Public holiday for Brigid 'will boost local tourism'

The addition of a new public holiday for Brigid of Kildare in 2023 will provide a boost to the economy of County Kildare, according to Kildare South TD and Minister of State Martin Heydon.

Welcoming the news of the new holiday, Minister Heydon also noted the move as 'historic' as it will mark the first public holiday in honour of an Irish female figure.

Minister Heydon says work is already underway on plans for Brigid 1500 in 2024, to mark 1,500 years since Brigid’s death and the new public holiday will bridge the considerable length of time between existing holidays in December and March and bring a welcome boost to the tourism sector at a traditionally quiet time.

“Brigid of Kildare, a patron saint of Ireland, and the goddess Brigid, a powerful deity, represent strong Irish women and have links to both our Celtic and Christian traditions and the Gaelic feast day of Imbolc on 1 February celebrates the start of spring. Whether it is the saint or the goddess, there is a Brigid there for everyone and from 2023 we will have the opportunity to celebrate her.”

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Bioeconomy Week highlights potential of sector

This is Bioeconomy Ireland Week, dedicated to highlighting the values, economy, and research in all areas that rely on biological resources, writes Brian Byrne.

These include and link together the primary biological production sectors of agriculture, forestries, fisheries and aquaculture, along with the industries developed from them.

The emphasis of the week is on sustainability and the circular economy based on biological resources. Because of the pandemic, events are primarily online and can be accessed here. They include webinars, films, and online workshops. 

The week was launched by Kildare South-based Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD. "The economic and environmental benefits are huge for our primary producers and Agri food businesses if we embrace the innovation and new technology," Minister Heydon said yesterday as he announced €8m in grants for new research projects to help realise the potential of the sector.

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The housing crisis

Looking into my garden over the last few days where I have three bird boxes side by side, writes David Byrne, box 1 is fully occupied with four chicks and struggling parents trying to feed them.

Box 2 is empty and box 3 has a steady flow of birds flying in and out but seem to leave just as quick.

I took out my camera and made a collage of the housing crisis as seen from an 'avian point of view' ...

Cllr calls for job creation committee

Fine Gael Councillor Martin Heydon has called on Kildare County Council to become more proactive on the issue of job creation within the County.

Speaking at last Friday’s reconvened Kildare County Council meeting, where he had placed a motion calling for the establishment of a job creation committee to act as a task force within the county, Cllr Heydon said the strengths and knowledge of local communities and local business people should be used to help create jobs right now, to ensure that everything that can be done by the local authority to aid job creation, is being done.

On the same day, live register figures were released for March 2010. They showed that a total of 17,907 people are now signing on in Kildare, an increase of 19.4% on the corresponding figures for March 2009. They also showed that Kildare and Wicklow had the greatest increase per county in the Live Register figures for the month.

“The startling increase in unemployment within Kildare requires radical and innovative action," Cllr Heydon said. "While I acknowledge the county development board and the proposed establishment of an economic development sub-committee, I believe we need something much more focused with a clearly defined objective and timeline.”

The county manager urged the members to give the proposed sub committee on economic development time before forming a new committee. While this request was acceded to, a review of the progress of the sub committee would be expected in the coming months.

“Circumstances are changing so rapidly it is imperative that any counter measures to try to firstly halt this decline in unemployment then actively reduce it, must be just as equally swift,” concluded Cllr Heydon.