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Slea Head, Dingle Peninsula.

The Dingle News archive: July - 2011

29 July 2011

An Daingean becomes Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis as President signs off on Bill

An Daingean became Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis yesterday (Thursday July 28th) as President McAleese signed the bill which will enable formal recognition be given to the West Kerry town's bilingual names. The Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 was passed in the Seanad On Tuesday July 26th before finally being ratified by the President yesterday. Kerry South TD Brendan Griffin who worked in getting the bill before the Dáil, paid tribute to Environment Minister, Phil Hogan, for his swift action on the subject and paid particular tribute to the people of Dingle for their persistance on the issue, with great time and effort having been put in by local Councillor, Séamus Cosáí Fitzgerald, who was the driving force behind the plebicite that was held on the issue in 2006. "I am delighted that this important step has now been taken" he said. Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said “An Daingean” would be dropped and replaced by “Daingean Uí Chúis” in Irish and “Dingle” in English. The official name of Dingle was changed to “An Daingean” in an order made by then Minister for Gaeltacht affairs Éamon Ó Cuív in December 2004. “As is well documented at this stage, the change in name has provoked an extended debate, with significant opposition locally based on a perceived lack of consultation prior to the making of the placenames order,” he added. Mr Hogan said a campaign was established to change the name of the town to “Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis” and a local plebiscite endorsed this overwhelmingly. Pictured: Campaigners celebrate following the results of the Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis plebiscite held in October 2006.

Dingle Bay Rovers complete league double

Report by David O'Neill
Dingle Bay Rovers 1 – Spa Road (Tralee) 0
Dingle Bay Rovers completed a league double last Saturday by winning the Hennebery's Sport Reserve Cup, following a 1-0 win against Spa Road. It has been a very long season for the West Kerry team but it has also been a season of great success and credit has to be giving to the players who have stuck in there, remaining motivated throughout.
The opening half saw Dingle play with a strong breeze but they were unable to capitalise on the advantage and it was the Tralee team who created a number of chances. At half-time the score still stood at 0-0. The second half saw Dingle lift their game and with 20 minutes left it was substitute Tony Lawless who (with almost his first touch) found himself free in the box and buried his shot to the bottom corner of the net. Spa threw everything at the Dingle defense but came up short and were unable to get that elusive goal. With three minutes of injury time played the referee blew the final whistle to great celebrations and it was once again the night of the Premier B Champions.
Team:Tommy Pierce, Ciaran Staunton, Donnacha Higgins, Des Malley, Patrick Neylon, Dara Flaherty, James Coffey (Chris Malley), Sean Scanlon (Tony Lawless), Declan Sullivan, Eoin Murphy, Mark Evans (Shane Houlihan).

Dingle voted Best Coastal Town in Ireland

by Marian O'Flaherty
DINGLE beat off stiff competition from Achill, Doolin, Dunmore East and Kinsale this week to be named Ireland's Best Coastal Town. The competition, ran by Today FM's Ray D'Arcy Show in conjunction with Discover Ireland, enabled the public to vote via the Today FM website for their favourite coastal town from a shortlist compiled from suggestions made by listeners. Dingle was the only Kerry town to make the shortlist along with Kinsale (Cork), Achill (Mayo), Doolin (Clare) and Dunmore East (Waterford). The result was announced on Monday morning with Dingle emerging as the winner.
The Ray D'Arcy Show will now travel to Dingle next Monday from where they will broadcast their morning show for the duration of the week. The announcement has been warmly welcomed locally; the Ray D'Arcy show has an average daily listenership of over 240,000.
"This is a great boost for Dingle" said Ben Farr, PRO of Dingle Business Chamber.
"The Ray D'Arcy Show is one of Ireland's most popular radio shows and for them to broadcast their show from Dingle for an entire week is fantastic exposure."
"It is also a great vote of confidence in the town; the public got the chance to vote for their favourite coastal town online and for Dingle to come out on top against the likes of Kinsale, Achill, Doolin and Dunmore East means a lot to everyone here."
"We look forward to welcoming Ray and his team to Dingle next week!"
You can contact the Ray D'Arcy Show with your suggestions as to what he and his team should get up to for the week; text 53102 (ROI) or telephone 1850 715100. You can also email ray@todayfm.com. Pictured: Dingle Harbour at sun-set (pic by Marian O'Flaherty).

