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Minister McEntee launches justice sector programme of commemorative events for 2022-2024 as part of the Decade of Centenaries’ Programme.
- The year 2022 marks centenary of establishment of An Garda Síochána, occupation of Four Courts and enactment of Irish Free State constitution.
- ‘Justice in Ireland 1822-2022’ symposium to take place on 22nd November this year.
- Programme outlines range of commemorative initiatives and events taking place across the justice sector over the coming years as part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Helen McEntee TD, has today launched the justice sector programme of commemorative events for 2022-2024, as part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme.
The Minister stated: “Over the past decade, we have collectively reflected on many of the formative events in the history of our State as part of the Decade of Centenaries. The period which we are now considering saw the foundation of the State and the establishment, or, in some cases, the handing over of many of the institutions and administrative pillars which have served us since then.
Central to this was the justice sector. Indeed, 1922 was a particularly significant year. It saw the foundation of our national police service, An Garda Síochána. It was also, of course, a year which tragically saw the advent of the Civil War and this was reflected in the occupation of the Four Courts, and with it the destruction of the Public Records Office.
Both 1922 and the years that followed saw many developments and transitions, including the end to the revolutionary Dáil Courts regime and the establishment of the Courts system of the new State. These were tumultuous years as the new State came into being. Both the Department of Justice, its forerunner, the Department of Home Affairs, and the various other parts of the justice sector were central to that time and that work.
I hope that the Decade of Centenaries Justice Sector Programme 2022-24 will capture some of the importance of this work, and help bring some new insights and understanding to those years. This must be an open and honest discussion, and throughout we will attempt to consider all aspects of our history – those that are well known, and those which may not have received enough discussion in the past.
I would encourage all those with an interest in these events to join us in that spirit and participate.”
An Garda Síochána and the Courts Service are leading comprehensive programmes of events over the course of this year, to mark the key events of the establishment of An Garda Síochána, the occupation of the Four Courts and the impact which this had on the operation of the Courts at the time, and the development and enactment of the Constitution of the Irish Free State. Details of these events are available in the programme.
A justice sector symposium, titled Justice in Ireland 1822-2022, will take place in the Printworks of Dublin Castle in partnership with an academic institution, on November 22nd.
Falling on the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the County Constabulary and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of An Garda Síochána, the symposium will provide an opportunity for a consideration by academics and practitioners of the development of both policing and justice institutions more broadly over that time, including the evolution of the prison and probation services. Further details will be announced over the coming weeks.
The Decade of Centenaries Programme provides a critical opportunity to focus on the development of access to historical records and primary sources from this key period. To this end, the Department intends to commence a number of projects to provide access to records from the early decades of the State. This will include the cataloguing of early 20th century departmental files for release to the National Archives and the commissioning of a written history of the first fifty years of the Department.
In addition to those being announced today, the programme of events and initiatives will continue to develop over the life of the programme. Additions will be announced by the Department or relevant agency via their traditional and online channels.
The Minister concluded: “I would like to thank Dr. Maurice Manning, Chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations and the Group, for the guidance in developing this programme of events and initiatives. I also want to thank theJustice Sector agencies for engaging with my Department to produce a diverse range of sectoral commemorations and to congratulate An Garda Síochána and the Courts Service on their commemorative programmes for this year.
I would encourage members of the public to participate in the Justice Sector commemorations over the coming years and hope that they will find the programme informative and enjoyable in equal measure.”
The programme can be accessed via portable document format (pdf) from the Department of Justice website from HERE.
It comes as no surprise that Irish star Jessie Buckley was one of the winners at the Olivier Awards in London’s Royal Albert Hall on last night, winning “Best Actress in a Musical” for her outstanding performance as ‘Sally Bowles’ in the West End revival of “Cabaret”.
Ms Jessie Buckley singing ‘No Place Like Home’ From “Wild Rose”.
The Killarney native and Ursuline Convent Thurles educated, actress collected her award at the annual theatre celebrations in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Ms Buckley had also been among the “Best Supporting Actress” nominees at this year’s Oscars, for her performance in the film “The Lost Daughter”, which is currently available for viewing on NETFLIX.
In all “Cabaret” scooped 7 awards out of a total of 11 nominations on the night, including awards for Miss Buckley’s co-stars Mr Eddie Redmayne, who took “Best Actor in a Musical” for his portrayal of ‘Emcee’.
