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By Waterford City & County Council

GAA & Local Authorities partner for Sustainable Communities

24 January 2020; Attendees at the GAA Local Authority SDG Launch at Crooke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

The GAA and the local authority sector, represented by the County and City Management Association (CCMA) recently announced an innovative new initiative pledging to work together to lead their communities in promoting sustainability and climate action.

The partnership will capitalise on the leadership roles both organisations have within their communities, and the potential they have to engage with citizens of all ages to promote sustainable local development, environmental awareness and climate action.

The partnership builds on the GAA’s status as a Sustainable Development Goal Champion and aligns with local government commitments under the National Climate Action Plan and Local Authorities’ Climate Action Charters.

A steering group, composed of representatives from the Local Authority sector, the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association, have begun work on the development of a Green Club toolkit, which will be piloted in 2020 ahead of the roll-out of a National Green Club Support Plan in 2021.

The Green Club toolkit, which will be piloted across a small number of clubs throughout the country, will be focused on the key action areas of Energy & Water Efficiency, Biodiversity, Waste Management & Plastic Use and Transport

Sustainable Club and Community Partnership projects include:

  • Development of a Sustainable Club
  • Sustainable Club Workshops
  • Promotion and Support of Sustainable Energy Communities
  • A Sustainable Development Goal Action Module in the GAA/PDST TY Future Leaders Programme, with contributions across GAA/LGFA/Camogie Association input at all levels of the Mainstream Education System (with the Department of Education and Skills)
  • Green Procurement Guidelines and Support
  • Further Developing Croke Park as a World Exemplar Stadium in Sustainable Development
  • Alignment to Statutory Funding Streams

Speaking at the launch, Uachtaran CLG John Horan said, “An increasing number of clubs are seeking guidance in the area of sustainability, and our members are very anxious to play their part in the fight against climate change. The collaboration with the Local Authority Sector is an ideal partnership to help us to develop our clubs sustainability within and for communities and to reach people in every corner of Ireland with information that will help them to make changes in their own lives to support the effort against climate change and adapting to evolving challenges.”

Michael Walsh, CCMA Chairman said, “The GAA and local authorities both represent local leadership, community, legacy and vision. We each have relevant networks, knowledge, existing partners and facilities. Working together we can have huge impact and enable the necessary behavioural change in our communities.”

Ends

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Cian Murphy, Communications Executive GAA, 01 8658616

By Waterford City & County Council

St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2020 Applications OPEN

The theme of Waterford’s 2020 St. Patrick’s Day parade will be “Passion for Our Planet”

Waterford’s Businesses, community, sporting, and voluntary groups are being asked to showcase their Passion for Our Planet as part of this year’s St Patrick’s Festival. We are encouraging them to be as creative and imaginative as possible in interpreting the theme through costumes, floats and performance.

The Mayor of City and County of Waterford, Councillor John Pratt, is leading planning for the event. He said, “We have entered a new decade, the decade that will decide whether or not we as global society can combat climate change”. Mayor Pratt also said, “I hope that all the parade participants will embrace the theme in creative and innovative waves to create a spectacle on the streets of Ireland’s Oldest City”.

The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of Waterford’s great community gatherings with hundreds of participants from all walks of life and it attracts in excess of twenty-thousand spectators. It will proceed from the Glen, along The Quay, Mall and Parnell Street where it concludes.

Already embracing this years theme are a group of young climate activists pictured with Mayor Pratt. The group met with Mayor Pratt and members of Waterford City And County Council in relation to climate change. A spokesperson said “We are delighted that Waterford City and County Council are putting the planet to the forefront this St. Patrick’s Day and we look forward to engaging with the festivities”.

Parade registration is now open. Groups and organisations interested in participating can register at http://bit.ly/StPatsParade2020

For queries please contact Miriam at stpatricksdaywaterford@gmail.com.

Or 086 3403127 and follow our Waterford St. Patricks Day Parade  page on Facebook.

By Waterford City & County Council

Eco Eye episode featuring Waterford airs, 7:00pm Tuesday 28th January

Eco Eye episode featuring Waterford airs on Tuesday 28th January at 7:00pm on RTE1.

Advanced notices of Waterford featuring heavily in the Eco Eye programme on RTE1, tomorrow evening, Tuesday 28th January.

The Office of the Planning Regulator and Healthy Ireland have sponsored this episode of Eco Eye under the theme “Sustainable Spatial Planning” and a lot of the programme was filmed in and around Waterford.   Included are interviews with Eamonn McEneaney, Director of the Waterford Treasures Museum,  and Brianna Connaughton, the Healthy Waterford Coordinator.  Some interviews with members of the public from Waterford and Boyle in Co. Roscommon are also featured.

The message of the programme is that all of the County/City Development Plans and Local Area Plans are being/will be reviewed and that people have the opportunity to make submissions and to determine how their counties/cities and local areas are developed into the future.

Tune in on Tuesday for more.

