Exceptional young people and late broadcaster Paudie Palmer honoured at West Cork Garda Youth Awards

Chief Superintendent Vincent O’Sullivan said it was 'heartening to see so many young people involving themselves in activities locally'

Thu, 01 Jun, 2023 - 19:00

Steven Heaney

A group of exceptional young people were honoured for their work in the local communities at the West Cork Garda Youth Awards last weekend.

The event, which took place at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen last Friday, saw six young people receive overall awards, six others were presented with special achievement awards, one award each was given to outstanding youths from Bandon, Bantry, Clonakilty, and Macroom, and the late Ricky Barrett from Drimoleague was honoured with a posthumous award.

The award for Outstanding Contribution To Youth was awarded posthumously to broadcaster Paudie Palmer, who died aged 65 following a hit-and-run incident in Inishannon this past January.

A native of Templenoe in Kerry, but originally from Blackwater, Mr Palmer was a well-known GAA commentator who worked with C103 and worked as a teacher, spending most of his professional life at St Brogan’s College in Bandon.

Among those who scooped overall awards were:

Heidi Harnedy from Union Hall who became a carer for for her late three-year-old sister Maya when she was diagnosed with a rare and complex disability, which meant she required a great deal of care and attention. Heidi established a fundraiser in Maya’s memory called ‘Wildflowers in Memory of Maya Grace', which has seen wildflowers sold countrywide in memory of Maya Grace, who sadly died in January.

Darragh Walsh of Clonakilty received an award for his fundraising work for the Hope Foundation as well as his volunteer work with the YMCA charity and its summer camps for Ukrainians across West Cork.

Darragh also previously addressed Cork County Council and the National Government Consultations in Dublin on topics such as transport, healthcare, cost of living and the environment.

Also honoured was Orna O’Brien of Drinagh Foróige Club, who was elected three times by her peers to the National Youth Reference Panel.

Special award winner Oisín O'Connor from Kealkill along with his family and friends. Picture: Denis Boyle

Orna was also one of eight young people selected to work on ‘Story Bridge Archive,’ an initiative with University of Galway and Unesco heritage, which involved conducting interviews with older people in the community about their experiences of covid-19. Orna has also worked with the Young Voices initiative, highlighting children’s rights and the right to safety online, and she addressed the Council of Europe on the topic.

Another award recipient was Sadbh Bourke from Macroom, who was recently appointed an Exceptional Wellbeing Ambassador in her school, a role in which she promoted the wellbeing in her local community, designed a wellbeing mascot and developed an online advice column for students.

She also acted as a ‘buddy’ to first year students in her school, and won the Junior Music Award, as well as An Gaisce and Pope John Paul II Awards for her efforts.

Megan Fitzgerald from Bandon was chosen for her work on a number of charitable projects in her community, including fashion shows, cake sales and quiz nights.

Prior to that, Megan was involved with organising the donation of clothes to the Ukrainian Appeal. She has also taken part in the Cork City Marathon and helped raise €1,000 for the Intensive Care Unit at Cork University Hospital.

The final overall award recipient was Katie Appelbe of Newcestown Foróige, who represented her club at the Foróige Regional Conference in January 2023.

Katie was elected to Foróige’s Countrywide Reference Panel for 2023 by the Munster region. Katie also investigated and examined gender stereotypes in sport as part of her project ‘Run Like a Girl’, the findings of which she presented at the PE XPO competition in Dublin City University last March.

Picture: Group award winner Leah Carey from Skibbereen, Chief Superintendent Vincent O'Sullivan and Ruth Field of SuperValu. Picture: Denis Boyle

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Garda Superintendent Ger O'Mahony congratulated all the award winners and also paid tribute to the families, communities, schools, youth groups, sporting, community and voluntary organisations "that have supported these young people in their lives".

Chief Superintendent Vincent O’Sullivan said it was "heartening to see so many young people involving themselves in activities locally".

He added the West Cork Garda Youth Awards were "an acknowledgement of the work of the young people within their own communities". He said also those highlighted were "leaders of the future", with "outstanding potential to shape and change society, and create positive impacts wherever life takes them".