KILKENNY is being represented on two fronts in New York’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations this year.
County Council Chairman Michael O’Brien and a council official are jetting off to the Big Apple to represent the county.
Recognising the harsh e
conomic climate, the chairman vowed to use the experience to market the county to the Kilkenny Association in New York and the IDA’s New York office and Enterprise Ireland. To cut back the expense, he said: “We have curtailed the trip this year in terms of A), the number of people going and B), the length of our stay. So we have packed into three days what would normally be attempted in five or six.”
Criticism has been made in various counties about such travel, but the chairman said he felt it was important that Kilkenny not lose out once again to neighbouring counties. “We will also be liaising with a national campaign run by the Department of Foreign Affairs, appealing for members of the Irish diaspora to see if we can influence investment in this country in whatever way we can,” he said. “We are trying to project Kilkenny as an interesting place for Irish-Americans to consider, and basically we are competing with other counties. We never managed to attract the interest from the IDA that other counties have.”
City mayor Malcolm Noonan is not travelling abroad for this year’s holiday, in part because the city is hosting a visit from the mayor of French town Moret-sur-Loing. “As the chairman of the St Patrick’s Day committee in Kilkenny, it is my job to make sure the parade and the events go well. I also feel that, as mayor in these difficult times, it is important to be here in Kilkenny,” he said, adding: “We are running a carbon-neutral parade and I don’t want to be clocking up air miles.”
That’s not to say he felt that all leaders of local government should stay at home for the national holiday. “It is not for me to say that other people should go or should not go,” the mayor said. “If someone has work to be done, then they should go. I do think it is important that we reach out to other countries.”
Travelling over with Roses from around the globe is Kilkenny Rose, Stephanie O’Dwyer, who will be spending five days in New York. The reunion trip was the idea of New York Rose, Aisling Colton, who invited the ladies over to spend the Irish holiday there. Stephanie says she has been to the Big Apple before, “but this is a completely different experience. I am really looking forward to it. It will be great to meet up with all the American girls.”
Roses from Sligo, Kerry and Cork are also making the trip, as are those from the Channel Islands and Liverpool. “It’s an example of what you get to do as a Rose; it’s a full year of opportunities,” says Stephanie, who will be taking time off from her teaching duties in Bunclody, Co Wexford. “I would definitely recommend it.”
See page 6 for details on this year’s Kilkenny Rose of Tralee competition.
