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Killarney successful in winning high-profile event

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Influential travel journalists and 200 travel agents are bound for Killarney next year as the town has been successful in its bid to host the prestigious German DER Touristik Academy.

TRAVEL ACADEMY: Der Touristik a major German tour operator and the largest tour operator from Mainland Europe to the island of Ireland has announced it will host its prestigious annual travel academy in Killarney in April 2022. Pictured are: Nadine Lehmann (Tourism Ireland Manager Germany) Kevin Keogh (Der Touristik) Niall Gibbons (Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland) Dino Steinkamp (Der Touristik) Paul Kelly (Chief Executive of Fáilte Ireland) and Louise Finnegan (Tourism Ireland). Photo: Shane O'Neill Coalesce.

Killarney beat off challenges from a number of other top destinations to host the 2022 event. Germany’s largest tour operator, DERTOUR, will host the event in the INEC between April 3 to 6, 2022. The Academy is an educational and incentive event run by one of the largest tour operators in Mainland Europe. 

This is the first overseas event by DER Touristik, Germany, since COVID-19 and is being supported by Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Limerick Travel.

The team from DER Touristik are in Killarney today (Tuesday) to meet with Irish tourism providers in both accommodation, activities and attractions to learn more of how they can become part of this event with the German operator in 2022.

While the DERTOUR gathering is taking place in Killarney next year, the 200 attendees will participate in pre-academy tours across Ireland, organised by Fáilte Ireland in conjunction with Limerick Travel. The tours present a valuable opportunity for the Irish tourism industry to sell itself to the German market and allows Fáilte Ireland to showcase the best that Ireland has to offer throughout the country.

Paul Keeley, Fáilte Ireland’s Director of Regional Development, believes events like these can provide a valuable opportunity to showcase all that Ireland has to offer to one of Ireland's most important mainland European markets.

“We are delighted to welcome DER Touristik to Killarney today ahead of hosting this important event next April," Mr Keeley said.

"For Irish tourism to recover and grow in the long term it is imperative that there is a strong message that Ireland offers a high-quality experience, diverse tourism experiences and a wide selection of safe accommodation choices. By winning the opportunity to host these influential agents and journalists next April we can continue to drive long term demand for Ireland and ensure that they can confidently encourage their customers to choose Ireland as a holiday destination when they return to Germany."

Kevin Keogh, Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing for Der Touristik, added; “As the market leader for tourism from Germany to the island of Ireland for over 50 years, DER Touristik is delighted to bring its 200 top travel agents to Ireland for our 2022 Academy and to encourage them the discover the destination.”

Peter Brazil, Director, Limerick Travel, commented:

“We are delighted to bring Germany’s top tour operator Dertouristik to Killarney for Reise academy 2022! It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase our wonderful island to over 200 leading German agents and press. From previous experience academies have dramatically increased German visitors to Ireland in subsequent years.”

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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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