Australian death severs family link with Kilcullen

The recent death in Australia of a woman born in Kilcullen in 1918 ended the direct link with the town for an Australian actor who counts among his credits the TV series 'Home and Away', many films and stage plays, and the voice of an alien, Lama Su in 'Star Wars'.

She was born 93 years ago Margaret Mary Phelan, writes Brian Byrne, the daughter of a saddler working for Berneys at the time, and aunt to actor Anthony Phelan, who today lives in Sydney.

Margaret Mary Phelan, later better known to her extended family as Aunt Stella, sailed for Queensland with her brother, Anthony's father William, and their parents William O'Brien Phelan and his wife.

William Phelan Snr left his job in Berneys and emigrated because he felt he could no longer live in a 'divided Ireland', according to Anthony.

"They found the situation with the division of Ireland intolerable," he says. "The family of four on a long boat trip, and the life of the Phelans in North Queensland Australia began. Kilcullen to the tropics of North Queensland was surely testament to their disquiet toward Irish politics."

Anthony came to visit Kilcullen about ten years ago, and was brought to Berneys Saddlery by Geraldine Gahan.

"They showed him the place where his grandfather worked and the stairs he went up and down every day," she recalls. "He had his photo taken with them and then we were mobbed on the street by a lot of schoolchildren, who recognised him as a character from 'Home and Away' which was very popular at the time. Never having watched it, I didn't realise who I was showing around!"

The character in question was 'Roo'. Anthony has a very distinctive voice and has worked on documentaries, films, plays and commercials for some 30 years. Theatre credits include 'Julius Caesar', 'Holy Day', 'Oedipus', 'Fireface', 'Mourning Becomes Electra', 'The Three Sisters', 'The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' and 'The Caretaker'. Film credits include, 'Black Balloon', 'Acolytes', and 'Defiance'.

Before the family emigrated, the Phelans used to live at the bottom of the hill in Kilcullen, close to William Snr's place of work.

"Myself and my siblings, and extended family, have always held a close affinity with Kilcullen, albeit thousands of kilometres away," Anthony says. "We are all feeling saddened by the loss of this wonderful woman, a true daughter of Ireland, and also saddened by the loss of our last tie with Kilcullen."

This article was first published in The Kildare Nationalist.

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Good result for GAA Ladies TQ

Some €1,300 was raised at Wednesday night's GAA Ladies Table Quiz in Bardons.

The winning team was 'Bardons', comprising Mark Giltrap, Mick Staunton, Chris Harris and Shay O'Mahony. Mick Spencer was the Quiz Master.

A great night was had by all, not unexpectedly.

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The Saint returns ...

Donal St Leger is back in Kilcullen for a couple of weeks. One of his regular trips back to his home town from where he lives in New Jersey.

He's pictured here on the right with old comrades at the bar in Bardons Vivian Clarke and Jim Collins.

It didn't take long for the reminiscences to roll...

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Quilting Workshop on Saturday

A Picnic Time Quilting Workshop will be held at The Cottonwood Tree on Saturday next, between 10am-2pm.

The event is open to all and costs €25 plus materials.

The passing of May Bathe

The Diary has learned of the death of May Bathe, nee Whelan, late of Nicholastown, Kilcullen and Dublin. May was the wife of the late Paddy Bathe and has lately been under the care of the wonderful people at Curragh Lawns Nursing Home.

May is reposing at Anderson and Leahy's Funeral Home, Newbridge, until her removal tomorrow, Thursday evening at 7 o'clock to the Church of the Sacred Heart and St Brigid, to arrive at 7.30.

Her funeral will take place after 11 o'clock Mass on Friday to New Abbey Cemetery.

The Diary offers condolences to May's family and friends.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.

When a lottery feeling has nothing to do with money

(Pic: Rory O'Neill.)

When she thinks about it, Tara O'Sullivan can clearly remember her 'Lottery moment', writes Brian Byrne.

No, she didn't win big money. It was the moment when a text from her sister Kerrie Anne texted her that Kerrie's son William's blood results showed that his new kidney was working.

This was just hours after 9 year-old William had received his kidney. And why it was a Lottery moment was because Tara had donated the organ and was still in her own hospital room after the operation.

That was last October. And Tara is experiencing similar feelings on a regular basis as William succeeds in doing things which he had previously never been able to do in his life.

