Dancing fest
Mayor of Killarney Paddy Courtney will get in step to launch the prestigious World Irish Dance Championships which get underway at the Killarney Convention Centre in the INEC this Sunday.
A major early season boost for the tourism trade, the event will continue throughout the week and thousands of participants will take to the stage.
In novel fashion, dancers will kick open a ribbon at 1pm to declare the championships underway.
Various agency surveys estimate that the dance championships will be worth a cool €2.5 million to the local economy with the competitors accompanied by an entourage of organisers, teachers, adjudicators, musicians, families, friends, supporters and spectators.
The event will feature a total of 43 competitions, with the youngest dancer just nine years old while the eldest will be 25.
The competition will see male and female world champions crowned across a range of age categories, from under 10 through to adult. Approximately 400 teams will take part, ensuring a bumper pre-Easter week for local hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, shops and other visitor facilities.
Green cycle
The provision of a new world-class greenway as part of a national €11 million fund for cycling infrastructure has been welcomed by Killarney senator Marie Moloney.
The centre-piece of the funding will go towards construction of one of the world’s most dramatic scenic greenways, running along an old railway line, over viaducts and through mountainous tunnels overlooking the Atlantic and the Ring of Kerry.
€3.4 million will go towards the construction of 26km of greenway from Glenbeigh to Caherciveen to create a new visitor attraction along the old Great Southern Railway.
“An additional benefit of this development will be the fact that the annual Ring of Kerry charity cycle can now utilise this greenway and will no longer have to use the main road in this area,” Senator Moloney said.
It is estimated that construction phase will create in the region of 40 jobs and the project will contribute as much as 70 jobs to the local economy over time. The greenway will be constructed over the next two years.
Town cleaner
A major voluntary clean-up in and around Killarney town – as well as surrounding parishes – proved a big success this Saturday.
Teams of community volunteers took to the roads, streets and scenic areas to collect rubbish that had accumulated over time.
Hundreds of refuse sacks, filled to the brim with wrappers, empty bottles, cigarette butts and other waste, were collected and will be disposed of by the local authority in the coming days.
Lovely Lily
This year’s Lily of Killarney pageant, organised by the ladies committee of Spa GAA club, will be held on Friday, May 30.
The venue this year will be the Killarney Heights Hotel and several young ladies, representing local businesses and community organisations, will by vying for the title.
This is the 40th anniversary of the Lily which was first held in 1974. The winner that year was Eileen O’Connor from Blackwater.
Scrap charge
A Killarney councillor has urged his own party in government to abolish the universal social charge which he has described as one of the main austerity measures to affect the incomes of the majority of people.
Cllr Seán Counihan of Labour said removing the charge would help to stimulate the domestic economy and give a welcome boost to workers who have had to endure a pay freeze.
