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Watercress is easy to grow and super nutritious

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By Debby Looney, gardening expert

I have recently rekindled my love of cooking – for years it has been an uninspiring rota of 10 meals, all of which were fairly nutritious and healthy but monotonous. However, recently I have given myself a shake and started taking an interest in cooking again.

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Why am I writing this in a gardening column, you may ask? Two reasons: firstly, I have been asked on a regular basis why I don’t mention fruit and veg so much anymore, and secondly, I am re-appreciating the importance of the afore mentioned fruit and veg. I read somewhere recently that instead on your five-a-day, we now need to consume seven-a-day due to the decrease in soil nutrients as a result of over use. Now, I have found veg growing at home to be time consuming, and, to be honest, if you work full-time, there is only so much you can do. So next spring, I am going to write more about energy and time effective ways of growing your own, and am going to stick with the plan myself too!

In the meantime, to get back to my new found culinary interests, an ingredient I am coming across frequently is watercress. I have been substituting spinach and rocket as I cannot find watercress in any supermarket. It is actually an ingredient which grows wild in most countries, and Ireland is no exception. In fact it grows ‘everywhere’ once you start looking. It grows in slow running water so it can be found in springs, at the edge of rivers and in drains. It is not recommended to use it from the wild as there is a danger of liver fluke. However, I have grown some from seed, and use part of my pond where there is a nice bit of water movement from the pump, and it is growing ‘mad’! It is the most gratifying vegetable I have ever grown. If you do not have a pond or stream, worry not, it can be easily grown in a minimum of soil as long as it never dries out. I am constructing a watercress nursery for myself out of some shallow barrels joined to each other with water butt connectors to my own water butt over-flow – it sounds complicated, but a little bit of engineering versus zero weed picking is worth it! Basically, if you can grow it in a pot which you can stand in a few inches of rain water, you will be able to grow this wonderful greenery!

The nutrient content of watercress is awesome, it contains potassium, protein, magnesium, calcium and vitamin C, and is being sold as a superfood these days. It is peppery, but not too strong, and is ideal in salads and soups – it adds a freshness which spinach cannot compete with. There is a lot of research being done into the benefits of watercress, with astounding implications into its use for ailments from nappy rash right through to cancer.

So, if you grow nothing else, do give this a try. Basically, if you have a pot which you can stand in a few inches of rain water, you will be able to grow this wonderful greenery!

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Fossa School says ‘bonjour’ to French classes

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Fossa National School is giving its pupils a headstart in learning a new language.

The school signed up to Language Sampler scheme as part of the ‘Say Yes to Languages’ initiative in primary schools organised by Post Primary languages Ireland in 2021. This is the school’s third year running the module.

Hélène Olivier-Courtney, the school’s French teacher and director of French For All Killarney School of French, covers ten schools in Kerry over the three terms.

The success of the initiative relies on an all-school approach and the active involvement of class teachers and management.

“The whole staff in Fossa certainly helped make this new journey a special and enjoyable experience for the children as we learnt French through art, songs, games and food tasting! This year, we also organised a catwalk on our last day. Our sixth-class students will have such a head start before secondary school and most importantly will have develop curiosity interest and love for the language,” said Hélène.

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Opinion: Silent majority needs to stand up and call out far-right hate

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By Chris Davies

Last Friday’s Dublin Riots should not have come as a surprise to anyone. It has been bubbling under the surface of Irish society for a good number of years now. The actions of a small minority last week was a culmination of years of racism, hatred and misinformation shared online by far-right groups.

Late on Friday night a disturbing WhatsApp voice note was doing the rounds on social media where a far-right actor could clearly be heard encouraging violence on the streets of Dublin. 

“’Seven o’clock, be in town. Everyone bally up, tool up…Any foreigner, just kill them”

Watching the Riots unfold on social media brought me back to when I was working in Dublin a number of years back. My morning commute from Skerries to the city centre involved a dart to Connolly Station followed by a short trip on the Luas to the Jervis. Every week, without fail, I would witness at least one racial slur or attack on someone who didn’t fit the narrow minded view of what an Irish person should look, dress or talk like. I don’t know if it is the eerie silence of public transport that seems to amplify the situation, but that’s where I found it to be most common. The abuse was usually perpetrated by a group of youths or someone who was clearly under the influence of drink or drugs. The victims were always of colour, often dressed smartly enough to presume they were on their way, or coming from work. A far cry from the perpetrators who you could tell were roaming aimlessly around the city looking for trouble.

While shameful to admit, I would often look on and watch the abuse unfold, only to spend the rest of my work day thinking about the poor person who was told to “F*&K off back to your own country”. I would sit at my desk questioning why I didn’t step in and say something. There were one or two occasions where I did step in and call it out, but not nearly often enough.  

This disgusting behaviour is much more visible in our cities. Since moving back to Killarney I wouldn’t witness as much direct abuse on the streets but working with the Killarney Advertiser I would be tuned in to local news and some of the comments I read on our social platforms are far worse than anything I witnessed during my time in Dublin.  

There is a significant group of people in Ireland that I would call the ‘silent majority’. We are not as outspoken on issues we care about. We tend to observe and consume the news quietly, and only speak of our support or disgust on certain issues in close circles, too afraid we might offend someone. The problem with this is that we are leaving these far-right groups unchallenged, to become louder, more aggressive and more hostile as seen last week. 

The past week Sinn Fein and the Social Democrats have been busy in the media expressing no confidence in Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris but I would suggest that there is a large percentage of the Irish population that bears some of the responsibility. We witness racism in our communities and online every day and we need to start speaking up and calling it out. 

On the issue of immigration in Killarney, there is no doubt resources are being stretched and our tourism industry is suffering as a result of an influx of immigration. Locals have also raised concerns in relation to the placement of so many male international protection applicants in one setting and we only have to look back on the incident in Hotel Killarney last year where a number of men were involved in a harrowing stabbing incident to see how that played out.  

However, being concerned around immigration is not the same as anti-immigration. It is important to raise these issues with local representatives and Kerry TD’s but also to separate ourselves from far-right groups who are only interested in encouraging violence.  

The anarchy we witnessed last week should never be the answer and research shows it is completely unnecessary. Harvard University have looked at hundreds of protests over the last century, and found that non-violent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns and that it only takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.

Let’s continue to protest peacefully for issues we believe in, but stand up and speak out against people and movements in our community that incite hate and violence. 

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