Don’t Stop Believing

Mags Crean SAT10DEC21

hen Mags Crean informed us back in May that she was nominating Greystones for this year’s international LivCom Awards, our first reaction was, ‘Meh’.

Not only had we won this major league title way back in 2008, but the jetlag of all those lockdowns had seen the town retreating into its shell like never before.

Was this really the time for Greystones to be blowing its own trumpet? Hadn’t this town seen much, much better days than those that had us limping and whimpering through 2021…?

To our shame, we were wrong. Very wrong. Shortlisted in November, Greystones went on to win gold at the LivCom Awards on Monday, beating over 160 entries from over 30 countries to win the title of The World’s Most Liveable Community 2021.

Which is a very, very big deal. Just in case you were wondering.

It’s typical of this quiet local councillor that it took three days of cajoling to convince Mags Crean to meet up and talk about the win and the campaign that got us there. And even then, she only agreed to talk if we highlighted all those who came on board after that November shortlist, and who “really were the heroes here, working every single day to make sure Greystones was well represented” at this week’s finals in Egypt.

On the big day, we beat fellow A category contenders Malaysia’s Kuantan Old Town, Bulgaria’s Burgas Bay, Estonia’s Rakvere and South Africa’s Mayville. BOOM!

Town manager Nicholson, Crean and Dwyer

The Chief Executive of Wicklow County Council, Frank Curran, was naturally excited and delighted with the win, calling it “a fantastic achievement” and “an example of what can be achieved through focussed engagement and collaboration“. True dat, Frankie boy, but just imagine how good Greystones could be if the town wasn’t royally shafted in the WCC annual budget each and every year.

Still, it takes more than a village to win an award this big so, big shout-out firstly to the Greystones Town Team – ringleader Dermod Dwyer, join chairs Colum O’Brien and Marie McCooey, the very mighty Ross McParland (arts and culture), Gerry Walsh and Derek Mitchell (tourism and infrastructure), Richie Power and Marlena Murphy (communications, digital and events), Mark Atkins (business network), plus Tom O’Mahony, Ken Murphy and Hubert Fitzpatrick (governance and administration).

And a special mention for videographer Ben Condell too, who, despite being from Bray, made a spectacular showcase video of Greystones that no doubt played a big part in dazzling those big league judges. We’ll have that cinematic masterpiece early next week.

Most of all though, whether she likes it or not, we’re giving a very big shout out to Mags Crean, one of those rare animals in public office who has no time for the petty politics of politics. Rather than spamming social media with happy-clappy cat-rescued-from-a-tree posts or angry missives about potholes, Mags just gets things done.

Not that we were able to hit the record button for that particular conversation.

Instead, we got the lowdown on Greystones’ LivCom showdown…

Mags Crean’s online Greystones clinic is every Wednesday from 12pm to 3pm – book your spot by emailing [email protected]. Also, the kid at 6:11 lived.