Let your Tiger loose this Valentines Day at the Dublin Chinese New Years Festival Carnival

Dublin’s Chinese New Year Festival Carnival takes place in Wolfe Tone Park, Jervis St, between 12 noon and 7pm on Sunday 14th of February. This year’s Chinese New Year marks the Year of the Tiger and coincides with Valentine’s Day.

This vibrant carnival is a highlight of the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival (DCNYF) which runs from 12 to 21st February. Some of the Carnival attractions include:

Shanghai University dance troupe perform Chinese ribbon and sword dances
Chinese dragon and lion dances
Tai chi and martial arts displays
Sample a little bit of China at food and craft stalls, or even better, take part in the festival’s interactive art workshops
Ferris wheel and entertainment

Dublin’s Lord Mayor Emer Costello says “The Dublin Chinese New Year Festival Carnival is a great opportunity for the many Chinese people living in Dublin to showcase their unique and special culture and to celebrate their welcome place in Dublin society.”

Amy- Yin Zhang of DCNYF says “New Year is the most important festival for over 1 ¼ billion Chinese people all over the world. The Dublin carnival celebrates not just the fact that we are Chinese but also that we live here in Dublin and want to share our culture with other Dubliners. Zhong Guo Nian!’



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Notes to Editor:

Dublin Chinese Festival New Year’s Carnival is presented by Dublin City Council in association with Vodafone Ireland

Other festival highlights include:

Sino-Celtic Love – a century of fashion: 6th to 21st February, Treasury Holdings Building
Telling Images of China: 12th February to 2nd May Chester Beatty Library, Dublin Castle
A Dubliner’s Collection of Asian Art, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks
Gallery of Photography Exhibition: Reading the Self, Reading the Others , 14th to 20th February
Reading the Self, Reading the Others: 14th to 20th February, 15-19 Essex Street West, Temple Bar (Photography exhibition and cross community conversation)

Dublin’s Lord Mayor Cllr Emer Costello has expressed her condolences on the death of former Lord Mayor of Dublin and politician Tomas MacGiolla.

According to Lord Mayor Costello “Tomas Mac Giolla was Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993-1994 and served the people of Dublin with distinction. Tomas ably served the people of Dublin West for ten years as a TD and represented the communities of Ballyfermot for almost two decades on Dublin City Council.
Tomas’ long political career was marked by his passionate engagement with the causes he believed in. Ireland’s independence and the promotion of equal opportunities for all our citizens were the causes he was most closely identified with. He was also keenly aware of the need to preserve our own language and heritage. He was active in the campaign to preserve 16 Moore Street (where the 1916 leaders made their last stand) and for the establishment of a commemorative centre on the site. Nos 14 – 17 Moore Street were designated a National Monument as a result of the campaign. Tomas continued to campaign on this issue until very recently.
“At this difficult time I would like to express my support and sympathy for Tomas’s wife Mae and all his family and many friends.”

Lord Mayor Appoints Eleven Ambassadors of Sport to Start Dublins Year as European Capital of Sport 2010

Irish sporting representatives from national organisations and local clubs across Dublin, including boxer Bernard Dunne and Marco Tardelli, Assistant Manager of the Irish Soccer Team joined Lord Mayor Councillor Emer Costello to celebrate the start of “Dublin – European Capital of Sport 2010” today.

The Launch Ceremony took place in St Patrick’s Hall, Dublin Castle today where Cllr. Alan Christian Rizzi from Milan, Italy, holder of the 2009 City of Sport designation, presented the European Capital of Sport flag and trophy to Lord Mayor Councillor Emer Costello.

Lord Mayor Cllr Emer Costello announced the appointment of eleven ambassadors of sport from Dublin’s sporting communities to celebrate the achievements of the Capital and its citizens in winning the award. A delegation from the EU and the Association of European Capitals of Sport (ACES) organisation were in attendance along with representatives from the GAA, IRFU, FAI and a wide range of sporting organisations.

“Dublin City Council is delighted to partner with so many sporting organisations this year to promote sport and active living to more people,” said Lord Mayor Councillor Emer Costello. “During this Capital of Sport Year, I look forward to giving myself more time to get out and be active. I love walking and swimming and I hope to use the opportunity of the European Capitals of Sport year to take up new activities. I will be encouraging all those that I meet when I’m out and about to enjoy being active this year too and to make lifetime changes that will reap benefits long into the future.”

At the ceremony, the Lord Mayor of Dublin announced the eleven Dubliners who will join Bernard Dunne as “Ambassadors of Dublin Sport 2010” and present each with a piece of engraved Dublin Crystal. The eight men and three women were chosen from nominations by communities and sporting organisations across Dublin. They are from a wide range of sports - Karate, Boxing, Football, Athletics, Special Olympics Athletics, GAA, Volleyball, Fencing, Hockey, Orienteering and Softball – and include people who coach and referee, individuals who established sports clubs and those involved in running clubs and participating in sports at all levels.

“Our Ambassadors of Sport give an enormous amount of their time, energy and personal commitment in order to make Dublin the sporting city that it is. We commend them and are very grateful for all that they do. I hope that by highlighting how these individuals contribute to their sports and in turn help to strengthen communities, that others will be inspired by them to get involved in sport too,” said Lord Mayor Councillor Emer Costello.

“As a Dubliner, as a sportsman and as an avid supporter of all sports, I am delighted and honoured to be the Ambassador for Dublin European Capital of Sport 2010,” said boxer Bernard Dunne. “Along with all the clubs and sporting bodies in Dublin I aim to motivate people to be more active this year and get involved in some sporting activity. It doesn’t matter what sport they chose, so long as they start moving and enjoy being active and healthier.”

