Thurles Information

Boher National School Co.Tipperary been given the green light to commence construction of two permanent classrooms. The school will receive funding for this work as part of a €26.5 million fund being made available nationally to some 91 schools.

Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn said this latest funding follows on from his announcement in March that over 77 schools would be building new classrooms to replace existing prefabs. The minister has indicated that a further 12 schools are also being considered by the Department of Education, as part of this scheme.

Meanwhile local Fine Gael TD Noel Coonan has welcomed the announcement that five North Tipperary childcare committees have been awarded funding under the Childcare Capital Programme. This funding will help develop North Tipperary’s childcare infrastructure.  The grants will also ensure services remain open and are in a position to continue to deliver quality childhood care. This will be considered very welcome news for the committees and families involved.

“It is very important that we have quality childcare facilities to enable parents to work and provide for their families in these difficult times,” said Mr Coonan who confirmed that this announcement will be made by Pobal later today. Pobal is administering the scheme on behalf of the Department of Children.

Committees benefiting include St Sheelan’s Childcare Centre, Templemore who will receive €16,000. Tipp Tots, Rossestown, Thurles are also to benefit from €45,000 & Bright Sparks, St Joseph’s NS, Toomevara has been awarded €15,000. Nenagh Childcare Centre has been awarded €23,000 funding as has North Tipperary LEADER PARTNERSHIP, Newline, Roscrea, who will receive €25,000.

Pobal received in the region of 2,300 applications in total.

Congratulations to Thurles Presentation Secondary School, the overall winners, who were amongst some 1,500 students to enter the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s competition to find just “One good idea,”” to aid tackling climate change and further promote energy efficiency.

Allowing adults the opportunity to test-drive Electric Cars and convincing local shops to sell Strogs (Straw Briquettes / Logs) were amongst the initiatives highlighted by our winning Thurles Generation Green team.

While most people are aware of the existence of Electric Cars, not everyone are familiar with Strogs.  Strogs are briquettes evolving from harvested dried straw fed into a hopper and milled. Under the heat of compression, the straws cell walls melt, thus binding the product together. When cooled, the logs are then trimmed, collated and packed ready for use. Once Strogs have been burned, the remaining ash is used as a garden or plant fertiliser, thus completing the cycle of a renewable energy source.

One sixteen year old transition year student, Emma Kerwick, explained how people in general were ignorant of real facts regarding energy efficiency, due mainly to a lack of proper clear information being made easily and readily available.

Another sixteen year old transition year student, Mary Claire Hanafin, stated that switching to local energy alternatives, such as Strogs, would greatly help the Irish economy and the potential use for clean energy had not yet been fully realised here in Ireland.

The school has received a €1000 prize fund and the project will now represent Ireland in the European Commission’s EU4Energy awards.