News
Sadbh’s arty idea wins Bright Spark Award

By Michelle Crean
A 12-year-old's business idea was a winner in this year's Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) as she scooped the Bright Spark Award.
Sixth Class pupil Sadbh O’Halloran (12), who has just finished in Kilcummin National School, came up with the Pebble Art project.
Sadbh creates beautiful, original pieces of art using pebbles and other natural materials and gives her unique pieces as gifts to family and friends for special occasions. The Bright Spark award recognises the creativity of individual pupils who pitch novel ideas at the idea generation stage of JEP.
Nine thousand children from three hundred schools nationally launched start-up businesses while still in primary school. During the 12th year of the Junior Entrepreneur Programme (JEP) they experienced what it’s like to be a start-up entrepreneur, doing market research and agonising over their final business plan before investing their own cash and putting their business in motion. The pupils combined their innate creativity with the skills they developed on the programme to create original products and launch businesses ranging from board games to storybooks to high-end craft and educational products.
"We are very proud of all her achievements and we wish her well as she starts the next chapter in her education at secondary school," Principal of Kilcummin NS Gillian Sheehan told the Killarney Advertiser.
"We will miss Sadbh and we look forward to hearing about the very bright future that lies ahead of this 'Bright Spark'!
Brilliant Beads was another successful project, undertaken by Mr Murphy’s Fifth and Sixth Class and SNA, Margaret Nagle O’ Neil. The children designed and created customised bracelets, as their JEP business idea.
Sadbh was also separately awarded the joint Garda Blitz Player of the Tournament trophy, a great achievement as this is the first time that the award was presented to female players.
News
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 […]

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.”
News
Ballymac charity vintage run on October 1
The Ballymac Vintage Club is hosting a classic car, tractor and Honda 50 run on October 1. The run will leave from and return to the Halfway Bar, Ballymac. Registration […]

The Ballymac Vintage Club is hosting a classic car, tractor and Honda 50 run on October 1.
The run will leave from and return to the Halfway Bar, Ballymac.
Registration begins at 9:30am and sets off at 11am.
“There will be two separate routes with one for tractors and the other for cars and motorbikes. Proceeds on the day are in aid of Castleisland Day Care Centre and we’ll have plenty of spot prizes to giveaway too in the morning,” said the club’s PRO Kieran Glover.
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