Update, March 13th 2007
March 13th, 2007A few quick updates.
The inquest for the car crash in Monaghan which killed 5 back back in October reported last week. You can read the a report from the Independent here. There has been much talk about it online, in particular from Sarah Carey and Dan Sullivan on their blogs. What we need at this time, more than ever, is the courage to face the truth of what happened. Sarah Carey has been trying to do that in particular.
Garda statistics show January and February this year have seen less casualties on the road than 2004, 2005 and 2006. You can see the overview of statistics here and the historical information here. This is a stat that you won’t often see reported.
The council delegation to the USA for St Patrick’s Day left at the weekend. I was initially opposed to these trips, but would be very supportive of them now. In particular, we had a very productive trip last year to Philadelphia, New York and Elizabethtown, PA, with which Letterkenny is twinned. The highlight for me was meeting with the US Ambassador to Ireland, and representatives of the Irish American Chamber of Commerce. We learned a great deal from them; they told us about the positive things Letterkenny and Donegal have achieved. They also had some harsh truths about problem we need to overcome to ensure Ireland can remain competitive.
Also on the St Patrick’s Day front, Andrew Clarke is once again involved in organising a parade in Sendai in Japan. This year’s parade takes place on April 1st, for a host of organisational and financial reasons. I travelled to last year’s parade (on a personally-funded trip!) and had a great time. It was very interesting seeing how the Japanese celebrate such a central piece of Irish culture.
The elections for next year’s Letterkenny IT student union executive take place tomorrow, with the hustings taking place at 1pm today (Tuesday) in the college. Best of luck to all involved.