REVIEW 2015: The News From April…

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Continuing our Review Of 2015, here’s some of the news we brought you in April…

The Blasket

The Blasket.

• The month started with local bar which had its application to open at midnight on Good Friday turned down.

The Blasket Bar made an application to Tralee District Court to open from midnight until 2am on Easter Saturday.

The Gardaí objected and Judge James O’Connor turned down the application. (click here)

Continued below…

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• Kerry’s Allianz National League campaign came to an end with a great tussle with rivals Tyrone in Omagh which resulted in a draw.

A win would have put Kerry through to the semis but a draw secured their Division on status.

Kerry were lacklustre in the first half, but came to life in the second period where Colm Cooper made a welcome return to the Kerry side, coming on for the last ten minutes and setting up an important score for Kieran Donaghy. (click here)

Miss Kerry 2a

Miss Kerry 2015, Mairead Breathnach with Miss Ireland Jessica Hayes at the Killarney Plaza Hotel back in April. Photo by Padraig Healy Evoque Photography

• The judges decided west was best last night as the new Miss Kerry was crowned in the Killarney Plaza Hotel.

Mairead Breathnach from Ballydavid was chosen as Miss Kerry and went on to represent the county at the Miss Ireland event in June. (click here)

Continued below…

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• Not long after announcing himself back on the inter-county scene, Paul Galvin, bagged himself a new job designing an exclusive range of clothing for Dunnes Stores.

Following in the footsteps of golfer, Padraig Harrington, Paul Galvin  designed a new line of clothing for Dunnes which would appear on the rails later in the year. (click here)

• Speculation was rife that British supermarket giants Iceland were to open a new store in Tralee.

The rumours were triggered after the job of Iceland Tralee Store Manager was advertised online, although there has was no official confirmation from Iceland.

A possible location touted for the new Iceland store was the Horan Centre but when contacted, Donie Horan of the Horan Centre said the rumours were “just speculation”. (click here)

Continued below…

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Ashe Interior 9

The Ashe Hotel opened for business in April.

• A new hotel opened in Tralee back in April.

The Ashe Hotel on Maine Street let us in for a look on April 9. Formerly The Abbey Gate Hotel, the new business created up to 50 jobs in the town. (click here)

• There was more good news on the jobs front when it was announced that Portman Travel created eight permanent new jobs at their European Centre of Excellence and announced that another eight are planned to come on stream before the end of the 2015.

Eight people were taken on through the JobsBridge programme and  received training in the company’s Portman Academy. (click here)

• It was a momentous day for Kerry hurlers when they beat Antrim to qualified for Division 1B of the National Hurling League.

The game at Parnell Park in Dublin on April 11 finished Kerry 2-16 to Antrim 1-18. (click here)

Cian Sullivan

Cian Sullivan

• We told you about a Mercy Mounthawk student who won a scholarship to a prestigious US prep school, a breeding ground for NBA stars.

Standing at seven feet tall, Cian Sullivan would be heading to the $50,000 a year St Andrews prep school in Rhode Island USA. Even better news was to come for the Ballymac teenager later in 2015. (click here)

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Debbie Sugrue.

• We told you about a Tralee woman who was named as the winner of a modelling competition that was held in Auckland, New Zealand.

Debbie Sugrue, originally from Fountain Court, was named as the winner of the ‘Miss Bikini South America/New Zealand’ competition and went on to compete in the world finals later in the year. (click here)

• Kerry County Council won a  top award at the inaugural Irish Tourism Industry Awards.

The local authority was a finalist in the category for Best Local Authority Tourism Innovation at the DoubleTree by Hilton Dublin and won the award. (click here)

• The new Benners Hotel opened its doors to the public back in April.

In a nice link to the past, the cafe even has the old Benners clock dating back to the early 20th century hanging over the fireplace.

Up to 30 people are working in the new venture by Der O’Sullivan of The Mall. (click here)

• More positive news emerged on the jobs front with the annoucement that JRI America were looking to entice 40 high skilled workers to fill jobs at its Software Development Centre in Tralee.

JRI America are located in the Kerry Technology Park, but also have offices in London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore and New York. (Click here)

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