Dkitimes Volume 2
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Compiled and edited by Angela Short. DkITimes Volume 2. Issue 17 February 11th 2008 Sixth Plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council held at DkIT. The sixth plenary meet- ing of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) was held at the Dundalk Institute of Technology on 7th February 2008. The Irish Government dele- gation was led by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern T.D., who chaired the meet- ing. The Northern Ire- land Executive delega- tion was led by the First Minister, The Rt Hon Dr Ian Paisley MP MLA and deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness MP MLA along with delegations from both govern- ments. Ministers had a broad discussion and exchanged views on matters aimed at deliv- ering practical benefits such as, co-operation on EU issues and the North West Gateway Initiative. Ministers also agreed that co-operation on Road Safety ill continue to be a high priority including recognition of driver disqualification and penalty points and road safety in border areas. Pictured below is the Rt. Hon. Dr. Ian Paisley greeting DkIT student Xiao He (Tiffany) and DkIT’s House- keeper Fiona Rooney greeting Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. Pool Club go from 16th to 5th. Submitted by Diarmuid Cahill, Clubs and Societies Officer. DkIT Pool society entered the annual HESPC Pool Intervarsity’s last weekend (1st – 3rd Feb) in the hope that they may gain the coveted position of number one pool college in Ireland. Sadly it was not Dundalk’s year but an impres- sive effort was made all the same. In total 15 students – 3 teams from DkIT travelled to represent DkIT and the pool society in the competition which was held in the County Arms Hotel, Birr, Co Of- faly. They travelled ranked 16th in the country and returned as 5th best in Ireland. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for DkIT this being only their second year in the competition, while the likes of UCD, DCU, UUC, and QUB have been competing in the competition since it started in 1994, winning ten of the last 14 titles between them. In total 35 teams entered the competition which were split into 7 groups. The competition started on the Saturday morning at 7.30 am – an early start for any student. DkIT ‘A’ were in the same group as GMIT, DCU ‘B’, NUIG ‘B’ and UUC ‘C’. The ‘B’ Team was drawn against DCU ‘A’, NUIG ‘A’, UUJ and UCD ‘B’ Team. DkIT’s C team was drawn against QUB ‘A’, UCD ‘A’, NCI ‘B’ and Carlow IT. The top two teams form each group and the two best 3^rd place teams, qualified for the knockout stages of the competition. After a full day of matches the DkIT ‘A’ team fin- ished top of their group, even after being forced to play two matches at the same time. One against DCU ‘B’ and the other against GMIT. However the DkIT team made up of Paul Vaughan, Da- mien Farrelly, Ger Cunningham, Dave Hanratty and Sean Smith put in a great performance winning both games 6-4. DkIT ‘B’ and ‘C’ Teams were unlucky in their group matches with both teams just missing out on qualification. DkIT ‘B’ Team was made up of Paul Callan, Luke Mc Gahon, Kevin Mulholland, Darren Dempsey and Dean Mc Kiernan, while the ‘C’ Team was made up of Raymond Mc Menamin, Shane Dillon, Francis Mc Evoy, Ferghal Cotter and Eamon Carolan. On Sunday morning the knockout stages began. DkIT had drawn National College of Ireland ‘B’ Team. In an impressive show DkIT won the game 6-0. Into the quarter finals, where we would met the 2007 Champions UU Coleraine and the bookies favorites to retain their title. DkIT won the opening frame and it looked as if a shock was on, however it was a false dawn. UU Coleraine won the next six frames and qualified for the semi finals. DkIT were left to rue the missed changes and the odd slip which allowed UUC to gain the upper hand. University of Ulster Coleraine went on to win the title defeating Queen’s University in the final 8-2. DkIT received many applauds for their showing, with the Coleraine Captain remarking that the toughest game that UUC had played in the tournament was against Dundalk. Overall DkIT finished 5^th , maybe next year will see Dundalk claiming the number 1 spot. Early Perspectives – Visiting Dignitaries. Submitted by Seamus Bellew. The North–South intergovernmental meeting at DKIT last Thursday, 7 February affords us the opportunity to look back over the past thirty-eight years and the visits of the politicians of the day to the college. The visit by An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern to the col- lege was his second while serving as Taoiseach. For Ian Paisley, First Minister and Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister, it was