It is also why Tara is riding as one of the fundraising amateur jockeys in this year's Diageo Charity Steeplchase which raises funds for the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund.

"Wiliam has never known what it is to feel the way he does now," she says. "Before, if he even got a cold, it was a hospital thing straight away so they could manage the illness and his medicines until he got over it. Now he tells me that he 'feels so free', meaning that his blood isn't filled with all the chemicals he had to take to manage his condition."

William was in renal failure from the time he was born, and only survived because of a very strict diet and a lot of chemicals. It meant he was never a strong child, and the treatment left him feeling very sick.

"Now he can run around like any other child, play football, swim, and go to the local Playbarn," says Tara, whose business is in the provision of catering to film and TV companies on location. She moved from Dublin to Kill in Kildare about ten years ago because she became interested in horses, eventually buying her own and getting involved in show jumping.

When William was diagnosed with renal problems, the family was checked out for organ donation compatibility. Tara was found to be the best match. From that moment, she says there was no other option as far as she was concerned.

"I'm very close to my sister, and very close to William since he was born, so it was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned. Since the operation, people ask me when did I decide, but I actually never made a decision. The way I looked at it, it was always his kidney, and I was looking after it until he was big enough to accept an adult organ."

Tara pays tribute to her friend Catherine Doyle, the sister of Kilcullen businessman James Nolan, who donated one of her kidneys to James more than two decades ago. "I met Catherine and her husband Edward though the horses, and she was a great support. I could ask even the silly questions and she'd always have the answers. Then, when it came to the procedure, the people at Beaumont were brilliant."

Her involvement in the race is the result of a trip to last year's event, when she took William with her. "I told him that if he got his new kidney during the year, I'd do the race the following year."

So it is a fulfilment of a promise as much as anything else, but Tara is also doing it to raise awareness of the importance of research and organ donation.

"I'm training with Ted Walsh and his daughter Katie is giving me tuition. She's taking me over the gallops and talking me through the whole thing. Sometimes I think 'I can't do this' but she always brings me back."

The race this year is as always the last one of the Punchestown Festival, on 7 May. The involvement of Diageo as sponsor ensures that all money raised by the participants can go to the PKRF, and the race has already raised well in excess of €1m since it was inaugurated.

Just now, it is all that Tara is focused on. "I can't think of anything else. I'm blinkered on this for now."

And you can bet that when she finishes, no matter where in the field, it will be another 'Lottery moment'.

This piece was originally published in the Kildare Nationalist.

Moon & Sixpence Concert for Lions

Kilcullen Lions Club has organised a Moon & Sixpence Concert in aid of local charities on Friday 6 May.

The Concert will be in the Town Hall Theatre beginning 8pm.

Tickets are €15, and admission includes a glass of wine. They are available from any Lions Club member or Bernard Berney Chemist.

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Kilcullen youth attacked in Naas

A Kilcullen teenager was the victim of an unprovoked attack in Naas last week, writes Brian Byrne.

He was waiting for his father to collect him on Wednesday night, when he was punched in the eye by one of a group of older young men, outside Swan Dowling's pub on the Newbridge Road.

The victim had been at a disco in the Time Night Club at the Osprey Hotel. When he came out with friends to be brought home by parents of the group, it was found that the cars couldn't legally accommodate everyone.

"I called my father and he said he'd come to collect me," the victim of the attack, who prefers to remain anonymous, told the Diary. "The father of one of the group said he would wait with me, and we walked up to the main road rather than wait at the hotel."

According to the Kilcullen teenager, a young man roughly brushed past them as they waited on the footpath outside the pub. Then that person called out something over their heads as a group of young people came around the corner. As they passed, without warning one of them punched the Kilcullen youth in the face, and also turned on the accompanying parent despite the fact that he was a big man.

"He was on something, more than the drink that he clearly had been taking," the victim says.

Shocked after the attack, for which some of the assailant's companions apologised, the Kilcullen teenager and the accompanying parent went back to the Osprey for safety, after calling the Garda.

"They followed us back, and when we got to the hotel there was an incident involving them and the security there," the Kilcullen youngster says. His father then arrived and brought them both home.

The young man attended Naas Hospital the next morning.

The Diary understands that there were a number of anti-social incidents in the area on the same night, with one suggestion that involved a broken leg. This hasn't been confirmed. There is also a report that when the Garda car came to the hotel, they were informed that nothing untoward had taken place.