Ms Liza Sadovy was awarded “Best Supporting Actress” and Mr Elliot Levey who was awarded “Best Supporting Actor”.
The Musical “Cabaret” was also named “Best Musical Revival”, “Best Sound”, with Ms Rebecca Frecknall named as ‘Best Director’.
As most people are aware Banksy is an pseudonymous England-based street artist; a political activist and possibly a film director, whose satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed using a distinctive stencilling technique. His real name and identity continue to remain unconfirmed and indeed the subject of huge speculation.
Here in Thurles, as you can see, most certainly Banksy can’t be accused of spraying his graffiti images on College Lane, east of our town.
Local Municipal Districts councillors would like people to believe that they have now created a new walkway for locals people and tourists. But of course College Lane, as we know, has been there for centuries and the walkway we know today as ‘College Lane’ was originally known as ‘Bohereen Keagh’, long before the Monakeeba housing estate was built.
With nationalist fervour, following on from Irish independence back in the 1920s, many Thurles streets were renamed to honour our Irish heroes and patriots; hence we have Parnell Street, Croke Street, Kickham Street, O’Donovan Rossa Street, Mitchel Street, Cuchulainn Road, etc.
College Lane was, back then, officially renamed “Eliogarty Road”, but the name didn’t catch with local people failing use the name, whereas some older people today still used the older name, pronouncing it ‘Boreenkay’ or ‘Bosheenkay’, just as other boreens used to be known as ‘bosheens’.
The area now is viewed sadly as a ‘no go’ area in Thurles, particularly in the late evening and after dark, with elected councillors and municipal district officials failing miserably to act in controlling anti-social behaviour and angry dogs, the latter permitted to roam about uncontrolled, often we learn attacking local residents.
‘The story of tissues’ claims top prize in the EPA’s ‘The Story of Your Stuff’ 2022.
A video exploring the environmental lifecycle and impact of tissues has won the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ‘The Story of Your Stuff’ 2022 competition. This year’s competition attracted over 200 entries from schools across the country, as well as the highest number of Irish language entries to date.
The winning entry was created by Wong Cheuk Yin Cayden from St Columba’s College in Dublin, who claims the top prize of €500 for himself, along with €500 for his school.
The winning video brings together elements of digital animation, live action, and original scripting and voiceover. It examines the effects of tissue manufacturing on deforestation, water consumption, habitat destruction and human health, and signposts viewers to more environmentally friendly alternatives.
The entry ends with a strong reminder that taking small steps when it comes to everyday decisions can have a lasting, positive environmental impact.
Now it its sixth year, The Story of Your Stuff competition empowers young people by encouraging them to realise the influence they can have on their friends and family when it comes to making environmentally responsible consumer choices. With its focus on sustainability, waste management, climate action and environmental protection, the competition asks young people to think, talk and make small changes that can have far-reaching impacts.
Competition ambassador, citizen candidate-astronaut candidate and award-winning STEM advocate, Dr Norah Patten commented:
“From tissues and wet wipes, to beef, circuit boards and much more besides, the topics selected by this year’s competition entrants demonstrate an inspiring amount of creativity and critical thinking skills among our young people. Given the ever-present urgency of the climate crisis, these are qualities to be nurtured. The Story of Your Stuff competition is a reminder of the important collective voice that young people have on climate issues. It is beholden on all of us to not just hear that voice – but to really listen to it.”
Dr Jonathan Derham of the EPA and chair of the judging panel, added:
“We are once again heartened by the extent and depth of the response among students to this year’s ‘The Story of Your Stuff’ competition. This reflects the sincere commitment of Ireland’s young people to encouraging behaviour change and driving climate action. Moreover, it highlights how our young people view environmental issues in a way that is creative, proactive and solutions oriented. On behalf of the EPA, I would like to extend my congratulations to the winning students, and to all those who entered.”
‘The Story of Pens’ by Holly Walshe from Loreto College Foxrock, Co. Dublin won second prize and ‘The Story of Circuit Boards’ by Liam O’Sullivan, Thomas Shaughnessy, Michael Duggan & Lochlann Mechan from Portumna Community School, Co. Galway came third.
