News
Young explorers are ocean champions
By Michelle Crean
Exploring the sea creatures and the impact humans have on the ocean has helped a Killorglin school get top marks in a national programme.
EYE EYE: Brian Moriarty from First Class in Scoil Realt na Mara gets up close to a seal's eyeball with principal Elaine Kelliher as part of The Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Photo: Sally MacMonagle
SQUISHY: Emma Hannon and Lucy Moriarty from Scoil Realt na Mara in Cromane get up close to dissect and learn all about squids as part of The Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Photo: Sally MacMonagle
DISCOVERING: Adam Costelloe and Dylan O’Sullivan from First Class in Scoil Realt na Mara in Cromane learning all about aquatic mammal skulls as part of The Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Photo: Sally MacMonagle
EYE EYE: Brian Moriarty from First Class in Scoil Realt na Mara gets up close to a seal's eyeball with principal Elaine Kelliher as part of The Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Photo: Sally MacMonagle
SQUISHY: Emma Hannon and Lucy Moriarty from Scoil Realt na Mara in Cromane get up close to dissect and learn all about squids as part of The Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Photo: Sally MacMonagle
DISCOVERING: Adam Costelloe and Dylan O’Sullivan from First Class in Scoil Realt na Mara in Cromane learning all about aquatic mammal skulls as part of The Explorers Ocean Champion Award. Photo: Sally MacMonagle
The Explorers ‘We Are Ocean Champions’ all-school project by the Marine Institute reached more than 3,500 children nationally with Scoil Réalt na Mara receiving one of the top six awards presented.
The children who received an 'Award of Excellence – Ocean Literacy Creative Project' celebrated their win at a school ceremony on Thursday last.
"The children’s enthusiasm, knowledge, and creative ideas for the future of the marine environment is inspiring and is evident in their class work, from creating musical pieces and models to clean the ocean, to cooking with seaweed," Cushla Dromgool-Regan, Marine Institute Explorers Programme Manager, said.
"The fact that each class contributed to this project was an amazing accomplishment by everyone involved. Through their ocean literacy project they demonstrated how the ocean impacts all our lives and also the impact we all have on the ocean."
School principal Elaine Kelliher said they were delighted, not only to have participated in the Explorers programme, but to be Ocean Champions 2021-2022.
“We’re a school based in a rural coastal community situated in the beautiful Cromane," she said.
"This project has served to heighten our awareness of the relationship we have with the sea and in keeping our oceans healthy. For our project ‘We Are Ocean Champions!’, the children created projects based on food, art inventions and music, and participated in seashore safaris on Cromane Beach with LH Sea Synergy marine biologists," she added.
“Their work was displayed in the local beach café, ‘The Boathouse’ which was an opportunity for the community to view the work being undertaken in our school. We would highly recommend the Marine Explorers to all schools.”
The Ocean Champion Project and Awards initiative is led by the Programme Manager, Camden Education Trust.
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. […]
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.”
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.”
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