A query from the Diary to the Garda Press Office on the matter, asking if the incident had been recorded on the 'Pulse' computer system, has remained unanswered at the time of posting (Monday evening).

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GAA Juveniles have a lifesaving message

Kilcullen GAA u/12s have taken on a particular message with their new jerseys.

Their theme is one which could help any of us if we have a chronic organ failure.

It's quite a simple idea. 'Carry a Donor Card'.

We on the Diary do. Do you?

Well done, lads.

TD will fight any National Stud sell-off

Local FG TD Deputy Martin Heydon says he will oppose any attempts to sell off the National Stud, as recommended in the McCarthy Report on State Assets.

Describing it as the 'flagship' of the bloodstock industry, which employs over 17,000 people and is worth almost €1bn to the national economy, he says the National Stud is the key to maintaining a 'competitive advantage' in the industry over countries like the UK and France.

Deputy Heydon also says the facility is a 'rock on which we can develop new tourist initiatives for the area'. “It is our foremost tourist attraction in the county with in excess of 100,000 visitors in 2010 and employs up to 70 people at peak times. It is estimated that its presence in the county contributes to economic activity of €7/8m.”

He says he has made representations to both Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney and Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar to stress to them the importance of the National Stud and will continue to do so. “At a time when Ireland needs to find new industries at which we excel, it seems ridiculous to downsize one that already exists," he says.

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Children's Felting Workshop

A children's Felting Workshop is being held in The Cottonwood Tree next Saturday, 29 April.

The event is being run by Kathrina Hughes and participants will learn how to make fun items and jewellery from felt.

The time is 10.30am-1.30pm and the cost is €25.

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Leg it for Larries!

An 8K Family Fun Run in aid of St Laurence's GAA Club will be held on Saturday, 28 May.

The run is to raise funds for the underage teams, and all are welcome to run or walk the course.

The start will be at the Clubhouse at 11am sharp, with an individual entry costing €10, a family entry for €20. The finish is also at the Clubhouse and there will be post-race refreshments at the prize-giving.

For further information email legitforlarries@gmail.com. Or phone 087 6775710/087 7999159

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Last chance for Golf Classic for Solas

The Golf Classic in aid of the Solas Youth Cafe is next Friday at Athy Golf Club.

The cost for a team of four is €100 and there will be many spot prizes.

Contact Jim Kiely on 086 692544.

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Witnesses to the Crucifixion

Vivian Clarke, Bernard Berney and Philomena Breslin performed a playlet about witnesses to The Crucifixion on Good Friday.

Damage to Market Square wall

Major damage was done to a wall and aluminium fence in the Market Square overnight by a car which apparently rammed into it. The concrete foundations in which the fence was set ended up on the bank area below.

There are remnants of a grille, and an oil trail at the site of the damage, but no sign of the offending vehicle.

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Easter Flowers arranging

There was a good turnout for last week's Easter Flowers demonstration by Christine Hughes from Blessington at the Kilcullen Flower & Garden Club. These pictures are from Trish Whelan.

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Dave makes his move

Popular local florist and man of many balloons Dave Clancy has opened his new shop in time for Easter.

Celebrating his fifth year in business in Kilcullen, Dave has relocated from Hillcrest to the premises beside the Vincents shop.



We wish him well. Since moving to Kilcullen, he particularly enjoys the fact that he knows everybody he meets as he walks up and down the street.

"I just couldn't go back to the city now," he says. "It's not like that any more there."

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Ragettes Table Quiz

Kilcullen Ladies GAA are having a Table Quiz next Wednesday, 27th, April in Bardons of Kilcullen at 8pm sharp.

Tables of four are €40, or €10 per person. There will be a raffle on the night with some great prizes.

Support the Ragettes section of the club - contact any member of the Ladies Section or call 086-1940427.

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Tree planted in memory of Joe Maher

A commemorative tree to the late Joe Maher was planted on Friday morning at the McMahon Centre, the HQ of Kilcullen Local Services KARE. Joe drove a bus for KARE for more than three decades.

The proceeds of a Coffee Morning in his memory were presented to St Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh, on the occasion.

Summer Flowers project growing well

Kilcullen Community Action is hoping to have the flower boxes along Main Street in position by the first week in June, writes Brian Byrne.

