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A WOMAN WHO has helped people dealing with domestic abuse has been named the Christine Buckley Volunteer of the Year.
Mary Fitzgerald from Co Clare received the accolade at the Volunteer Ireland Awards last night.
The annual awards honour the more than one million people who volunteer in Ireland.
Fitzgerald has volunteered from an early age and previously travelled to volunteer with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.
On her return to Ireland, Fitzgerald started to take in families who were fleeing from domestic violence – so they wouldn’t have to sleep in a local Garda station.
She founded Clare Haven Services in 1993 which eventually led to the development of a 24-hour refuge for those escaping domestic abuse.
Fitzgerald wanted to help girls and boys identify abusive patterns early on in a relationship and in the 1990s she delivered school workshops about healthy relationships.
These workshops have now become part of the current SPHE programme in secondary schools.
Volunteer Ireland CEO Nina Arwitz said Fitzgerald is “a real inspiration” who “saw a need in her community and took action to make a difference in people’s lives”.
HPV vaccine
Other winners included Laura Brennan who, despite having been diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer at age 25, advocates to raise awareness of the HPV vaccine.
The award for Outstanding Group was taken home by Pullough Community Action Group who created a community shop in their village which is fundraised for and manned by volunteers.
Arwitz said she hoped the winners’ stories “will inspire others to get involved in their communities”.
Winners were announced in 11 categories at the awards, which are in their 11th year.
The Christine Buckley Volunteer of the Year, the main award, is named after the late Christine Buckley who was a vigorous campaigner for those who suffered institutional abuse.
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Permanently deleted my FB account last November and it was the best thing I did. I felt it was a complete waste of my time and was becoming more and more of a negative place. Now it’s great when I meet people cause I don’t know everything about them and makes for great conversation.
@Nollaig Elliot: The alternative is to be friends on FB with your actual friends! As opposed to the 500 or so that you had!
@James Mahon: Very true James, it got out of hand though. I traveled a fair bit over the years and it was convenient. However, after I finished a big trip last year it was always my plan to pull the plug then.
@James Mahon: Totally agree. Did a big cull of my FB “friends ” recently and it’s great.
Think it’s a good place for joining groups that have similar interests etc.
@Nollaig Elliot: I find it very useful to follow interests of mine, get notified of events I might be interested in and get access to news which might otherwise not cross my path.
I do know of people who use it to post a lot of what I would consider useless information but that’s their choice and I can easily avoid that if I want!
Bottom line is it’s a communication tool and how you use it is up to you.
@Nollaig Elliot: I did something similar, last november it was so bad, i have under 20 US facebook friends yet all their posts were saturating my timeline so i turned off all post notifications and have opened the app about 4 times since then to reply to some things that are commented on in my posts taken from twitter and youtube, i use facebook messenger frequently and because that’s a separate app i don’t have to worry about seeing stupid posts from people anymore.
About as arbitrary as The Journals rules so…
I’d love to see the Guardian’s moderation policy.
‘If you’re not of liberal persuasion do not enter this site’
In most cases trolls are ridiculed and put down by decent people on forums such as Facebook. A self censoring mechanism that we have in society already. The problem like they have now in Germany is that when governments get involved they usually infringe on free speech. A slippery slope indeed.
Suckerburg and his cronies support hate speech. That is a fact.
Deleted Facebook yesterday.Best thing EVER!!!!but I’ve nowhere to post or tell people so il post it here on a Facebook article
@The Magnificent Hog: It is not a personal thing, it just makes money.
Facebook is a private commercial entity they can do as they please. It’s a very successful business model that works. Some people have the mind set that it’s a public service.
@Baz Breen: No commercial entity can do as they please all are bound by the laws of each and every country they operate in. Facebooks private policy etc etc is irrelevant if it violates the law, or a persons human right, which is why they are so careful as indeed is the Journal no one is exempt,
Animal abuse is ok by facebook. you know what to do facebook users – delete ur account.
The guardian reported this earlier this morning, breaking news from the journal
@Jonny:
The article mentions the fact that the Guardian published this yesterday.
This one’s an exclusive for people who only read the Journal.
Off topic but Edward Snowden said that if you want privacy then you need to throw away all your devices and start living in a cave.
Delete your Facebook and stop shoving those screens into your babies faces
@The Grand O’Malley: there are techniques to maintaining privacy on Facebook and not just through privacy settings.
Perhaps the Journal could be just as clear in explaining why it bans people…???
There is life and there is Facebook.
Be careful what you say on facebook. I got a three day ban on facebook for calling someone an idiot. Plenty of snowflakes on facebook. Facebook is getting pathetic each day
@Just Some Guy: I feel your pain. Not being able call peole “idiots” is such an impairment of freedom of expression. Calling people “idiots” helps them to accept their errors. It is a highly effective and persuasive technique and develops a point very nicely.
@Tony Daly: Very true, I’ve also had posts deleted because someone with a delicate disposition found them offensive. Whips & chains I could understand, maybe even blood and guts, but mention anything about a certain Middle Eastern religion and certain people loose their collective minds… Incidentally I didn’t say a word.
The main issue with Facebook and its content is who views it. Pictures of difficult or upsetting themes are good as they are thought provoking . The issue is too many children lie about their age and view images not suitable for them
i got banned 3 times fro speaking the truth about certain people
have your say