Special event scheduled to take place at St. James' this Saturday

To coincide with the Feast Day of St. James on Saturday July 23rd the Dingle Tidy Towns Group are organising a special event in St. James Graveyard (Main Street) commencing at 5pm.
The group started the mammoth task of cleaning the graveyard in December last as it had been severely overgrown for the previous ten years. All the work has been voluntary with the ivy, weeds, briars, branches, nettles and fuchsia having now been brought under control. The tombs and graves date back over 300 years and are now visible. Some very interesting inscriptions are visible all over the 2.2 acre site. Of course both Roman Catholic, Anglican Church of Ireland and probably people of other faiths are all buried in this particular graveyard. With the Support of M.F.G. Archaeologist Lar Dunne from Tralee has just completed a full survey of the site. Saturdays Programme will commence at 5pm with a short ecumenical service by Rev Robert Warren and Canon Tomás Ó Luanaigh P.P. The archaeological survey will be unveiled and a short explanation of findings will follow. Lar Dunne will then lead a tour of the graveyard pointing out areas of interest on the way. Refreshements in Paul Geaney’s will conclude the afternoons events and an open invitation is extended to locals and visitors alike to join in this very special occasion. A lot of local interest has developed over the past few months during the ongoing work and hopefully some long last relations will be traced when the survey is put on display Saturday evening.

Scleip an t-Samhraigh summer festival gets underway at Páidí Ó Sé's

Ceoil, bia agus craic will be in full swing at Páidí Ó Sé's in Árd a'Bhóthair, Ventry next week at the annual Summer Tearaway Festival. Now in its second year, the festival begins this Monday (July 18th) running until Sunday July 24th. The festival will feature music from John Spillane, Johnny Reidy, Tim O’Riordan, Noel Shine, Mary Green, Pauline Scanlon and renowned world step dancers The Devaney family from Connemara and local musician Seamus Begley and Tim Edey. The festival will be launched with feast of smoked mackerel served with summer salad at Páidí's and will end on Saturday with servings of spare ribs, cabbage and spuds (grown within a few killometres of the pub). Well-known names expected to attend the festival next week include former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Minister Pat Rabbitte, members of the Haughey family, Liz O'Donnell, top Irish model Rosanna Davidson and a number GAA stars from all over the country. The entire Ó Sé family, Páidí and Máire along with Pádraig Óg, Siún and Neasa, will also be on hand to welcome all those attending. Pictured: Páidí Ó Sé shows he still has a deft left leg as he dances with Siobhan Manson on Ventry beach at the launch of the annual 'Scleip an t-Samhraidh. Enjoying the craic at the launch are musicians Sean Leahy (guitar), Damian Mullane (accordion), Pádraig Óg and singer Pauline Scanlon. Picture by Don MacMonagle.

Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis placename law on track for July 28th

BREAKING: Legislation that will restore the bilingual name of Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis is on track to become law by July 28th. DingleNews.com has learned this evening that the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011 passed through committee stage and it is now expected that it will go through report stage in the Dáil next week, before going on to the Seanad and then for signing by the President on July 28th.
Kerry South TD, Brendan Griffin and Dingle Local Area Councillor, Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald, have welcomed today’s development and have paid tribute to Environment Minister, Phil Hogan, for his efforts on the subject. Deputy Griffin and Councillor Fitzgerald say that the restoration of the bilingual name of the town on maps and signposts will eliminate difficulties that the local tourism industry has been encountering since the removal of the word Dingle as an official placename in 2005. They also say that the restoration of the bilingual name is a victory for democracy, after over 90% of the population of the town voted in favour of the restoration of the name Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis in 2006, in a local plebiscite that came about after Cllr. Fitzgerald pursued the matter through Kerry County Council. Pictured: the result of the plebiscite held in Dingle in 2006.

Dingle shortlisted in top five Best Coastal Towns in Ireland; online vote to decide winner

Dingle has been shortlisted by the Ray d'Arcy Show as the Best Coastal Town in Ireland along with four other well known destinations. Dingle joins Kinsale, Dunmore East, Doolin and Achill on the final list and visitors to the Today FM website can vote for their favourite coastal town. Of course, here at DingleNews.com we are biased and hope that people will take the time to cast their vote in favour of Dingle online before the deadline, as voting closes this week. The winning town will see the Ray d'Arcy and Today FM team visit the winning town. The shortlist was created using suggestions made by listeners. The competition is also supported by Fáilte Ireland. So if you want to see Dingle voted as Ireland's Best Coastal Town, cast your vote now here. Pictured: Fishing boats docked at Dingle Pier, photographed by Steven Ghesquiere of dodingle.com.

