a good excuse for polluting an area. Nature is a very fragile thing, whether we accept it or not, we are her custodians.