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Beginning our review of the news we brought you this year, we start at the obvious point, January…
• Ireland’s newest technological university was established on January 1. Munster Technological University (MTU) is a consortium of Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and Institute of Technology Tralee (ITT) and was designated as a technological university earlier in 2020 but officially came into being at the start of 2021.
• Early in January the Government announced schools would remain closed until at least February, bars and restaurants would also remain closed until April and a series of other restrictions were announced due to the escalating COVID crisis as lockdown continued into the new year.
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• It was revealed that Manor West Retail Park was set to have a new tenant by June with the creation of 12 full-time jobs. Danish retail company JYSK was to open its third Irish store to date in Tralee at Unit 5 Manor West Retail Park in Tralee.
• Shane Enright announced his retirement from inter-county football on January 6.
The Tarbert man won an All-Ireland Senior Championship medal in 2014, two National League medals and an All-Star Award along with a host of other accolades during his time with the Kerry seniors.
• A Kerry man who was reporting on the chaos on Capitol Hill on January 6 became a household name this month.
Donie O’Sullivan, the CNN journalist from Cahersiveen, started trending on Twitter during the event when his live reports from Washington were relayed to screens all over the world.
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• Students from Tralee schools were successful with their entries in the BT Young Scientist And Technology Exhibition which took place online.
The Science Foundation of Ireland award and Technology Junior Group 1st place went to first years Conor Flaherty, Ethan Ward, Philip Tracey of CBS The Green.
The IE Domain Registry award and Social and Behavioural Junior Individual 1st place went to Preston O’Keeffe of CBS Tralee.
Dara Newsome, David Hughes and Conor Bradshaw from Mercy Mounthawk won a Special Analog Devices Award for Best Project in Technology.
Cllr Mikey Sheehy
• Tralee Municipal District Cllr Mikey Sheehy called for one of the planned mass vaccination centres to be located in Tralee. Cllr Sheehy moved an emergency motion at the January meeting of Tralee Municipal District on the issue.
• Gardaí in Kerry were to start issuing more fines in relation to people breaching the 5km rule during lockdown.
At the online meeting of the Joint Policing Committee on January 15, Kerry Garda Division Chief Superintendent Eileen Foster said she noticed traffic was heavier during this particular lockdown compared to the same period last spring.
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• A service station in Listowel was announced as the store where a lucky person bought their winning €1 million Daily Million ticket which was won on January 14. The National Lottery revealed that the Fitzgerald Centra filling station on Church Street, Listowel, is the store where the player bought their winning ticket.
• The latest results in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) on January 25 showed Tralee retained its ‘Clean To European Norms’ status, and is placed 17th out of 37 towns and cities in the country. It was a fall of two places from the previous survey in October.
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