.
Continuing our review of the year, here’s some of the news we brought you in May…
• Concerns were expressed about crime and policing in Tralee Town Park at an online meeting of the Kerry Joint Policing Committee meeting.
Chairman of the Kerry Green Party Anluan Dunne said he would like to see more foot and bike patrols in the Town Park and Sinn Fein Kerry TD, Pa Daly said there was a lack of garda visibility in Tralee town centre and in the Town Park where groups of young people congregate.
• Castleisland Community College scooped the overall award for the Construction Industry Federation’s ‘Design a Home for Everyone’ competition.
The community college was selected over the other finalists at the first CIF’s Design a Home for Everyone Awards ceremony for its “No Man is an Island” entry.
Continued below…
.
• A local writer released his latest book which explores events in Kerry during the War of Independence.
Listowel native Martin Moore, who is now based in Tralee, published ‘When Freedom’s Sword Was Drawn’ to examine six linked events in north Kerry, all of which occurred within a 10km radius in a ten week period during the War of Independence.
The work gives an insight into what was a microcosm of the conflict in the north Kerry district at the time.
• A Tralee school was honoured at the Young Social Innovators of the Year Ireland (YSI) Awards for its positive impact in helping to create a more equal, fair, and sustainable world.
Picking up the Gold Award, the team from Mercy Secondary School, Mounthawk, Tralee were crowned overall winners of Young Social Innovators of the Year 2021 for their ground-breaking Red Flags ‘Break the Silence’ project, which aims to tackle the issue of toxic relationships whilst encouraging young people to openly discuss relationships in a safe environment.
Continued below…
.
• Minister for Education, Norma Foley, TD, turned the sod for the construction of a new school building for Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí on April 14.
The new 75,000 sq. ft. building with a capacity to cater for 600 students will enable the Gaelcholáiste to accommodate its expanding student population which has necessitated a second campus since 2016.
Funding of approximately €16m has been allocated for this project under Project Ireland 2040.
• Admission charges to all fee-paying open OPW heritage sites, including Ardfert Cathedral, Ross Castle and Derrynane House in Kerry, were waived for the rest of 2021.
It was to support the domestic tourism industry and local businesses relying on it by incentivising people in Ireland to discover OPW heritage sites, parks and museums spread across the country as people planned their staycations for the summer.
• A new book on the Ballymacandy Ambush of June 1921, where a senior figure in the IRA in Tralee was the only casualty on the IRA side, was published by a local author and historian.
Owen O’Shea’s book tells the story of the ambush which happened in mid-Kerry just weeks before the War of Independence ended.
Jerry Myles from Moyderwell, who was later chairman of the John Mitchels GAA Club, was badly wounded in the ambush at Ballymacandy between Milltown and Castlemaine on 1st June 1921.
Continued below…
.
• Gardaí seized €2,600 of suspected cannabis jellies and cannabis herb in Tralee on Thursday, April 20.
Arising from investigations in the use of controlled drugs in the Kerry division, Gardaí from the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit executed a search warrant at a house in the Manor area.
During the course of the search Gardaí seized €1,400 of suspected cannabis herb and €1,200 of cannabis jellies.
• Kerry was awarded 14 Blue Flags in May including 12 at beaches around the county, one at Fenit Marina and one at the Portmagee Seasonal Pontoons in south Kerry.
The decision of the International Blue Flag jury saw the following beaches awarded Blue Flags for 2021: Rossbeigh, Ballybunion South, Ballyheigue, Fenit, Maherabeg, Kells, Derrynane, White Strand, Ballinskelligs, Banna, Ventry and Inch.
• Three students from Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí in Tralee were winners in the Young Environmentalist Awards (YEA) hosted by ECO-UNESCO.
The Transition Year students Zoë Ní Chearúill, Máiréad De Staic and Sorcha Ní Dhonnchú won in the final of the Senior Climate Change Category.
• May 31 brought the sad news that the Rose of Tralee International Festival would not take place again in 2021.
This was confirmed in an official statement from the organisers who cited the continuing pandemic as the reason for the cancellation. The Festival will return in August 2022.
.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
