MoS Costello presents Our World Irish Aid Awards

Sixth Class pupils of Sacred Heart National School in Aughrim, Co. Wicklow, were today declared the overall winners of the Our World Irish Aid Awards at a ceremony in Dublin Castle. 

Minister of State for Trade and Development Joe Costello, T.D., presented the award before an audience of 300 children and teachers from primary schools across Ireland.  The Our World Irish Aid Awards encourage young people from around Ireland to learn more about the lives of children in developing nations.  The theme of this year’s competition was ‘Caring for Our Planet, Feeding Our World’. 

The winning project, entitled ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, focused on the similarities that exist between Ireland and Uganda.  The Wicklow pupils produced a song, a board game, a mural, a book and a 3D sustainable village model. 

Minister Costello said: 

“I am delighted to announce the Sacred Heart National School as the winners of this year’s awards. Their creative project demonstrates a strong understanding of the Millennium Development Goals and will prove a useful resource for those wishing to learn more about global development.

 I believe it is crucial that children in Ireland understand they have a role to play in making the world a fairer place. It’s clear from the great diversity and creativity of the projects here today that pupils are truly engaged with the problems of hunger and climate change which are among the most pressing challenges facing the global community. 

More than 9,000 students from 450 national schools took part in this year’s Our World Irish Aid awards. It is extremely heartening to see this level of interest in global development among primary school pupils.  

I would like to congratulate the staff and students of Sacred Heart National School and all of the pupils from 10 schools who received an Award for Excellence at today’s ceremony. I also want to recognise the important role of their teachers in sparking and encouraging their students’ interest in the wider world.” 

Sacred Heart National School was one of 11 schools shortlisted at this year’s ceremony, which was hosted by RTÉ presenter, Rob Ross.

Also honoured at this year’s ceremony with Awards of Excellence were:

School:                 Christ Church National School, Waterford

Project:                In an Age of Plenty, Why are so Many Hungry?

School:                 Ray National School, Donegal
Project:                Our Project: Environmental Sustainability

School:                Scoil Naisiunta Naomh Philomena, Offaly
Project:                Ethiopia and Climate Change = A Global Challenge

School:                 St Mary's Boys National School, Monaghan
Project:                One World - Our Choices Matter

School:                 Scoil Naisiunta Naomh Eoin, Offaly
Project:                Caring for and Sharing our World

School:                 Scoil Naisiunta Padraig Naofa, Dublin
Project:                Caring for the Planet, Feeding our World

School:                 Scoil Naomh Fionan, Donegal
Project:                Ar Scáth a Chéile a Mhaireann na Daoine

School:                 Our Lady of Mercy National School, Sligo
Project:                Our World - The Journey

School:                 Castleblaney Central, Monaghan
Project:                Climate Change and Food Poverty

School:                 Our Lady of Apostles, Clonburris National School, Dublin
Project:               Sowing the Seeds for Changing the World

21 February 2012

For further information on Irish Aid visitwww.irishaid.gov.ie or contact Fionnuala Quinlan, Press Officer, Irish Aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 087-9099975.For more information on the Our World Irish Aid Awards, visithttp://www.irishaid.gov.ie/ourworld/

Note to Editors:
Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas aid programme. It is a division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
At the core of the Our World Irish Aid Awards are the eight Millennium Development Goals, which were agreed in September 2000 by the United Nations. 
The 8 Millennium Development Goals aim to:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development
The theme of this year’s Awards is “Caring for the Planet, Feeding Our World”, and young people were invited to explore the links between the environment (Goal 7) and global poverty and hunger (Goal 1). For further information about the Our World Irish Aid awards please go to www.irishaid.gov.ie/ourworld/our-awards.html