‘Keep the air our village clean,' says community

RESIDENTS in Adare have launched an initiative aiming to keep the air in the village clean.

They want “clean air for Adare”, and are encouraging drivers who pass through the village to turn off their engines when they are stuck in traffic.

The village is well-known for being a bottleneck at peak times, with a new road to bypass the village under construction.

In the meantime though, around 17,000 vehicles pass through Adare daily.

That figure rises to 25,000 each day across Bank Holiday weekends - which means around 100,000 vehicles drove down its Main Street over the first weekend in May.

As a result of this, Adare Tidy Towns has launched its Yellow Bus - Clean Air for Adare Campaign.

The campaign began on the May Bank Holiday weekend, and will continue on next month’s break.

Signage was erected to encourage drivers of petrol or diesel powered vehicles to use the stop-start function or idle-stop function when they are stuck in congestion in the village.

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Local councillor Bridie Collins said: “We hope that this awareness campaign will lead to a change in driver behaviour not only in Adare but also in other towns and villages throughout Ireland. The 'No Idling' at school campaign is well established and we feel that our Yellow Bus-Clean Air For Adare campaign will have a big effect on reducing the carbon emissions in our community.”

The signs for the campaign were designed by Tidy Towns volunteers and constructed from upcycled materials.

Paint from the recycle centre was used.

The local Tidy Towns group have secured the support of their counterparts in Ennis.

Mary Howard of Ennis Tidy Towns has donated their 'no idling' posters, which will be added to the Adare group's campaign.