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Tipperary Regional Youth Services are proud to announce their first lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Seminar which will take place this Thursday, the 10th of February at 7:30pm in the Ballykisteen Hotel, Tipperary.
The keynote speaker will be Senator David Norris and the evening will be chaired by Founder and Director of BeLonG To Youth Services, Michael Barron. Members of Loving Our Out Kids (previously Parents’ Support) will also be in attendance.
The seminar will offer information and support on many areas relating to LGBT young people:
1. How can I support my LGBT family member / friends?
2. What services are available locally and nationally?
3. What exactly does it mean to be LGBT?
There is no admission fee for this event. Places, however, must be reserved and unfortunately, the deadline for reserving places was 4th February last.
Contact: Lisa McGrath at telephone 062-52604 with any enquiries.
Last weekend saw one of the annual highlights for game developers around the world, yes I am referring to the 3rd annual ‘Global Games Jam.’
Once again this global event smashed it’s own record for the single largest games jam ever – 48 hours, 44 countries, 170 locations, 6500 participants, almost 1500 games, one weekend with just one theme.
Global Games Jam hosts Tipperary Institute, here in Thurles, rose to the challenge of organising and joining a game coding marathon for students, creating games, which were then viewed live by International gaming enthusiasts and gaming industry leaders.
Participants were here to make games – fast. It was part of the Global Game Jam, a worldwide event wherein developers, artists and musicians got together to make games in less than 48 hours with eating and sleep left optional.
Some 7,000 odd developers on Friday evening, across the world, worked creating computer games based on a common choosen theme ‘Extinction‘.
When presented with the theme, ‘Jammers’ set about brainstorming concepts, students pitched ideas to attract developers, artists and designers to join their team. Twenty two concepts in total were pitched and these were then honed down, strictly on merit, to just four ideas.
Games agreed and decided were titled ‘Petals’, ‘What We Do Now’, ‘Human Kind’ and ‘Petri Paridice’.
Mr Philip Bourke, the Course Coordinator for T I Development and Games Design stated: “This is as real as it gets, the sandbox nature of these projects, allow our students to experiment with development, design and gameplay in collaboration with their peers. The need to quickly and efficiently produce the code, art and audio assets for fun games in a fantastic way to develop innovation skills.”
Conor O’ Neill, one of the team that produced Petals, said: “This being my first jam, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I imagined it would be extremely challenging to get our ideas into a playable game in just 48 hours. We were delighted to find everyone so helpful in both Tipperary Institute.”
All games produced will be now be showcased later during the annual computer console game programming festival ‘Games Fleadh’ at Tipperary Institute in March next on 9th-10th.
Sometimes I wonder if all of the money spent on education is wasted, but actions taken by students yesterday and hopefully today, have allayed those fears.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) will take a visit to Leinster House today to officially launch their ‘Your Future, Your Vote‘ campaign.
The USI “Your Future, Your Vote” aims to allow the younger generation of Ireland to decide their own future and to make the politicians aware that students are registering to vote en masse.
USI President Gary Redmond stated the analogy and logic used by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union Address: “Ireland is spending billions of euro on educating young people before sending them abroad to compete against us. There are parents every single day of the week in the airports all over the country saying goodbye to their children.”
I would have been delighted to show you a piece of video from Dail Eireann, but no material was available.
 USI are on the move
USI are encouraging all local students to register to vote, prior to the looming general election. They claim that for too long the younger generations of Irish society have been ignored, but now, it is time that politicians sat up and listened.
Young people in Ireland will shoulder years of crippling debt thanks to the mistakes of the current generation and they will not tolerate a single second more of lacklustre governance from Irish politicians.
They claim that on polling day, politicians in every corner of the country will realise that students are no longer a dormant force as thousands of young people descend on polling stations to decide the future direction of this country.
Yesterday the special tour bus took to the road and hundreds of students abandoned canteens, bars, lecture halls and libraries, in the Tipperary Institute in Thurles, in Carlow College, and in IT Carlow to registered to vote.
