Connect with us

News

South Kerry Jobs Fair an overwhelming success

Published

on

0252162_IMG3551.JPG

Both employers and attendees described the South Kerry Jobs Fair, held in the Great Southern Killarney, as an overwhelming success.

Almost 1,500 people attended the event on Thursday last, while there were more than 50 exhibitors from across a broad range of employment sectors and agencies also present. Some of the employers present confirmed that they employed people directly at the event.

It is the second year of the event which is organised by South Kerry Development Partnership CLG, in conjunction with the Killarney Chamber of Tourism & Commerce, and sponsors included The Great Southern Killarney and Red Chair Recruitment.

SKDP CEO Noel Spillane said that they were delighted with the turnout which was larger than expected.

“An excellent range of candidates with broad skillsets attended, particularly from the Ukrainian community which is a testament to their desire to work and integrate into the communities across South Kerry,” he said.

Senior Executive with Killarney Chamber of Tourism & Commerce Bridget O’Keeffe echoed this and added that there was a super atmosphere in the Great Southern as jobseekers spent time with exhibitors looking for the best opportunity for them.

“All exhibitors put in a huge effort to select suitable candidates from a very strong talent pool aided by interpreters where necessary,” she noted.

Muireann King from Killarney Distilling and Brewing Company described it as an excellent event and said that they had some excellent candidates that they are looking forward to following up with and hopefully placing.

The level of interest from the candidates attending was highlighted by Siobhan Whelan from the Sheehan Group who described it as an excellent event. TJ O’Connor from MTU also noted the enthusiasm of the candidates who attended, both those seeking employment as well as those interested in pursuing further education opportunities while Madina Zikare from the Muckross Park Hotel said it was a very busy day with a lot of applicants and they are hopeful of filling the positions they had on offer.

SKDP’s Enterprise Officer Joanne Griffin said she was delighted with the event overall and thanked both the candidates that attended as well as the employers for their commitment to the event.

“We were also delighted to have a team of interpreters in place to assist in translation for some of the Ukrainian candidates,” she said, noting that many of them are attending English classes and are very anxious to take up employment positions. Joanne added that they are hoping to expand the event further in 2024 and may look to add new elements to it.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

News

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. […]

Published

on

0264196_0255911StFinansI.jpg

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.”

Attachments

Continue Reading

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 […]

Published

on

0264056_shutterstock364523669.jpg

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.”

Attachments

Continue Reading

LOCAL ADS

Last News

Advertisement

Sport

Trending