Local artist welcomes visitors to her open studio and garden

Local artist Patsy Farr is opening her West Kerry studio to visitors at weekends during the summer months. Every Saturday and Sunday art lovers are invited to her home to view the artwork in the studio, see how the artist works and enjoy delicious tea and cakes served in her gardens, west of Dingle. In addition to her paintings of the landscape and people of West Kerry, the artist will be showing a series of limited edition photographs, a little known side of her work. Patsy will be on hand to discuss her painting, answer any questions visitors might have about the art process and hopes to create an informal, relaxed setting to enjoy art, or just have a pot of tea, a slice of her selection of cakes and soak up the peaceful atmosphere of the unique mountain garden. To find the studio, drive out of Dingle on the Slea Head road, through Ventry until you reach Páidí Ó Sé's pub and shop at which you take a right hand turn. Continue up the hill until you see the open studio signs directing you off to the right. Opening times: Saturday and Sunday 11am to 5pm throughout the summer. Art lessons available on request, group bookings taken. All works for sale. For more information visit www.patsyfarr.com or contact 066-9156048.

Deadline for Dingle's Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards fast approaching

With the return of the 4th annual Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards to the Dingle Food and Wine Festival this Autumn, the search is on for the very best food and drink products in the country. Producers are invited to submit their applications for this year’s competition by the 30th July in the hope of receiving a prestigious award and the recognition that comes with it.
Last year over 1,000 Irish products were entered into 30 different categories, ranging from soup to seafood and chocolate to cheese, with winners from all over the county taking Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in each category. In addition, there were a number of special prizes, with Flynn’s Kitchen, Co Cork, scooping The Supreme Champion Award, Jerry Kennedy Butchers, Dingle, took the Rogha na Gaeltachta Award, Valentia Island Ice Cream won the Best Kerry Producer sponsored by Kerry Enterprise. Others such as The Cake Stand, Dublin, won the Bord Bia Best Artisan Producer Award and Co Waterford’s Dungarvan Brewing Company took the Superquinn Best New Producer Award. There also was up to €20,000 worth of bursaries awarded for training, innovation, research and development and mentoring.
The benefits of succeeding at the Awards are clear and success has helped many companies raise their game. Valentia Ice Cream is now available in SuperValu and is looking at diversifying its product range, Category winners such as Just Desserts, Co Mayo, has succeeded in increasing its national distribution since winning a Gold Medal last year, and smaller producers such as Aruna Foods, Co Louth have gained a valuable foothold in the highly competitive independent sector. Former Supreme Champion, cheesemaker, Maja Binder, who originally sold at local farmers markets, now has her own thriving retail business in Dingle, Co Kerry.
To win an Award, products are tasted by a panel of over 60 judges in the biggest blind tasting of its kind in Europe. The criteria used for the judging process was created by the sensory analysis department of UCC, headed up by Professor Joe Kerry. This process used is unique to the Blas Awards and is designed to be comprehensive and totally impartial. As well as academics, the panel of judges includes food writers, chefs, retailers, buyers and food heroes.
The 2011 year’s winners will be announced as part of the Dingle Peninsula Food & Drink Festival which takes place from the 30th September - 2nd October 2011. A key feature of the festival is a huge sampling of the Blas finalists, which is free to the general public.
“These Awards are getting bigger every year, and we are expecting that the competition will be even tougher at the 2011 event" said Chairman of the Awards, Artie Clifford. "With the emphasis on the food industry as one of the sectors highlighted to aid economic recovery, they are the ultimate benchmark for Irish food quality.”
To find out how to enter the Awards, just click on www.irishfoodawards.com

Social Media and Web Marketing Seminar in Dingle deemed a great success

Dingle Business Chamber wish to thank all who attended the Social Media and Web Marketing seminar with Damien Mulley in the Udaras last week. "We have been getting great feedback from all those who attended and we hope that you found it as informative as we did" said Ben Farr, PRO of Dingle Business Chamber. "We have already heard of several initiatives and ideas that people are implementing after attending the talk."
"For those who couldn't make the afternoon session please find attached Damien's presentation in a word format that he is kind enough to give away for free - despite how annoyed that makes his competitors! It is packed full of useful information on how you approach marketing your business online."
The Social Media Marketing Plan developed by Damien Mulley is attached; simply click on the 'DOWNLOAD' button below.