News
Killarney groups are presented with parade prizes
By Michelle Crean
Photos: Eamonn Keogh
After the excitement of taking part in Thursday's St Patrick's Day Parade - especially since the last one was in 2019 - it was time to present the prizes to a number of local groups.
BEST MARCHING GROUP: Teresa Irwin and Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney present The Peter Irwin Memorial Perpetual Award for Best Marching Group/Cultural Arts to Anne Nagle and Noel Lucey Killarney Order of Malta. Standing from left are: Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce) Clodagh Irwin Owens Emir Irwin O'Shea Ciara Irwin Foley and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
THEME AWARD: Mike and Donie Courtney present the Michael Courtney Memorial Perpetual award for Best Interpretation of Theme to Eugene Bowler Raheen National School. Also included are: Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST SPORTING ENTRY: Sinead O'Connor Mike Morrissey Mackenzie Leahy and Maria Murphy Kilcummin GAA Club winners of the John Killer O'Callaghan Memorial award for Best Sporting Entry with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council).
BEST ACTIVITY GROUP: Bernadette Randles Marie Murphy Killarney Athletic FC Best Activity Group award Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney Mike O'Shea and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
MOST ORIGINAL ENTRY: Emma and Doireann O'Connor Chloe and Luke Nott Fossa GAA Club Most Original Entry Award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night. Standing from left are: Tom O'Connor Gemma and Eric Nott and Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce).
MOST STYLISH: Kamile Lyne and Milandi Basel The Great Southern Killarney winners of the Most Stylish Entry Award with Bernadette Randles Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council).
IMAGINATIVE: Katie Gleeson Kathleen Murphy and Maire Murphy Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group Imaginative award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function on Tuesday night.
BEST WINDOW DISPLAY: Eileen Casey and Kathleen Lyne Bricin Restaurant and Craft Shop Best Window Display with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST GREENING: St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) accepting the Best Greened Building Award for ANAM Arts and Cultural Centre Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce).
BEST OVERALL ENTRY: Anne O'Keeffe presents the Sean O'Keeffe Memorial Perpetual award for Best Overall Entry to Katie Gleeson and Maire Murphy Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group. Standing from left are: Bernadette Randles Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce) Kathleen Murphy Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST SPORTS CLUB: Mike Morrissey Mackenzie Leahy and Maria Murphy Kilcummin GAA Club winners of Best Sports Club award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry at the parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST MUSICAL ENTRY: Michael McCarthy Millstreet Pipe Band Best Musical Entry Award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST NEW ENTRY: Derry Joy and Tim O'Donoghue Killarney Brewing and Distilling Company Best New Entry award with Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce) and Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney at the parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST VOLUNTARY GROUP: Katie Gleeson and Maire Murphy Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group Best Voluntary Group award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST SCHOOL: Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Bernadette Randles with representatives from Raheen National School Best School award.
MOST ENTERTAINING: Caoimhe O'Neill and Katie May Jeal Killarney Scorchers Cheerleading and Gymnastics Club Most Entertaining Award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST MARCHING GROUP: Teresa Irwin and Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney present The Peter Irwin Memorial Perpetual Award for Best Marching Group/Cultural Arts to Anne Nagle and Noel Lucey Killarney Order of Malta. Standing from left are: Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce) Clodagh Irwin Owens Emir Irwin O'Shea Ciara Irwin Foley and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
THEME AWARD: Mike and Donie Courtney present the Michael Courtney Memorial Perpetual award for Best Interpretation of Theme to Eugene Bowler Raheen National School. Also included are: Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST SPORTING ENTRY: Sinead O'Connor Mike Morrissey Mackenzie Leahy and Maria Murphy Kilcummin GAA Club winners of the John Killer O'Callaghan Memorial award for Best Sporting Entry with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council).
BEST ACTIVITY GROUP: Bernadette Randles Marie Murphy Killarney Athletic FC Best Activity Group award Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney Mike O'Shea and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
MOST ORIGINAL ENTRY: Emma and Doireann O'Connor Chloe and Luke Nott Fossa GAA Club Most Original Entry Award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night. Standing from left are: Tom O'Connor Gemma and Eric Nott and Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce).