By Waterford City & County Council

St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2020 Applications OPEN

The theme of Waterford’s 2020 St. Patrick’s Day parade will be “Passion for Our Planet”

Waterford’s Businesses, community, sporting, and voluntary groups are being asked to showcase their Passion for Our Planet as part of this year’s St Patrick’s Festival. We are encouraging them to be as creative and imaginative as possible in interpreting the theme through costumes, floats and performance.

The Mayor of City and County of Waterford, Councillor John Pratt, is leading planning for the event. He said, “We have entered a new decade, the decade that will decide whether or not we as global society can combat climate change”. Mayor Pratt also said, “I hope that all the parade participants will embrace the theme in creative and innovative waves to create a spectacle on the streets of Ireland’s Oldest City”.

The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of Waterford’s great community gatherings with hundreds of participants from all walks of life and it attracts in excess of twenty-thousand spectators. It will proceed from the Glen, along The Quay, Mall and Parnell Street where it concludes.

Already embracing this years theme are a group of young climate activists pictured with Mayor Pratt. The group met with Mayor Pratt and members of Waterford City And County Council in relation to climate change. A spokesperson said “We are delighted that Waterford City and County Council are putting the planet to the forefront this St. Patrick’s Day and we look forward to engaging with the festivities”.

Parade registration is now open. Groups and organisations interested in participating can register at http://bit.ly/StPatsParade2020

For queries please contact Miriam at stpatricksdaywaterford@gmail.com.

Or 086 3403127 and follow our Waterford St. Patricks Day Parade  page on Facebook.

By Waterford City & County Council

Your Library – Take a Closer Look

Tracy McEneaney, Executive Librarian with Waterford Libraries who features on the advert using the free borrowbox app available to all Waterford Library members which gives you access to free eBooks and eAudiobooks anywhere

A new national advertising campaign is asking everyone to take a closer look at what their local authority library has to offer.

Waterford Libraries and all public libraries around the country are joining in the campaign, which is running for the next four weeks across radio, cinema, TV on demand, digital and social.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage people of all ages to join and use the library.

Speaking about the campaign, Jane Cantwell, Waterford City and County Librarian said, “Many people who use the library regularly know how great it is. But there are those who haven’t been in a while or don’t think there’s anything there for them. This campaign is inviting everyone to have a look at their library.”

“We want everyone to take a closer look, to see beyond what they thought they knew about libraries and to find out about all the amazing services we offer – completely free.”

Libraries and Librarians take the starring roles in the campaign; the libraries in the adverts are real libraries and the people in the advert are real librarians – see if you can spot any you know!

The ‘Take a Closer Look’ campaign was devised by the Libraries Development Unit of the LGMA with the support of the Department of Rural and Community Development. It is part a wider national strategy to increase library use in Ireland.

At present, around 16% of the Irish population are library members. The ‘Our Public Libraries’ strategy aims to increase that to 30% by 2022.

Take a look at the ‘Take a Closer Look’ advert at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOvJVnHhY0

By Waterford City & County Council

Central Library Christmas Coffee Morning – this Thursday 12th

Central Library Waterford and @eudirect together with Waterford Council Deputy Mayor Cllr. Seamus Ryan, invite you to our annual Christmas Coffee Morning this Thursday 12th December at 11:00am. All are welcome for carols, spoken word and festive refreshments!

By Waterford City & County Council

Exhibition Invitation – Celebrating the history of Irish Local Government

All are invited by Cllr. John Pratt, Mayor of Waterford City & County, to the launch of the exhibition “Celebrating the history of Irish Local Government” on Monday, 9th December 2019 at 4.30pm, Civic Offices, Dungarvan, County Waterford.

We are grateful to the commissioning owner, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, for lending this exhibition for display.  Light refreshments will be served in the foyer of the Civic Offices.  Please confirm your attendance to the Archivist at archivist@waterfordcouncil.ie

By Waterford City & County Council

RSC Waterford one of 3 clubs shortlisted for 2019 SSE Airtricity League Pitch of the Year

Three clubs have had their pitches shortlisted for the 2019 SSE Airtricity League Pitch of the Year.

Drogheda United, Shamrock Rovers and Waterford FC have seen their respective pitches nominated, with the winner being announced later this month.

2019 SSE Airtricity League Pitch of the Year Shortlist

  • United Park – Drogheda United
  • Tallaght Stadium – Shamrock Rovers
  • RSC  – Waterford FC

FAI Pitch Consultant Richard Hayden (Hayden Turfcare) will visit each ground in the coming days before the overall winner is announced.

The FAI’s Head of Facility Development Walter Holleran said the shortlist shows the quality of pitches in the Premier and First Divisions over the 2019 season.

“I wish to congratulate all three venues and their staff for the work on preparing and maintaining their venues to a very good standard.

“The standard of pitches within the SSE Airtricity Leagues are constantly improving and the shortlisted group are very much to the top in terms of pitch quality.