That was decided at the recent meeting of the tidy towns organisation, in a discussion that also focused on the street flower boxes, with some thought that the window box programme could mean that fewer boxes were needed on the footpaths.

Several of the street boxes are beyond use, and Ray Kelly undertook to remove them, a job which was done the other day. Kieran Forde suggested there should be a walk around the street to see what boxes need renewing.

Esther Kiely said new soil was needed, as the flowers in the boxes had been 'very disappointing' in recent years.

JJ Warren wondered if there could be hanging flowers around the boxes, which would hide the timber.

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Two Tús supervisor jobs on offer

A pilot programme in the new Tús Community Work Placement Scheme is offering two €31,000 Supervisor positions in the Naas and Athy electoral areas.

The overall programme in Kildare will eventually involve 180 community jobs, with nine supervisors, but these two are the only ones which will be advertised. The others will be selected by the Department of Social Protection.

The initiative will provide short-term quality and suitable working opportunities for people who are unemployed while at the same time carrying out a broad range of services of benefit to the community and in a variety of community settings.

Applicants must be continuously unemployed for at least 12 months and “signing” on a full-time basis, and be in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance at time of application.

The successful candidate should have excellent communication and inter-personal skills, a good standard of education and be computer literate. In addition s/he should also have previous management/supervisor experience and demonstrate an ability to relate to and support participants. Access to transport and a full driving licence is essential. Knowledge of community activities and work will be an advantage.

The closing date is 26th April, four days' time. Salary is €31,005 pa. Please forward a full CV and letter of application to:

The Social Inclusion Manager,
County Kildare LEADER Partnership,
Jigginstown Commercial Centre,
Naas, Co Kildare.

Further details can be obtained by contacting tus@countykildarelp.ie. or by phoning 045 895450.

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Business briefs

Fallons have introduced a new loyalty card system with which regular customers can build points towards free Sunday lunches or dinners. In addition, they are running a Spring Special whereby someone buying two lunches gets the cheaper of the two free. Contact Mary at 045 481063 for details and conditions.

The Cleaners on Hillcrest have closed their shop and are now offering a mobile delivery and collection service instead. All collections and deliveries of laundry and dry cleaning will be made at a time convenient to customers. Call Keith at 086 679139.

Dave Clancy Floral Designs has moved from Hillcrest to the south end of the town. His new shop is beside the Vincents premises.

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Crucifixion witnesses playlet

A short little drama to be played out in Kilcullen Parish Church on Good Friday evening will take a look at the Crucifixion from a somewhat different angle, writes Brian Byrne.

Played by local drama stalwarts Bernard Berney, Vivian Clarke and Philomena Breslin, the 5-minute production will represent the views of three witnesses to the event. The carpenter who made the cross; the soldier who placed the Crown of Thorns on Christ's head; and a woman who had been befriended by Jesus.

"The carpenter is quite satisfied with his workmanship, but he's concerned that he might not get paid for it," says Bernard. "Then the soldier, who has also whipped and beaten Christ on his road to the scene of crucifixion, looks into his victim's eyes and expects to see a beaten man; but all he sees is the pity of Christ for his tormentor."

The woman is someone who is of ill-repute amongst her people and she had followed Christ at a distance, feeling unworthy of the right to approach him; but he had come to her.

"Then, on Easter Sunday, when the tomb was opened, the carpenter realised that he had helped to kill the Son of God," Bernard says. "The soldier, on the other hand, became fearful that the risen Christ would seek him out to punish him. The woman was pleased, because she now knew that Jesus was the Son of God and would save us all. She persuades the other two that all will be well."

It's an awful lot of stuff for five minutes of dialogue. But the best stories are often the short ones.

The presentation will take place at 7.30pm.

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Wall work will start after Leaving Cert

The lowering of the CPC grounds wall is scheduled to start at the end of June, as soon as the Leaving Certificate exams are over, writes Brian Byrne.

A number of design options were discussed at the recent meeting of Kilcullen Community Action, including whether to use concrete capping or the old stones for the top of the lowered structure.

It was decided to use the concrete, as it would be more resistant to weathering over the long term.

The meeting was told that details such as traffic management are currently being worked out, as are a couple of issues with the Planning & Conservation Officer.

JJ Warren noted that they had been fortunate that a natural break in the construction of the wall at 1.5 metres coincided with the level to which it will be lowered.