MOST STYLISH: Kamile Lyne and Milandi Basel The Great Southern Killarney winners of the Most Stylish Entry Award with Bernadette Randles Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council).
IMAGINATIVE: Katie Gleeson Kathleen Murphy and Maire Murphy Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group Imaginative award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function on Tuesday night.
BEST WINDOW DISPLAY: Eileen Casey and Kathleen Lyne Bricin Restaurant and Craft Shop Best Window Display with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST GREENING: St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) accepting the Best Greened Building Award for ANAM Arts and Cultural Centre Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce).
BEST OVERALL ENTRY: Anne O'Keeffe presents the Sean O'Keeffe Memorial Perpetual award for Best Overall Entry to Katie Gleeson and Maire Murphy Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group. Standing from left are: Bernadette Randles Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce) Kathleen Murphy Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST SPORTS CLUB: Mike Morrissey Mackenzie Leahy and Maria Murphy Kilcummin GAA Club winners of Best Sports Club award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry at the parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST MUSICAL ENTRY: Michael McCarthy Millstreet Pipe Band Best Musical Entry Award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry at the St Patrick's Festival Killarney parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST NEW ENTRY: Derry Joy and Tim O'Donoghue Killarney Brewing and Distilling Company Best New Entry award with Cllr Niall Kelleher (President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce) and Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney at the parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel on Tuesday night.
BEST VOLUNTARY GROUP: Katie Gleeson and Maire Murphy Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group Best Voluntary Group award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney Brian Teahan (Kerry County Council) and St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
BEST SCHOOL: Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney and Bernadette Randles with representatives from Raheen National School Best School award.
MOST ENTERTAINING: Caoimhe O'Neill and Katie May Jeal Killarney Scorchers Cheerleading and Gymnastics Club Most Entertaining Award with Cllr Marie Moloney Mayor of Killarney St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry.
There were some very happy faces when they learned that their entry had received an award last night (Tuesday) at the parade prize-giving function in The International Hotel as St Patrick's Festival Killarney Chairman Paul Sherry, Cllr Marie Moloney, Mayor of Killarney, and Cllr Niall Kelleher, who is President of Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce, made the presentations.
WINNERS
Anne O'Keeffe presented the Sean O'Keeffe Memorial Perpetual award for Best Overall Entry to Katie Gleeson and Maire Murphy, Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group. The group also received the Most Imaginative award.
The Fiona Crowley Stage School were the winners of the Best Children’s Group.
Mike Morrissey, Mackenzie Leahy and Maria Murphy from Kilcummin GAA Club, were delighted the club was named winner of Best Sports Club award. The club also received the John Killer O'Callaghan Memorial award for Best Sporting Entry.
Millstreet Pipe Band won Best Musical Entry award.
Derry Joy and Tim O'Donoghue from Killarney Brewing and Distilling Company were thrilled to get the Best New Entry award, while Katie Gleeson and Maire Murphy from Kerry Stars Special Olympics Group were smiling when they got the Best Voluntary Group award.
Best School went to Raheen National School, Most Entertaining award to Killarney Scorchers Cheerleading and Gymnastics Club, Killarney Athletic FC got the Best Activity Group award, Most Original Entry award was given to Fossa GAA Club, Most Stylish Entry was The Great Southern Killarney, and Best Window Display went to Bricín Restaurant and Craft Shop.
Other awards included Best Greening Building with Brian Teahan from Kerry County Council accepting it for ANAM Arts and Cultural Centre.
Teresa Irwin and Cllr Marie Moloney, Mayor of Killarney, presented The Peter Irwin Memorial Perpetual award for Best Marching Group/Cultural Arts to Anne Nagle and Noel Lucey from the Killarney Order of Malta.
Mike and Donie Courtney presented the Michael Courtney Memorial Perpetual award for Best Interpretation of Theme to Eugene Bowler, Raheen National School.
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.
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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