“The FAI will continue to host the Natural Turf Maintenance training days to ensure all clubs have the latest educational and market knowledge to bring their respective pitches to the next level.”

The 2019 winners will take the crown from Longford Town, after the First Division club won the honour in 2018.

By Waterford City & County Council

Clodagh Beresford Dunne awarded The Clarissa Luard Poetry Award

The Arts Office , Waterford City & County Council extends congratulations to Dungarvan poet, Clodagh Beresford Dunne on being awarded the Clarissa Luard Award in London last evening.

The gala event saw Irish novelist Edna O’Brien being awarded a £40,000 lifetime achievement prize regarded as a precursor to the Nobel, for having “moved mountains both politically and lyrically through her writing” in a career spanning almost 60 years. Awarded every two years to a living writer for their entire body of work, the prize was founded by the late cultural philanthropist David Cohen in 1993, in the hopes of starting an equivalent of the Nobel prize for UK and Irish authors. Many recipients, including VS Naipaul, Doris Lessing and Harold Pinter, went on to become Nobel laureates.

Winners of the David Cohen prize are also tasked with bestowing the £10,000 Clarissa Luard award on an emerging writer. O’Brien selected Clodagh Beresford Dunne, an Irish poet from Dungarvan, County Waterford, who has yet to publish a collection. O’Brien said she became aware of Beresford Dunne’s poetry after seeing her read at a literary festival in Ireland. “I had many claims on who I would wish this prize to go to, including in Nigeria, so it was hard for me. But I decided to give it to a fellow Irish girl – well, she’s a girl and I am a woman – because I know how much she loves poetry and with four children and a husband, she wants more than anything to have a book of poetry published,” she said.

The Arts Office has been a long time supporter of Clodagh’s work and she has received the Waterford ArtLinks bursary to support her writing on a number of occasions. We wish her all the best for her future writing.

poets

By Waterford City & County Council

“Bittern Cry” – Fergus Hogan Poetry Book Launch

Fergus Hogan is launching his poetry chapbook Bittern Cry this coming Friday 22nd November at 6.30 pm in the Book Centre, Waterford city.

The poems in Bittern Cry have been written under the mentorship of Grace Wells under the ArtLinks mentorship scheme run by the Arts Office, Waterford City and County Council.

All are welcome to attend.

 

By Waterford City & County Council

Heritage Council funding for Watchtower

Waterford Council have been successful in a recent funding application to the Heritage Council for conservation works funding on Waterford’s medieval Watchtower.  Waterford City and County Council have a proven track record in conservation works to the Medieval City walls and towers.

Over the past 15/20 years major roofing and repointing works were carried out on the towers. Waterford Council, with funding from the Heritage Council, commissioned a report by Southgate Associates to assess accessibility to the City walls and towers.

Based on this report, it is intended to carry out works, on a phased basis,  to make the walls more visible and to provide safe access for the public to towers in Council’s ownership. At the moment, the City walls are “hiding in plain sight”.  Thousands of people pass through the walls by the Watchtower and 2 adjacent towers without realizing they are entering the Medieval City of Waterford.

From a tourist perspective, it will add to the visitor offering connecting with the Museums in the Viking Triangle.  Phase 1 of the programme is facilitating access to the Watchtower which is sited on one of the main routes into the city.  The building is in good condition and in a highly visible location.  This year, the Heritage Council provided €10,000  towards the works on the Watchtower and these should be completed by the end of November 2019.

By Waterford City & County Council

Sustainable Christmas Workshop @ Central Library

Learn how to make your own plastic-free Christmas crackers, a beeswax
wrap and more at this Sustainable Christmas Workshop.

This free 1 hour workshop for adults is run by Waterford City and
County Council’s Environmental Section. Booking is essential – phone
0761 10 2975 to book your place.  It takes place on the 22nd of November at 11am.

By Waterford City & County Council

Museum Director Eamonn McEneaney honoured by Norway

Director of Waterford Treasures Museums appointed Officer of The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit for his impressive work in raising awareness of the Viking history in Waterford.

Today, Friday 15th November at a special reception held in the Medieval Museum, The Viking Triangle, Waterford, museum director Mr Eamonn McEneaney, was appointed Officer (Knight First Grade) of The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit by Her Excellency Else Berit Eikeland, Ambassador of Norway to Ireland, on behalf of His Majesty King Harald V of Norway. The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit is conferred on foreign and Norwegian nationals as a reward for outstanding service in the interest of Norway.

The Mayor of Waterford City and County, Councillor John Pratt formally welcomed Her Excellency to Waterford before the proceedings began.

Mr. McEneaney receives this honour for his impressive work in raising awareness of the Viking history in Waterford, and his importance in strengthening the connections between Norway and Ireland.

Ambassador of Norway Else Berit Eikeland said; “I am honoured to present Eamonn McEneaney the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit on behalf of His Majesty King Harald V of Norway. Eamonn McEneaney has done so much to raise awareness of the extent of the Viking and Norse connection and influence in early Medieval Ireland.”

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