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Brannockstown Festival call for art, photography

The organisers of the Brannockstown Summer Festival have put a call out for art and photographs for an exhibition which will be part of the festival attractions.

This year they are making a special effort to get schoolchildren involved, and are encouraging teachers to help their pupils plan and execute works for the event.

All pictures must be completed by 3 June and the exhibition is scheduled to open at 8pm on Friday 10 June.

Adult entries are also wanted in painting, sculpture and photography, and all pieces will be on display alongside the works of a number of local professional artists.

"We look forward to welcoming back some of our exhibitors from last year," says Amanda Horan, exhibition coordinator on the Brannockstown Community Committee. "We are also very excited by the interest to date from new visual and creative artists from a variety of mixed media forms including photographers."

All expressions of interest should be notified to the organisers by Tuesday 3 May at the latest to allow them review and plan the space requirements for the exhibition.

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KCC grants passed

Kildare County Council has allocated two Amenity Grants to Kilcullen Community Action, writes Brian Byrne.

They are €3,000 towards the lowering of the Convent wall project, which will be carried out during the summer after the Leaving Certificate examinations finish.

Another sum of €1,000 will go towards the Summer Flowers project.

And a Local Authority Grant of €2,160 was passed in respect of work at Avondale Drive.

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Date set for 'Spring Clean' of town

Kilcullen Community Action has set May 9 as the 'Spring Clean Day' that kicks off local involvement in keeping Kilcullen Tidy during the summer.

There will be more details later, but the idea is that all those who want to be involved will meet at the Town Hall, to get gloves and bags and be allocated a work area.

At the most recent meeting, chairman Kieran Forde commented that there was much less to do in litter collection and general tidiness, thanks to the work by operatives of Kildare County Council.

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Easter Flowers demonstration

The Kilcullen Flower & Garden Club is holding an Easter flowers arranging demonstration on Tuesday night.

It will be held in the Parish Centre, beginning 8pm. The demonstrator is Christine Hughes from Blessington.

Entry €6, including refreshments. All welcome.

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Gun found on children's egg hunt

A children's Easter Egg Hunt near Mile Mill this afternoon uncovered more than expected when a hidden shotgun was found in a tree, writes Brian Byrne.

The gun was found by two parents of children from Brannoxtown NS, for which school the fundraising walk and hunt had been organised.



The weapon was in a black plastic bag which had been placed in the back of the tree about halfway down the Green Avenue. It was badly rusted, and the stock very weathered, but the plastic bag was quite modern.

It was recovered from the tree by Garda Joanne O'Sullivan, who had been there to ensure the walkers were safe from traffic on the road.

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Standing ovation for last night of 'Lughnasa'

There’s no getting away from the fact that Friel’s ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ is a dark and sad part of Ireland, writes Brian Byrne. That it is set against the distant background of the celebrations around a harvest festival makes it even more so.

But think how much gloomier it would have been if it involved five single brothers instead of five unmarried sisters? Because women together have a natural inclination to let a little gaiety creep into the mostly quiet but sometimes volcanically eruptive days of despair.

And they also tend to try and fix any broken men who wander into their personal planetary system, as they do in this very strong piece of Friel’s work.

‘Lughnasa’ needs strong direction if it is not to become one long dirge of family fragmentation. But it must be done with sensitivity too, and John Martin certainly came through with the necessary in this latest presentation by Kilcullen Drama Group.

The set, conceived and painted by Mischa Fekete and family with help from other backstage stalwarts, and dressed beautifully by Fiona Sloan, was almost a character in itself. It gave the whole production a continuity which flowed seamlessly instead of being punctuated by curtain swishes or strategic dimming of parts of the stage. And when attention shifted from inside to outside the little rural farmhouse, the ‘freeze-frame’ technique used by the characters not immediately involved kept them in the picture instead of being temporarily lost off-stage.

So, a tremendous success on the technical side. But you can’t make a successful play on technicalities. It’s the humanity which defines us all that makes any drama, and the reason a writer wants to tell a story anyhow. ‘Lughnasa’ is, after all, stories of real people, with their hopes, dreams, and frailties. For the Mundy sisters, it is a case of them having learned to hang on. To maintain a collective of lives where those hopes and dreams have already been passed out by unrelenting time and circumstance.



