19/05/2003

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 The information below may be out of date.

DUBLIN BUS SCHOOLS’ COMPETITION AWARDS

On Friday 16^th May 2003, Dublin – Over 300 hundred school children from Tallaght and South Dublin, today, attended the Dublin Bus Schools’ Competition Awards for 2003.

The awards held at Fettercairn Community Centre in association with South Dublin County Council, proved to be extremely popular with the local schools. The theme for this years’ competition was “HOW THE BUS SERVICE IS USEFUL TO YOU” and was open to all 4^th, 5^th 6^th classes in primary schools and 1^st year pupils of secondary schools. The response was overwhelming with students entering a poster, poem or picture to depict what Dublin Bus means to them.

The winning students from each participating school received prizes ranging from 1^st prize of €100 to 4^th prize of €25. The schools, which took part were – St. Thomas’s Senior School, St. Aidan’s Senior School, St. Anne’s Senior School, Jobstown Community College, St. Aidan’s Community School and Killinarden Community School.

Speaking at the awards, Dublin Bus Operations Manager, Mick Matthews said, “Dublin Bus serves the local community and we are fully committed to our customers. It is great to give something back to the students of these schools and to build on our relationships with everyone. We carry over 500,000 passengers per day for 364 days of the year and we want to provide the most efficient service possible for each and everyone of our customers.”

He added that “ we are extremely grateful to both the Mayor Jim Daly and South Dublin County Council for making Fettercairn available for this event and all their continual community work.” The local shops and The Square generously provided all refreshments and entertainment.

Mayor Daly was represented by Councillor Cait Keane who congratulated Dublin Bus and said that “ the project marries very well with the work that South Dublin County Council is doing in the area.  The Council has a huge commitment to Youth and employs a full time Sports and Recreation Officer.  Staff are involved in many Youth initiatives in this area such as the Fettercairn Horse Project,  Badminton programme in Jobstown and Killinarden, and a Football Project in association with the FAI to promote sports in disadvantaged areas.

The Community Department run Summer Projects that involve over 7,500 children and plans are underway for the provision of Sports and Leisure Centres in West Tallaght and Clondalkin to provide Water Leisure Facilities also. “

For further information contact Gráinne Mackin, Communications Manager, Dublin Bus at 703 3193