The Irish Times

No more than anywhere else in Ireland, Co Clare has seen its share of building blight in recent years - one-off houses creeping along rural roads or crawling across hills to capture views, suburban housing estates sprawling around Ennis and other towns, and all sorts of other stuff devouring the landscape. But there are good things happening too. And Clare County Council deserves enormous credit for recognising this by becoming the first local authority in Ireland to inaugurate an awards scheme to foster and reward excellence in the built environment and raise public awareness of good design and conservation.