Esther Reddy’s ‘Kate’ is the grim glue which holds the family together in a period when the sporadic performances from the Marconi radio are the only entertainment left in the sisters’ lives. Her income as a teacher is their life’s blood, her strength from the same occupation pulling them through the days and weeks and months and years. Both elements suddenly vulnerable because a brother priest has been returned from his lifetime on an African mission.



Siobhan Murphy plays ‘Maggie’ as the one who works hard to both run the kitchen farm and rescue spirits whenever they threaten to plummet towards the point of no return. A family without a Maggie rarely lasts long in difficult times and situations. But they often keep the gaiety going despite inwardly feeling desperate.



‘Agnes’ as lived by Maryclare McMahon has also come to spin in her own quiet orbit after coming through girlhood without bringing a man with her. She has taken to herself the responsibility of minding Eilis Philips’ ‘Rose’, who everyone knows is not strong enough to survive in the world beyond the home.



Along with Maryclare, Charlene Kilroy is among the talented new people in the Kilcullen Drama Group. Her ‘Chris’ is the unwed mother in the sisterhood who has so far been able to stay young at heart, thanks in part to the needs of raising her son Michael, played by Donagh Noone. And every occasional time the father, 'Gerry', comes to see them, she still goes weak at the knees.

Michael’s role on stage is invisible, as he is the narrator of the story as a grown man, filling in the past gaps, and the futures for them all, from the sidelines. His series of monologues are all the more compelling because the other characters hold their positions while he talks.

Maurice O’Mahony’s ‘Fr Jack’ is initially peripheral, but his homecoming pulls at a loose thread which is to rather quickly unravel the family after the curtain comes down. With Phil Cummins’s ‘Gerry’, the dreamy father of Michael and would-be husband of his mother, except she knows in her heart that it wouldn’t work, they are two ‘broken men’ of different sorts.



The women never do get to the Lughnasa harvest dance that year, nor have they done for many years. But they figuratively dance in a ring around the two men and the boy, holding hands in a dogged attempt to protect them, and themselves, from the inevitable.

It only takes one in such a ring of dancers to fall, or the circle to be broken by one of those inside, and the protection is gone.

All those on stage, and behind it, have come through with yet another marvellous presentation from Kilcullen Drama Group. ‘Lughnasa’ ended last night, with close to 900 people having enjoyed it over the run. None among them would disagree that the standing ovation was truly deserved.

CPC Principal to retire

The Principal of Cross & Passion College, Paul Tyrrell, is to retire in December.

Mr Tyrrell has been Principal at CPC for 15 years.

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Selling red soles is a prizewinner

Well done to the 'Rosso Solini' team who captured the Senior Student Enterprise Award at the national finals in Croke Park, writes Jude Harkin of CPC.

Over 15,000 students from 400 schools participated in this year's City and County Enterprise Awards. Tara Haughton got the idea for her Rosso Solini business when confetti got stuck to her shoe at a wedding.

Tara's Rosso Solini (Italian for red soles), is flourishing and employing two staff. Her three-pair packs of stick-on soles sell for €15 online and in some retail outlets.

For more details on Tara's enterprise check out Rosso Solini on Facebook and Youtube.

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Awards for local businesses

Two local restaurants have won awards in the last week, writes Brian Byrne.

Fallons was voted the Best Gastro Pub in Kildare in the Irish Restaurant Awards 2011, sponsored by Santa Rita/Sunday Independent Life Magazine. The Awards are organised by the Restaurants Association of Ireland.

Entries for the Awards have doubled to 6,000 nationally in the last year and include nominations for Ireland’s favourite Restaurants, Chefs, Gastro Pubs, Hotel Restaurants and Local Food Heroes throughout the Country. 

Fallons proprietor Brian Fallon also took over as President of the RAI last week for a two year stint, replacing top chef Paul Cadden.

All County winners will now compete for the Regional and All Ireland Title which will be announced at the Irish Restaurant Awards in the Burlington Hotel Dublin on Wednesday 25th May 2011. 

Pictured above at the announcement of the Leinster counties winners are Mary O Neill and Tom Tinsley

Meanwhile, the Good Food Gallery won the award for the Best Retail Shop at the recent inaugural Kildare Entrepreneurial Awards.

The business was opened 17 months ago by Suzanne and Paul Carey and concentrates on Artisan and quality Irish produce sourced locally where possible.

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