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Culture Night brings people together again

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The hunger for arts and culture was evident at Culture Night right across Kerry as eager culture vultures flocked to live events, theatre, music, exhibitions and tuned in online for a wide variety of events.

Mary O'Carroll and Irene McDonnell who attended John Spillane's concert in Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Stephen and Elaine Moore who attended the concert in Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Singer and songwriter John Spillane who performed at Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Colm Ó Súilleabhain (left) and Danny and Lynn O'Keeffe who attended the concert in Muckross Traditional Farms. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Singer and songwriter John Spillane meeting the staff at Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021. From left: Mike O'Connor Majella Mangan Joan O'Connor and Tom Doyle. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

John and Eileen O'Mahony who attended John Spillane's concert as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021 on Friday night. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Marie and Joan Cronin pictured at the concert in Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Singer and songwriter John Spillane who performed at Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021 on Friday night pictured with John Brosnan Connie O'Connor and Noreen Brosnan. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Singer and songwriter John Spillane who performed at Muckross Traditional Farms as part of the return of Ireland's Culture Night 2021. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Eamonn and Maura Fitzgerald with Nora Galvin and Anne O'Donoghue pictured at John Spillane's concert as part of Culture Night on Friday night. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

Sheila O'Connor and Val Doughty also attended the concert in Muckross Traditional Farms as part of Culture Night 2021. Photo: Valerie O'Sullivan

On a hugely successful night for all involved, artists, arts organisations and arts centres offered up a diverse selection of free events late into the night, with many events sold out in advance. For many, Culture Night marked the return to good cultural times after a devastating 18 months for the live events industry. The evening was funded by The Arts Council, Kerry County Council, Department of TCAGMS and supported by Creative Ireland Kerry and the Local Live Performance Scheme.

Key events in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel and Dingle saw grateful audiences return to their beloved theatres, museums and arts centres, while the towns and villages of Kenmare, Waterville, Killorglin, Caherdaniel, Castlemaine, Ballybunion, Scartaglin and Tureencahill treated their communities to an eclectic range of events.

Siamsa Tire kicked off events in Tralee with ‘Tunes, Taps and Surprises’, while the wonderful people at St John of God Kerry Services opened their Wah-na-Be! exhibition in the County Museum. Catherine Young Dance created a ‘Homecoming’ film that was launched to a national audience online, while Kerry Film Festival hosted their film event at St John’s Church. People took their pick of events around the town, covering drama, visual art, crafts, literature and film.

Meanwhile in Killarney, the Fanzinis, who sold out weeks in advance, treated families to a hilarious circus performance. With Sharon Langston on board, the waterbus at Ross Castle was full to capacity for two sailings, while John Spillane was another sell out at Muckross Traditional Farms.

St John’s Theatre, Listowel and Kerry Writers’ Museum had several events showcasing the best of theatre, storytelling, poetry, music and literature that Kerry has to offer. In Dingle, a full night of culture from book launches to dancing and exhibitions to slam poetry, culminating in a Super Céilí concluded celebrations.

“We had over 40 events across Kerry, and we want to thank all the artists, event organisers, and audiences for making Culture Night the very special occasion that is was this year,” Kate Kennelly, Kerry County Arts Officer, said.

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Fossa School says ‘bonjour’ to French classes

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Fossa National School is giving its pupils a headstart in learning a new language.

The school signed up to Language Sampler scheme as part of the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ initiative in primary schools organised by Post Primary languages Ireland in 2021. This is the school’s third year running the module.

Hélène Olivier-Courtney, the school’s French teacher and director of French For All Killarney School of French, covers ten schools in Kerry over the three terms.

The success of the initiative relies on an all-school approach and the active involvement of class teachers and management.

“The whole staff in Fossa certainly helped make this new journey a special and enjoyable experience for the children as we learnt French through art, songs, games and food tasting! This year, we also organised a catwalk on our last day. Our sixth-class students will have such a head start before secondary school and most importantly will have develop curiosity interest and love for the language,” said Hélène.

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Opinion: Silent majority needs to stand up and call out far-right hate

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By Chris Davies

Last Friday’s Dublin Riots should not have come as a surprise to anyone. It has been bubbling under the surface of Irish society for a good number of years now. The actions of a small minority last week was a culmination of years of racism, hatred and misinformation shared online by far-right groups.

Late on Friday night a disturbing WhatsApp voice note was doing the rounds on social media where a far-right actor could clearly be heard encouraging violence on the streets of Dublin. 

“’Seven o’clock, be in town. Everyone bally up, tool up…Any foreigner, just kill them”

Watching the Riots unfold on social media brought me back to when I was working in Dublin a number of years back. My morning commute from Skerries to the city centre involved a dart to Connolly Station followed by a short trip on the Luas to the Jervis. Every week, without fail, I would witness at least one racial slur or attack on someone who didn’t fit the narrow minded view of what an Irish person should look, dress or talk like. I don’t know if it is the eerie silence of public transport that seems to amplify the situation, but that’s where I found it to be most common. The abuse was usually perpetrated by a group of youths or someone who was clearly under the influence of drink or drugs. The victims were always of colour, often dressed smartly enough to presume they were on their way, or coming from work. A far cry from the perpetrators who you could tell were roaming aimlessly around the city looking for trouble.

While shameful to admit, I would often look on and watch the abuse unfold, only to spend the rest of my work day thinking about the poor person who was told to “F*&K off back to your own country”. I would sit at my desk questioning why I didn’t step in and say something. There were one or two occasions where I did step in and call it out, but not nearly often enough.  

This disgusting behaviour is much more visible in our cities. Since moving back to Killarney I wouldn’t witness as much direct abuse on the streets but working with the Killarney Advertiser I would be tuned in to local news and some of the comments I read on our social platforms are far worse than anything I witnessed during my time in Dublin.  

There is a significant group of people in Ireland that I would call the ‘silent majority’. We are not as outspoken on issues we care about. We tend to observe and consume the news quietly, and only speak of our support or disgust on certain issues in close circles, too afraid we might offend someone. The problem with this is that we are leaving these far-right groups unchallenged, to become louder, more aggressive and more hostile as seen last week. 

The past week Sinn Fein and the Social Democrats have been busy in the media expressing no confidence in Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris but I would suggest that there is a large percentage of the Irish population that bears some of the responsibility. We witness racism in our communities and online every day and we need to start speaking up and calling it out. 

On the issue of immigration in Killarney, there is no doubt resources are being stretched and our tourism industry is suffering as a result of an influx of immigration. Locals have also raised concerns in relation to the placement of so many male international protection applicants in one setting and we only have to look back on the incident in Hotel Killarney last year where a number of men were involved in a harrowing stabbing incident to see how that played out.  

However, being concerned around immigration is not the same as anti-immigration. It is important to raise these issues with local representatives and Kerry TD’s but also to separate ourselves from far-right groups who are only interested in encouraging violence.  

The anarchy we witnessed last week should never be the answer and research shows it is completely unnecessary. Harvard University have looked at hundreds of protests over the last century, and found that non-violent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns and that it only takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.

Let’s continue to protest peacefully for issues we believe in, but stand up and speak out against people and movements in our community that incite hate and violence. 

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