ONE of the recipients of this year's People of the Year awards presented in Dublin last week was Jeremiah O'Donoghue, acting principal of St Mary's Secondary School in Rathmore, Co Kerry. The award was for "inspiring outstanding community spirit" in Rathmore.
According to the citation, "Jeremiah has affected not just the lives of the students he teachers but the lives of the people of Rathmore and its hinterland".
For the past 21 years, he has been the driving force of major change within his local community. In 1975 he inspired some students to establish a social action group and encouraged them to work to better the quality of life in Rathmore. Since then the group has had an extraordinary impact and most recently raised money for the construction of seven houses band a day centre for the elderly, a psychiatric day centre, a creche, a youth creativity centre, two enterprise units and a laundry service for the elderly. "By any standards this is a remarkable achievement," says the citation.
Through his actions in mobilising the community Jeremiah O'Donoghue has helped create local jobs. More importantly he has changed many lives in Rathmore for the better and instilled in the area the true meaning of community spirit.
"I always felt that, if we could use the energy and idealism of young people, we could achieve a lot," he told Education & Living this week. "It was building on the traditions we had around here."
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