Eco Week 23rd - 27th April 2018

24/04/2018

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

Mayor of South Dublin County, Cllr Paul Gogarty officially launched the 14th annual South Dublin County Council (SDCC) Eco Week in the County Hall, Tallaght on 23rd April 2018.  Eco Week, which runs from the 23rd – 27th April, is one of the biggest events in the Council’s annual calendar of environmental awareness events and aims at engagement with citizens of South Dublin in protecting our environment.

Speaking at the launch, Mayor Paul Gogarty said: “ECO week is a wonderful week! It always has such a variety of activities every year and this year is no different. For example, this year’s launch premiered a series of video animations created as part of the “RESPECT” project which is a visual arts /animation initiative presenting a positive role model for young people in connection with anti-social graffiti. These young people, from the Tallaght Community Arts, Street Art Academy programme, screened a series of short movies, called ‘Finding a Wall’ which was supported by a wonderful dance group whose performance echoed the project message that street art in the wrong place is not acceptable.

After today this project will continue to promote the message about the impacts of visual litter through a suite of mediums; young people sharing videos via social media and WhatsApp; postcards of the movies which will be distributed to local schools and A1 framed posters which will be used as exhibition pieces for local schools and libraries. These mediums will continue to show us all how to make the right choice when it comes to visual litter or graffiti”

Mary Maguire, Senior Executive Officer with South Dublin County Council said “The Council’s Litter Management Plan 2015- 2019 proposes to address the negative impacts of litter and graffiti on our county. This wonderful “Finding a Wall” project, which is supported by the Anti-Litter/Anti-graffiti Awareness grant received from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is a prime example of how young people work with the Council to spread the message that littering and graffiti are not acceptable, and that we all want a nice place in which to live, work and do business.  The Anti-litter/Anti-graffiti Awareness grant funds initiatives that seek to promote public awareness and education on litter and/or graffiti. The grant scheme has a particular focus on voluntary initiatives by community and environmental groups, and on involving schools and young people in anti-litter and anti-graffiti awareness actions. I think this RESPECT project demonstrates this ethos perfectly.

For more information on Eco Week and Environmental Awareness events throughout the year contact envawareness@sdublincoco.ie and keep an eye on www.sdcc.ie , Facebook and Twitter.

Images

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  A still image from the Animation created by Tallaght Street art academy animation team
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  Tallaght street art academy animation team with Mayor Paul Gogarty
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  Tallaght street art academy Dance Troupe with Mayor Paul Gogarty