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Transition Year students receive certs in mental health training

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Jigsaw Kerry was proud to present Kerry’s first 35 Peer Educators with their graduation certificates at a recognition event held in the Muckross Park Hotel in Killarney, on Thursday evening last.

MC for the night was Donagh Hennebry from Jigsaw Kerry, who spoke passionately about the importance of providing young people an opportunity to discuss their emotions, express how they are feeling and the importance of each young person having one good adult in their lives to listen. He thanked the young people for their commitment to the programme and the school’s teachers, principals and staff for their unwavering support.

Jigsaw Kerry provides a free, brief, goal-focused therapeutic intervention lasting up to eight sessions for young people between the ages of 12-25.

“The Peer Education Schools Programme involved 35 volunteer Transition Year students from three Killarney schools; St Brendan’s, Presentation and Killarney Community College, as well as three Castleisland Post Primary Schools; St Patricks, Presentation and Castleisland Community College,” Frank O'Rahilly from Jigsaw Kerrysaid.

“These schools and students came together with Jigsaw Kerry to train in the co-delivery of a Youth Mental Health Workshop to their peers. It is well established that during adolescence, peers play a large part in a young person's life and that young people are more likely to listen to mental health messages when they come from other young people.”

He explained that over the course of 18 hours of training, delivered by Donagh Hennebry the Youth and Community Engagement Worker, these young people were supported to develop a range of skills including public speaking and presentation skills, setting and maintaining boundaries, active listening and encouraging their peers to seek help if they are feeling down, worried or stressed.

“Students also learned a range of key messages about promoting youth mental health.”

Karen O’Donoghue, a peer educator, spoke on the night about how much she enjoyed the whole experience and the lasting image for her was the description of mental health being on a scale, that can fluctuate between positive and negative and ‘that we all have mental health’.

A highlight of the event was when the 150 audience were treated to the Presentation Castleisland’s 30 strong student choir led by their director Ailish O’Connor.

If you are concerned about a young person or would like to find out more about Jigsaw’s work in the community you can contact them directly on 0667186785 or find out more on www.jigsaw.ie.

 

 

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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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Town centre-based software firm marks two years in business

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A Killarney-based software company is celebrating two years in business since expanding into the European market.

QT9 Software Ltd, which is located on Bohereencaol was established in 2024 as part of the company’s move to better serve customers across Europe.

The business is part of a US-based company founded 20 years ago in Chicago by Brant Engelhart.

Its Irish office is headed by Killarney resident Angela O’Sullivan, who serves as Operations Director.

QT9 Software currently employs four full-time staff members in Killarney and plans to increase that number by an additional two this year.

The company provides quality management software to businesses worldwide, with the Irish office helping to support European customers within their own time zones.

As part of its continued European expansion, the software company also opened a new data center in Amsterdam in 2025 to meet data storage and compliance requirements.

QT9 Software works with businesses that must meet quality standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 13485, as well as industry-specific regulations across sectors, such as automotive, aerospace, food and life sciences.

Speaking about the milestone, Angela O’Sullivan said: “We’re very proud to have grown QT9 Software here in Killarney over the past two years. It has been a really positive journey so far, and we’re looking forward to continuing to build our team and support more customers across Europe.”

The company is also currently recruiting for an IT Systems Administrator, with details available in the appointments section on page 46.

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