June in Kilkenny: Flood plan threat to iconic GAA club and disbelief over school bus shortage

Ballyhale Shamrocks in Kilkenny – one of Ireland’s most successful hurling clubs – is at risk of being destroyed by flood relief measures proposed by the Office of Public Works.
At an estimated cost of €430,000 the works will see the Little Arrigle River in the village being diverted right through the club’s GAA grounds.
The “diversion of flow” will go primarily through the pitch closer to the village and will also cut through the walkway and along by the dressing rooms.
The hurling club was founded in 1972 and has been at the site in Ballyhale village since 1990. It is home to Kilkenny hurling legends Michael and Colin Fennelly, TJ Reid and Henry Shefflin.
Step DOwn
Having introduced a broad range of innovative strands to the Kilkenny Arts Festival, copperfastened its prosperity, festival director, Eugene Downes announced in June that he would step down at the end of this year’s festival in August.
Highlights he put in place include the Shakespeare series in the Castle Yard, which attracted thousands of patrons.
Another is the hugely popular single composer season with Brahms the main focus this August, following Mozart and Beethoven in the preceding years.
The series of new Stephen Rea projects were phenomenally popular with people while having the Irish Concert Orchestra (IC) as an orchestra in residence for the first time is a wonderfully successful collaboration.And in 2018, Downes did it again with the Festival’s first full scale opera production.
Kilkenny woman Vicky Phelan continued to dominate the headlines in June when she received civic recognition from Kilkenny County Council for her bravery in highlighting issues with the cervical screening programme and her service to the people of Ireland.
Mooncoin native Vicky Phelan said that she is just a normal person who ‘did one small thing’.
“One person can make change. You just have to believe that you can do it,” she said.
Vicky said that she refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement in her case because she knew that she was not the only one affected. Vicky’s story sparked the revealation that at least 221 women are involved in the scandal.