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Liebherr awarded gold sustainability rating from EcoVadis

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Liebherr have been placed amongst the top 5% of companies globally after receiving a gold medal from EcoVadis.

The award is a reflection of Liebherr’s long-term commitment to responsibility as reflected in Group Core Values.

EcoVadis is the world’s most trusted business sustainability ratings supplier with over 75,000 companies participating. Liebherr-MCCtec GmbH is part of the Liebherr Group and is a divisional holding company for maritime cranes and construction equipment. The gold medal for Liebherr places them in the top 5% of all rated companies for sustainability and within the top 3% of manufacturing companies globally.

EcoVadis score sustainability in four key areas; Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics and Sustainable Procurement. The gold medal from EcoVadis is a clear progression from the silver medal awarded in 2019 to Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd., and is a validation of their corporate responsibility policies and approach.

“Responsibility and care for the environment has always been a key component of the Liebherr philosophy," Liebherr Container Cranes Marketing Manager, Trevor O’Donoghue, commented.

"We are very fortunate to be located in Killarney, right next door to the magnificent Killarney National Park. We are proud to have been part of the local community since 1958 and care for the local environment has always been a top priority for us. Today, we carry that same responsibility with us, but as part of the global supply chain, we have a global responsibility.”

The sustainable choice

As an international company with well over 48,000 employees, the Liebherr Group bears a great responsibility for society and the environment. This is why Liebherr has set itself a clear goal by anchoring the issue of sustainability in its core values. As part of the Liebherr Group, one of their core values is responsibility.

“We aim at all times to fulfil our responsibility to society in general and to the environment. We are convinced that we shall only achieve long-term success if we remain aware of this responsibility in all our activities. Protection of humanity and the environment is of special importance in our business activities. This means that our products and the processes used to manufacture them must be safe, efficient and environmentally acceptable. Our range of container cranes are environmentally friendly. All can be powered by electricity and can regenerate and return electricity to the grid. Where customers still choose diesel stacking cranes for operational reasons, hybrid and energy saving options are available."

As governments, society and consumers demand more accountability from business, Liebherr’s commitment to sustainability, not only on the environmental front, but across human rights, procurement and labour gives customers confidence that Liebherr is the sustainable choice, he added.
 

The future

“Our recent success is not the end, it is just a step along the path," he said. 

"We continue to foster a culture of responsibility to the environment and personnel at all levels of the company. Our Corporate Responsibility Policy reflects our long-term strategic goals including defining targets for quantifiable KPIs across emissions, energy and employee health. We are signatories to the United Nations Compact on Human Rights and as part of the Liebherr Group we are participating in a group wide sustainability drive, reflecting a further commitment to the future of our planet with more transparency across our supply chains.”

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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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