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is on the move, aiming to sign up 50,000 students to vote in the next fortnight and they are adamant students will have the power to influence change.
President of IT Carlow Students’ Union Kate Acheson stated yesterday: “We will not tolerate a single second more of lacklustre governance from Irish politicians. On polling day, politicians in every corner of this country will realise that students are no longer a dormant force in society.”
USI claim that they intend to meet all of the political parties in the coming days to ask them directly their future policies on college fees/ and grants.
 Zac the Rat and Other Stories The drop in literacy levels among secondary school kids in Ireland causes some concern. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment, the reading ability of Ireland’s 15-year-olds was ranked only 17th out of the 39 countries that were studied. Ten years ago, this figures placed Ireland as the fifth nation for literacy skills among this age group. However these new figures should not cause alarm, since they could be affected by the influx of large numbers of pupils into the Irish education system, who do not speak English as their first language.
For Tipperary parents of very young children, note the reading of books aloud is one of the best ways you can help your child learn to read and this can also be fun for you. The more excitement you show when you read a book, the more your child will enjoy it. If you are looking for a fun way to start your child reading or to help your child to improve his/her reading skills, look no further than Zac the Rat and Other Tales.
Zac the Rat and Other Tales is a new set of books currently being hailed by Irish primary teachers, that make learning to read, learning letters, phonics and high frequency words, a fun experience for both parents and young children alike. These books comprise witty story lines and a whole host of quirky characters that will capture your children’s complete imagination.
The most important thing to remember is to let your children set their own reading pace and have fun learning.
Do The Following When Reading To Your Children
Use funny voices and animal noises. This will help your child get excited about the story.
If your child asks a question, do stop and answer it. The book being read may help your child to express his/her thoughts and begin the process of learning to solve their own problems.
Stop to talk about the pictures and ask your child to name things he/she sees in the pictures. Talk about how the pictures relate to the story.
Invite your child to join in whenever there is a repeated phrase in the text.
Keep reading to your child even after he/she learns to read.
Remember introducing your children to the world of books at an early age, gives them an enormous advantage and helps them to settle in more easily, when eventually they start at school.
Gardaí and the Road Safety Authority launched their annual Christmas and New Year campaign called ‘Crashed Lives‘ today. This year’s campaign, launched in Dublin today by President Mary McAleese, focuses on those who have been seriously injured on our roads, and all families who have suffered as a consequences of road collisions.
‘Crashed Lives‘ is a road safety campaign featuring true life case studies in which people speak about the consequences of a crash or about the loss of loved ones in road collisions and how it has changed their lives forever, robbing everyone of their dreams.
Shockingly, a total of 22,882 people have lost their lives on Irish roads since records began in 1959 and a total of 66,773 people have suffered serious life-changing injuries due to road accidents since serious injures were first recorded in 1979. The Tipperary Garda Division which covers county Tipperary north and south experienced 13 road deaths in 2009. Over the holiday season a series of television adverts will be aired, which will feature true life accounts of recent serious road tragedies.
President McAleese stated at the launch: “There is no corner of this island that has not been affected by road deaths and injury. Since I spoke here last year, 227 people lost their lives on our roads. Every single one of them could be and should be alive today. They should be with their families looking forward to Christmas. Instead, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, friends and colleagues are carrying a grief that just goes on and on. We are all gathered here, because we hope that this Christmas road safety campaign will save lives.”
She also reminded, those assembled, of the dangers faced when using the roads at this time of the year and asked everyone to remember those who have been affected by road tragedy, especially those who have been killed, the injured survivors and their family members.
The Chairman of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), Gay Byrne, stated that the campaign was about the forgotten victims of road collisions. The veteran broadcaster said: “For every death on EU roads, there are serious injuries, ranging from severe brain damage, life long disablement and spinal cord injuries and simply put, for these people and their families, life will never be the same. Our message to every household today is simple – don’t take life for granted. Stay safe on the roads and make sure you get home safely this Christmas.”
To view full statistics regarding our countries driving behaviour click here.
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