Comedian and boxing club among recipients of multicultural awards

Minister for Integration Conor Lenihan and Djamal Tirab from Chad at the 2008 Metro Éireann Media Multicultural Awards (Mamas) which were presented at a ceremony in the Abbey Theatre yesterday.
Photograph: Alan Betson

COMEDIAN DES Bishop and an Irish Olympian's boxing club were among those presented with a Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Award (Mama) at the Abbey Theatre yesterday.

The awards, in their seventh year, recognise people, groups and companies that promote integration in Ireland.

The Foras na Gaeilge award was given to Des Bishop for his programme In the Name of the Fada , documenting his year learning Irish in the Gaeltacht.

"Multicultural Ireland is one of the reasons the Irish language has grown in strength . . . people realise the importance of cultural identity," Bishop said.

Richard Walsh and Julian Ulrichs won the student media category for their film FGM: No Way Home , a documentary about Pamela Izevbekhai, a mother in a deportation battle who fears that her daughters will be subjected to female genital mutilation if she is sent back to Nigeria.

Last week the European Court of Human Rights sought to have her deportation delayed to allow it to consider her case.

A documentary about St Saviour's boxing club on Dorset Street, Dublin, which trained Olympic bronze medal champion Darren Sutherland, was recognised in the visual media category.

The club also won a bursary of €5,000 from the Iris O'Brien foundation recognising its membership of both locals and immigrants.

Two initiatives to teach English to migrants were recognised. O'Connell School on North Richmond St, Dublin, which has extensive English teaching for pupils from immigrant families, received a special award. Fáilte Isteach, a project in which older people volunteer to teach English to new communities, received an award in the NGO category.