21 June 2012 BLANCH GAZETTE 3
HONOUR Niamh’s sports side secured historic role
Local student chosen to run Olympic relay I SUZANNE BYRNE
A LOCAL student has secured her place in sporting history as a participant in the Olympics 2012 torch relay. Clonsilla girl Niamh Reid Burke, who’s a sports management and coaching student at the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB), took part in the historic relay’s Ireland journey on Wednesday, June 6, when the capital finally caught up with Olympic fever. C o u n c i l l o r K i e ran Dennison (FG) explained that he had been asked by Minister for Sport Leo Varadkar
to help identify a young person who would carry the Olympic torch for the Dublin 15 area. “The council’s sports department helped me to draw up a shortlist. I was really looking for someone who had participated in an Olympic sport and was doing more than just competing for a particular club,” he said. “When I spotted Niamh on the list I remembered that she had competed internationally for the local diving club as well as playing soccer for Ireland. “Niamh is a fantastic role model for young people and we will be
proud to have her carry the torch for us. “We have some of the best sporting facilities in the country in Dublin 15 and at ITB and Niamh has availed of these to represent Ireland in two major sports. She has a very bright career ahead of her.” Proud moment...Niamh Reid Burke carrying the Olympic Torch
Lucky The relay, when it finishes, will have run for 70 days across the UK, featuring over 8,000 torch bearers - in addition to 41 here in the Republic. Each torch carrier ran for around 300 metres and had what’s known as a “kiss moment” at their transfer point. The
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lucky runners were also allowed to hang on to their torch as a souvenir. The flame was lit in Olympia Greece on May 10 before heading to the UK with all other torches being lit from its eternal flame. President Michael D Higgins greeted the first
Dublin torch bearer during a ceremony outside the office of the Olympic Council in Howth at 8am after crossing the border in a ceremony at an old checkpoint in Newry, Northern Ireland. Niamh ran her leg of the relay at 10.45am. Taoiseach Enda Kenny
then greeted the torch at Government Building at 11.30am and the relay finished up at the Olympic stage in St Stephen’s Green shortly afterwards, where Sonia O’Sullivan lit a cauldron before the flame began its return journey to Belfast
LITTERING
Doggone it - not one fine NOT a single fine for dog fouling was issued throughout a three-year period between 2008 and 2010 inclusive in the Dublin 15 area. There have been no fines so far this year while just one was issued in 2011. The information was provided in response to a request to the manager about statistics for the offence. But it wasn’t the absence of such litter that resulted in the figures. The council found that the “difficulty with issuing fines for this offence is that the act needs to be witnessed, the person witnessing the offence needs to be prepared to go to court to prove the offence and also identify the dog owner. “In a case where the offence is witnessed by a litter warden, obtaining the identity of the owner is very difficult.”
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