their first visit since devolution was restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday 8 May 2007 following the election of a four-party Executive of 12 ministers. Dermot Ahern was acknowledged in the local press as being instrumental in securing the high level meeting at DKIT. Just over forty fours years ago on 5th February 1964, the then Minister for Education, Dr Patrick Hillery envisaged the establish- ment of about ten Regional Technical Colleges. In addition to Dublin (with two centres), Cork and Limerick, the centres which, that most readily presented themselves as suitable at the time were Waterford, Galway, Dundalk, Sligo, Athlone and Carlow. On Monday 8 September 1969 a portion of Dundalk’s new £550,000 RTC opened its doors to 40 students who enrolled and they were the first to participate in a leaving Certificate course held in Dundalk by the Vocational Committee. On Monday, 3 May 1971 the college was officially opened and blessed. Cardinal Conway performed the blessing ceremony and Padraig Faulkner; Minister for Education declared the building opened. At that point there were 350 full time students and 37 teachers and lecturers. The other TDs present that day were Frank Aiken and Patrick Donegan (later Minister from 1973-77). Also present that day was Rev G. R. Heatley, Rector, Church of Ireland, Dundalk who represented Archbishop Simms. This also provides an interesting parallel, on Wednesday last (Ash Wednesday), Cardinal Sean Brady celebrated Mass in the Whitaker Theatre, and also present was part-time Church of Ireland chaplain, Rev Sandra Pragnell. This was Cardinal Brady’s first visit to the college, since he became a Cardinal on 24 November 2007. However, this was the fourth year in succession that he has visited the college on Ash Wednesday, a measure of his commitment to the third level college in his archdiocese. The first visit by An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern was on 7 December 2001 for the official opening of the Dr T.K. Whitaker building. Minister Dermot Ahern was present along with Padraig Faulkner. The Tao- iseach noted that the opening of the building sent a clear message about Dundalk’s confident sense of the future. It was almost a year to day when he was in Dundalk for President Clinton’s historic visit. The visit ‘really highlighted how Dundalk is a meeting point between Dub- lin and Belfast, with a long standing interest in peace … it spoke vol- umes about Dundalk’s and Ireland’s certain conviction that peace and prosperity for this country go hand in hand’. Dr Whitaker was present that day with his family, the day before his 85th birthday. He was ap- pointed Secretary to the Department of Finance in 1956 and led to the change in economic policy in the period leading up to Ireland’s accession into the E.E.C. on 1 January 1973. Many of the Ministers of Education visited the college during their period of office. For the record, the ministers since the RTC was con- ceived are listed. Remember 1982 had five different serving minis- ters. Patrick Hillery (59-65), George Colley (65-66), Donagh O’ Malley (66-68), Jack Lynch (acting 68), Padraig Faulkner (69-73), Richard Burke (73-76), Peter Barry (76-77), John Wilson (77-81), John Boland (81- Feb 82), Martin O’Donoghue (March 82 – October 82), Charles Haughey (82 acting), Gerard Brady (82), Gemma Hussey (82-86), Patrick Cooney (86-87), Mary O’Rourke (87-91), Noel Daveron (91-92), Seamus Brennan (92-93), Niamh Breathnach (93-94), Michael Smith (94), Niamh Breathnach (94- 97), Micheal Martin (1997-2000), Michael Woods (00-02), Noel Dempsey (02-04), Mary Hanafin (04 - ). Dermot Ahern is currently Foreign Affairs Minister having served in two other portfolios since 1997. Monday 27 February 1995, Mr Ahern visited the college as leader of the opposition. He met with Sean McDonagh and Clifford Kelly and visited the Regional Development Centre where Gerry Carroll welcomed him. He also met with some students and he told the student council that he was familiar with the college, as three of his nephews had attended the college the previous year and many of his constituents also attended. The rapid expansion of the college in the nineties and this decade are reflected in the numbers of ‘openings’. John McGuckian, chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, opened the Regional De- velopment centre. Hospitality was opened by Micheal Martin and Dermot Ahern on 11 March 1999. The Student Ser- vices and MPC (Multi Purpose Centre) was dedicated to Mr Padraig Faulkner on 9 December 2002, Dermot Ahern officiated. The MPC was completed in April 1991 and the Health & Fitness centre along with Gerry’s Diner opened in January 1995. Brian Lenihan opened the Nursing Building on 29 April 2005.