Schools Excel at Language Competition

Over 30 students from 6 schools in the Cork area took part in the recent Cobh and Harbour Chamber Language Competition which was sponsored by Bank of Ireland. This competition is running over 20 years and is held to encourage students to use European Languages, our own native Irish Language and to assist them with their oral examinations. Schools from Midleton, Carrigaline, Carrigtwohill, and of course Cobh took part. Chamber President, Michael Martin, congratulated the winners and said “In today’s globalisation an additional language is vital to increase employment options, for example, working abroad, working for our National Broadcasting Agency or bringing business to Ireland.  The Cobh and Harbour Chamber are delighted to host this competition and judging from the feedback from teachers and students each year the competition is a continuing success.  The standard of students was excellent and I know the judges had a very hard time choosing the winners.  I would like to thank UCC for providing the Irish language judge, Ms. Claire Ní Mhuirthile, also the Chamber would like to thank the French language judge Ms. Ger Thomas and the German language judge, Mr. Manfred Volki for giving so generously of their time today.”

The Chamber is very grateful to the Bank of Ireland for their sponsorship of the competition, as it would not be possible to run this competition without sponsorship. Representing the Bank of Ireland on the day was Tina Sheehan, who congratulated everyone for taking part and said the bank was honoured to be sponsors of such a worthwhile event.

The Prizewinners in the German Language Competition were:

1^st. Ipek Balak, St. Aloysius.

2^nd.Alice O’Donoghue, St. Aloysius.

3^rd. Kym Omileke, St Aloysius.

Ipek Balak - St Aloysius College Carrigtohill, 1st in German

The Prizewinners in the Irish Language Competition were:

1^st. Diarmuid Hickey, Carrigaline Community School.

2^nd.Zoe Fannon, St Aloysius.

3^rd. David O’Sullivan, Midleton College.

Diarmuid Hickey - Carrigaline Community School 1st in Irish

The Prizewinners in the French Language Competition were:

1^st. Orla Kelleher, St. Aloysius.

2^nd. Susan Rea, St. Aloysius.

3^rd. Zoe Fannon, St. Aloysius.

Orla Kelleher - St. Aloysius College Carrigtohill 1st in French (Cobh Local).

Judges.jpg Caption Kathleen Geary, CE Cobh & Harbour Chamber, Ger Thomas, Michael Martin President, Tina Sheehan BOI and Claire Ni Mhuirthile of UCC

All prizewinners were presented with Gift Tokens and Certificates.