The “Dublin - European Capital of Sport 2010” dedicated website www.dublinsport.ie , provides details about what is happening during the Year, including sporting fixtures, photos and video from events, a map of sporting facilities and profiles of the Ambassadors of Sport. We are also using Twitter (http://twitter.com/dublinsport ), Facebook (http://short.ie/dubsport2010fb ) and Pix.ie (http://pix.ie/dublinsport ) to promote activities throughout the Year.

“We encourage all sporting organisations to publicise what they are doing on www.dublinsport.ie , and our vision is that this website develops and grows long after the Year to become a one-stop point where clubs can promote what they are doing and where spectators, participants and visitors to the Capital can go to check out information about all Sport fixtures and activities in Dublin,” said Karl Mitchell, Sport & Active Living Manager, Dublin City Council.

“We wish Dublin people an enjoyable and active Year. Dublin was chosen by the European Capitals of Sport Association (ACES) because of the huge participation by people in Dublin in all levels of sport, the variety of sports on offer in the city and the high level of volunteerism, from local clubs to stadium management,” said Gian Francesco Lupatelli, Association of European Capitals of Sport (ACES). “Dublin City Council’s partnership approach to sport and recreation and the importance that Dublin City puts on encouraging all sectors of society to get involved in sport and recreation were also impressive factors in designating Dublin as European Capital of Sport 2010.”

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Oscar nominations show creative potential can be key to city's economic recovery says Lord Mayor

Dublin’s Lord Mayor Cllr Emer Costello would like to congratulate the three Ballyfermot College graduates who worked on projects which received Oscar nominations.

Lord Mayor Costello says “Nicky Phelan, Tomm Moore and Richard Baneham are obviously very talented and creative individuals and it is wonderful to see their work receive the recognition it deserves. Our talent and creativity is our international unique selling point and potentially our winning card when it comes to economic recovery.

The Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment which I established last year identified the creative industries as having enormous potential as drivers of economic recovery. As part of the Commission’s work programme, we hosted a workshop on the ‘Creative and Cultural Industries & Innovation’ last week to discuss how best to harness the talent and creativity of our City.

We looked at how city leaders, entrepreneurs and creative people might create the right environment and infrastructure to support innovation in the entertainment and artistic industries here in Dublin and I believe that there are specific steps that we should now take in this regard.

These would include:

Using the IFSC model for creating an international hub in Dublin for the Creative Industries
Better sharing and dissemination of information on events and developments
Establishing a Rapid Taskforce to identify empty space and to match those with needs and opportunities in the sector

“Brown Bag Films” is a shining example of the potential of the animation and film industry with the creation of 50 jobs in Smithfield. It is my belief that their success will inspire and encourage confidence in the development of a vibrant creative industries sector in Dublin.

I also want to congratulate Ballyfermot College of Further Education for their pioneering work in the area of providing courses in animation – indeed it is not the first time graduates of the college have been given international recognition.

The Oscar nominations show just how much potential there is and I wish Nicky, Tomm and Richard well at Oscar Night in Hollywood


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Click here to read the workshop report:





Notes to Editor:

The Lord Mayor’s Commission on Employment was established in September 2009 to examine how Dublin City Council can facilitate growth in the local economy. It is working to identify and make recommendations on relevant issues of unemployment and employment; business, entrepreneurship and finance; education, skills and training; volunteering and the social economy.
In September a Call for Ideas from the public was also launched which has been tremendously responded to with over 100 submissions received from businesses, organisations and individuals. The Commission is currently working through these submissions but have identified two strong themes emerging in its work to date that warrant further and immediate dialogue with stakeholders to help inform it further, namely ‘Dublin as an International Student Destination’ and the ‘Cultural and Creative Industries and Innovation in Dublin’.
Two Issues Papers on these topics were prepared and following consideration of these the Commission organised two workshops to solicit further dialogue from all stakeholders and perspectives. Listed below is summary report and issue paper on “cultural and Creative industries and Innovation Workshop held on Tuesday 19th January 2010.

Update on Water Supply Situation 29th January 2010

There has been a significant improvement in relation to the water supply situation throughout the Dublin Region over the last week. This is due to a combination of factors including a reduction in demand from consumers, finding and fixing leaks and the imposition of supply restrictions by the Local Authorities. Storage levels have recovered from the critically low levels of early January at all treated water reservoirs. At Stillorgan Reservoir, which is of vital strategic importance, levels have risen from a low of 402 million litres on January 15th to 640 million litres on January 29th 2010.

Dublin Lord Mayor stated "I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to all of those who played a part in helping to resolve the unprecedented difficulties with water supply that have been experienced over the last 3 weeks. The understanding, co-operation and assistance of all of our customers was seminal in helping us to resolve the problems, together with the Elected Members, the City Council’s own staff from all departments, area offices, Civil Defence and Fire Brigade, our sister Local Authorities, the Department of Defence (Army), and companies like Diageo. The situation could have been much worse and the impact even greater to customers but for the efforts of all involved. We regret any inconvenience caused to the public as a result of pressure reductions, supply restrictions and the work involved in finding and fixing leaks. Further work needs to be done on the network and ongoing conservation measures taken by the public will greatly assist in bringing the water supply back to normal. It is a credit to all involved that the impact of a one in fifty year cold spell on the water distribution system will have been substantially dealt with in a period of four weeks.”

“The City Council has undertaken to conduct a full review of the challenges presented by the recent extreme inclement weather and to use the learning outcomes to help us tackle such events in the future. To this end I intend to have a further discussion on the matter next Monday night at the February Meeting of the City Council under Lord Mayor’s Business”, the Lord Mayor concluded.