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Real Kerry jersey to be sent to New York governor

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By Michelle Crean

New York's newest governor - who has proud Kerry roots - is to receive a brand new "official" Kerry jersey after being pictured this week with a "knock off" version.

FAKE: New York governor Kathy Hochul holding the fake Kerry jersey during a photo opportunity with Taoiseach Micheál Martin this week.

Killarney man Luke Quinn, who is manager of the Kerry GAA Store in the Outlet Centre, said that he will send an official county jersey to Kathy Hochul - after she was pictured with Taoiseach Micheál Martin holding a replica during a meeting on Monday.

During his visit Mr Martin met with Hochul - now one of America's most powerful female politicians - but it turns out that the jersey, which was most likely supplied by Ms Hochul herself for the photo opportunity, was fake!

"The store is going to send a Kerry jersey on behalf of Kerry County Board," Luke told the Killarney Advertiser.

"I heard about it [the fake jersey] on the day and it was all over Twitter. It generated a lot of interest. We sell them online at kerrygaastore.ie. In fact, we send a load of Kerry jerseys to America every day. She had no excuse for not having the official Kerry jersey."

He added that profits from the sales of fake jerseys make their way to other people's pockets.

"There are a lot of non-licensed jerseys. Every jersey we sell goes back to the GAA. The knock offs go into someone else's pockets."

Hochul was born Kathleen Courtney in Buffalo, New York, the second of the six children of John P. ‘Jack’ Courtney and Patricia Ann 'Pat' (Rochford) Courtney. Her grandparents, on her father’s side were from West Kerry, John Courtney, Fahamore, and Mary Browne, Cutteen. She took over as New York Governor on August 24 following the resignation of Governor Andrew Cuomo who resigned following a raft of sexual harassment allegations made against him by female employees of his administration.

On his trip Mr Martin visited the 9/11 memorial site where he stopped to read some of the names of the almost 3,000 victims of the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks. He also laid six white roses on the names of each of the Irish-born victims.

Taking to Twitter following the visit he said that he "enjoyed" meeting Ms Hochul.

"We shared our experiences in tackling the pandemic, and the importance of connectivity between our two countries. We also discussed her proud Kerry roots, and her family’s love for the GAA."

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Developing St Finan’s “cost prohibitive” – Council

Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials. The historic building has been lying idle since it closed in September 2012. […]

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Converting the idle St Finan’s hospital into social housing is cost-prohibitive according to Kerry County council officials.

The historic building has been lying idle since it closed in September 2012.

The hospital and adjoining lands are up for sale by the Health Service Executive (HSE) since then.

So far no realistic offer has been made on the site despite suggestions that it could be used for social housing, a catering college and a hotel.

Each year the building, which was built in the 1850s, falls into further disrepair.

There were fresh calls again this week as local councillors called for some sort of action to redevelop the site that is fast becoming an eyesore.

At last Friday’s Killarney Municipal District meeting councillors called for action at the site .

Mayor Brendan Cronin wants the building’s protected status to be removed or at least reduced to speed up potential development work which ties in with Cllr Marie Moloney’s idea that the old hospital could be converted into apartments or flats.

Cllr John O’Donoghue wants the HSE to find a way to hand over the property to Kerry County Council either by way of reduced payment or an intra-government agency ownership change.

A Kerry County Council official told the meeting that any works to potentially convert the old hospital into social housing “would be cost prohibitive.”

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Eight month wait for a driving test in Killarney

A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney The current wait list for a test in Killarney sits at […]

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A Killarney councillor is calling for action in an effort to reduce the driving test wait list in Killarney

The current wait list for a test in Killarney sits at eight months.

Cllr John O’Donoghue raised the issue at Monday’s full meeting of Kerry County Council.

He proposed that driving instructors should be employed to carry out the final test to reduce the current backlog.

At Monday’s meeting he asked that hat Kerry County Council would write to the Minister for Transport to ask him to consider giving driving instructors temporary powers to issue a temporary Driving Licence/Certificate of Competence to those on the waiting list for tests.

“The wait is currently far too long and the system is in danger of becoming completely overwhelmed,” he said.

“The huge waiting list for young drivers is well documented at this stage. In a case I am familiar with, a young person passed their theory test in January 2022 and he immediately applied for his mandatory 12 driving lessons. When these were completed, he applied for his driving test on the 2nd of December 2022. Some weeks ago, he still had not received an application to apply for his driving test. This wait is placing him and his family under considerable extra cost and stress which is completely unacceptable.”

In the course of his research into the matter Cllr O’Donoghue discovered that the next available date for a driving test in Killarney is May 25, 2024, while Tralee is June 3 2024.

“Bear in mind, these are only the dates on which you receive an invitation to book your test, the test itself will then be an estimated three to five weeks later.

“This is an appalling situation and one which needs to be rectified as a matter of urgency. I am proposing that driving instructors, which presumably are fully trained up on the rules of the road, be granted temporary powers to be allowed to issue temporary driving licences to young people. When the waiting list time has been reduced, I would still propose that these people sit the test as usual, but the current pressure needs to be alleviated as soon as possible. There is precedent as I believe that in the 1970s, a cohort in this country were issued driving licences without having sat a test as the wait time for the test was too long.”

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