The prize winners for the climate topic and Irish-language awards were:
- Climate topic prize: Hari Pranavam, Kimi Alcantara, Conall O’Brien and Raeem Siddiqui from Saint Eunans College, Co. Donegal for their entry, ‘The Story of Beef’
- Irish-language prize: Ellie Ni Chonaill and Anna Ní Mhurchú from Gaelcholaiste Charraig Ui Leighin, Co Chorcaí for her entry, ‘Scéal Certíní’ which looks at wet wipes.
Concluding, Director of the UCD Earth Institute, Professor Tasman Crowe said: “It was a privilege to virtually connect with the shortlisted entrants of this year’s ‘The Story of Your Stuff’ competition. Their ingenuity and insight, as evidenced through their entries, bodes well for a future that demands creative thinkers to help solve pressing environmental issues. I hope the entrants will continue to question and challenge these issues, much as students from the UCD BSc in Sustainability whose videos were shown during the final event do, and I hope to see some of them in UCD in the future”
All the winning entries can be viewed HERE.
19th Irish Games Fleadh Returns to TUS with a Clear Message on Supporting Positive Climate Action.
Student developers design games with a retro feel of the past, but with a clear message for the future.
TUS Team Win 5 Categories at Games Fleadh 2022.
Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) won five categories at the hotly contested Irish Games Fleadh 2022, hosted by TUS, Thurles Campus.
The popular all island gaming competition returned after a one year hiatus, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with organisers opting to run a virtual competition this year, while once again focusing on a social issue.
This year competitors were asked to concentrate on the UN Sustainable Development Goals by designing games around the theme Positive Action to Support Climate Change.
Teams from third level colleges competed for one of the 12 coveted titles, while Year 1 students also participated in Robocode as part of Games Fleadh 2022, the final of which was held on Wednesday March 23, 2022. This was won by Carlow IT.
The TUS Games Fleadh 2022 wins included:
- Highly Commended Programming Implementation for the game Disaster Squad.
- Best in User Interface Design for the game Fed Up.
- Best in Game Mechanics for the game Pixie Quest.
- Best in Use of Physics Algorithms also for the game Pixie Quest.
- Best in Use of Artificial Intelligence also for Disaster squad.
Following the announcement of the winners on Friday, April 1st, the President of TUS, Professor Vincent Cunnane said the 2022 Games Fleadh had once again recognised the skills and talents of the country’s best student game developers.
“A huge congratulations must go to all competitors who continued to develop their skills amid the challenges of the pandemic, and their teachers, who supported them so that they are ready to take their place in this ever growing €148.8 billion industry. I would also like to acknowledge the support industry leaders have lent to this annual competition, which is indicative of TUS’s ethos of working with employers to ensure our students are at the cutting edge of this ever developing industry and therefore have the skill set to be work ready on graduation.”
Head of Department of Information Technology TUS, Dr Janice O’Connell reflected on how information technology and game development can support positive action on environmental and social issues.
“The Games Fleadh is a fantastic event which brings together the various dimensions of IT and how the application of IT can help solve and support positive action, with this year’s focus on Climate Action. The Games Fleadh highlights the wonderful and diverse career opportunities and is an excellent demonstration of the integration of industry, academia, students, future students, and the creativity and imagination of Games. We are very proud that all our IT programmes employ current state of the art technology, are industry led and provide a foundation for students for launching their career in future technology,” she stated.
Games Fleadh Organiser and Game Design & Development Degree Lecturer at TUS Dr Liam Noonan paid tribute to the international companies and national organisations that continue to support the event year on year.
“Without sponsors such as EA games and the support of games companies across Ireland, Games Fleadh would not be the success that it is every year. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the National Youth Council of Ireland this year, who’s focus on games for youth development mirrors Games Fleadh’s philosophy that gaming can be used for social, environmental and indeed positive culture change,” he stated.
A spokesperson for the National Youth Council of Ireland added,
“The National Youth Council of Ireland are delighted to be involved with the TUS Games Fleadh and support the games development competition. The NYCI STEAM in Youth Work engagement programme and the Global Youth Work programme run training courses, such as SDGames training courses, to support youth workers to use games in youth work. We focus on the use of games for development education in youth work and therefore particularly welcome that the Fleadh’s theme this year has been taken from the SDGs with a focus on positive action to support climate action.”
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