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Students awarded certificate and trophy for self-sustainable school project

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AWARD: Students from The Sem pictured with their award. From l-r were: James Smith, Fionn McCloskey, Rian Gill, Kacper Bogalecki, Colm Looney, Ethan Slattery, and Gearoid McGorrian. Photo: Michelle Crean

By Michelle Crean

 

Local students who won the Senior Climate Change category in the ECO-UNESCO’s Young Environmentalist Awards were delighted to receive their certificate, trophy, and €100 One4all voucher recently. The students from St Brendan's College focused on the lack of awareness and action regarding climate change within their wider school community, and knew they had to do something about it.

As a result, a small group of got together with a common goal of making their school community one that is self-sustainable and climate-friendly, and officially established a climate action group called ‘The Self-Sustainable Sem’.

"With the support of the school's management team, Ms Niamh Sheehy, and our peers, we embarked on a journey of making our school more climate-friendly and self-sustainable," student Kacper Bogalecki told the Killarney Advertiser.

As part of their initiative, the group entered the ECO-UNESCO’s Young Environmentalist Awards.

"We were thrilled and honoured to hear that we had gone through to the ECO-Dens, to the semi-finals, the finals, and onto winning the Senior Climate Change Award."

ACTION

The group's first action as the Self-Sustainable Sem was to organise a Climate Action Day in the wider school community.

"For this event, we had planned several activities in hopes of raising awareness about problems surrounding our climate. These included a no single-use plastic day, keynote speakers, a park clean-up, and a stand-up initiative. We began working on various smaller tasks and actions in order to achieve and contribute to our overall goal of making our school climate friendly and self-sustainable. Throughout this endeavour, we’ve implemented and worked on the following initiatives: a uniform-renewal scheme, a school-wide single-use plastic ban, a community garden for all the compost waste from our canteen, a new recycling system, an energy conservation initiative, an Instagram page for public awareness, as well as competing in the Friends of the Earth Ireland Solar Schools Competition where we topped the polls in the public vote in hopes of getting much needed solar panels for our school. Our climate action group has grown even stronger with this year’s Transition Year students continuing to work on the aforementioned initiatives making our school more climate-friendly and self-sustainable."

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Contactless payments launched on Local Link services

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Passengers using TFI Local Link Kerry services in Killarney and across the county can now pay for their journeys using contactless card payments.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) confirmed the rollout this week, allowing commuters to simply tap their debit card, credit card, or mobile devices, such as Apple Pay and Google Pa, when boarding.

The move is designed to offer more convenience for those using high-frequency rural and regional routes.

In Killarney, the new payment option will be available on the TFI Anseo town services, which have seen a significant increase in passenger numbers since their introduction.

The contactless system is currently available for single journey fares, while those using daily or weekly passes can continue to use the Leap website or the TFI Leap Top Up App.
Alan O’Connell, General Manager of TFI Local Link Kerry, welcomed the modernisation of the fleet.

“The introduction of contactless payments is another welcome step forward for public transport in Kerry,” he said. “It complements other major projects in the county, including the expansion of TFI Local Link services and the delivery of TFI Anseo in Killarney, which is proving to be another great initiative.”

While the new technology offers a modern alternative, traditional payment methods are not being phased out. Cash payments, TFI Leap cards, and Free Travel Cards all remains fully valid across the network.

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How will our Kerry TDs vote tomorrow?

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Tomorrow, Sinn Féin will be tabling a motion of no confidence against the Government after the protests that took place nationwide during the week.

Earlier today we asked our readers how would they vote in a no confidence motion against the Government?

Most of our readers said they would vote no confidence, while some said, yes they do have confidence in the Government.

One reader said: “Vote confidence. The only proper leadership over the last few days came from government. Courage came when needed despite how unpopular it looked in the moment. By contrast, opposition politicians wanted the country to burn to suit themselves”.

Another reader stated: “No confidence. Shambolic and heavy handed handling of protests this past week”.

However, some people didn’t have any confidence in either side with a reader saying: “No confidence in the no confidence! Different wings of the same bird! We need a complete overhaul of the political system”.

We asked the question to our 5 Kerry TDs before lunch-time today, asking them what their vote will be tomorrow.

We received one reply from Sinn Féin’s Kerry TD Pa Daly.

He will be voting no confidence in the Government tomorrow along with his party.

Other media outlets are reporting that Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae is undecided at the moment.

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