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Killarney volunteers receive Tidy Towns Gold Medal award

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Killarney Town, Co Kery, Tidy Towns Volunteers, Kathleen Foley and Yvonne Quill, Winners of the Tidy Towns Gold Medal Award 2018, which was presented by Cllr Mike Kennelly and Dolores Farrell, SuperValu Community and Sponsorship Brand Manager, at the Listowel Arms Hotel, County Kerry. The Competition now in its 60th year had a record 883 towns and villages entered. The Awards are hosted by the Department of Rural and Community Affairs, sponsored by SuperValu and supported by Fáilte Ireland.Photo:Valerie O’Sullivan/FREE PIC 

All the months of hard work was worth it - as dedicated volunteers finally got their eight Gold Medal at the Mid-West and South West Regional Tidy Towns Awardson Thursday night last, (November 22).

 

Listowel was the location for the award ceremony asthe town was named as the 2018 National Tidy Towns winner in September, while Killarney retained its Gold Medal status for the eighth consecutive year.

On the night, SuperValu Tidy Towns winners, including volunteers from Killarney Tidy Towns, were presented with their awards by Councillor Mike Kennelly, Kerry County Council and Dolores Farrell, SuperValu Community and Sponsorship Brand Manager, long time sponsors of the competition.

 

Known as the tourism capital of Ireland, Killarney has maintained its supremely high standards since winning the overall award in 2011, with an overall mark 334 this year - six points higher than in 2017.

 

 

“There was a huge effort by locals this year,” said Yvonne Quill, Chairperson of the Killarney Looking Good Committee. “It was extremely successful and the fact that Listowel are now the fourth town in Kerry to win the overall title is amazing.”

 

The Tidy Towns competition is now in its 60th year and in 2018 a record 883 towns and villages entered. The awards are hosted by the Department of Rural and Community Affairs, sponsored by SuperValu and supported by Fáilte Ireland.

 

Killarney has been one of the competition’s high achievers over the past decade and Yvonne believes that their continued success is something to be celebrated.

 

“The biggest thing for Killarney is that we’ve never slipped since we started going up the ladder. We won in 2011 and our score has never dropped since then. Our marks have gone up every year. We’re very proud of that.

 

“I think it’s very important to the town. It’s lovely to live in a place that makes you feel proud.”

 

Yvonne was quick to thank all the locals who went above and beyond to make sure Killarney was looking its best during the judging periods in July and August, and she also paid tribute to Kerry County Council for their continued support.

 

 

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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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