Kings Hospital Secondary School Palmerstown raises Green Flag

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 6^TH MAY 2009

KINGS HOSPITAL SECONDARY SCHOOL, PALMERSTOWN, DUBLIN 20

RAISES ITS GREEN FLAG FOR WASTE & LITTER

5^TH MAY 2009

Kings Hospital Secondary School raised its first Green Flag for Waste and Litter on Tuesday 5^th May 2009. Deputy Mayor Councillor Guss OConnell of South Dublin County attended the flag raising ceremony and he congratulated the staff, pupils, board of management and parents association at Kings Hospital Secondary School.

Deputy Mayor Guss OConnell said Taking part in the Green Schools Programme involves a lot of hard work and is a big commitment for secondary schools. South Dublin County has 34 Secondary Schools however only 6, including Kings Hospital School, have been awarded the green flag. Your actions here are setting an example to other secondary schools, to your families and to the wider community. You are demonstrating that simple actions can bring about big change and help improve and protect our environment.

Recent research by An Taisce on the economic value of the Green-Schools programme to schools in Ireland has revealed that the programmehassaved schools in Ireland aminimum 2 million in waste, electricity, water and fuel costs this year.The results reveal a minimum of 12 tonnes of waste diverted from landfills in Ireland every school day by schools undertaking the programme. Because the programme also involves the wider community, the overall savings to the wider community could be several times the 2 million saved by the schools involved.

By the end of January 2009 there were over3,100 primary, secondary and special schools in Ireland participating in the programme. This represented over 75% of all schools in Ireland. The Irish Green-Schools programme is one of themost successful within the international network. One of the main factors in the success of the Irish Green-Schools programme is the partnership between the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce and Local Authorities i.e.the financial and time contribution of the Local Authorities to the programme.

For further information contact Claire Hinch, Environmental Awareness Section

chinch@sdublincoco.ie

ENDS

ISSUED 6^TH MAY 2009