Tag Archives: facebook

LIKE thousands of schools across the country, St Anne’s Community College in Killaloe remains closed in a bid to limit the spread of the Coronavirus. And while the 500-strong student body are following the new rules of social distancing and staying apart, they are coming together online to keep their spirits up and to avail of support and guidance in these challenging times. School Chaplain Karol Torpey, who lives in Feakle, told The Champion that the school’s social platforms have come to fore in the current crisis. “Our Facebook page, Humans of St Anne’s Community College, is now operating as a virtual chaplain’s office. It’s a way of getting as much support and advice to people as possible and of gauging how people are feeling.” The importance of staying apart in order to protect the vulnerable is one key message that the school has been promoting across its social channels: “We have been working hard to get the message of …

Clare County Council will provide updates on conditions at the county’s Blue Flag beaches on its Twitter and Facebook accounts from Saturday next. The updates will feature latest sea, water quality and weather conditions, as well as tide in and tide out times for Ballycuggeran (Killaloe), Cappa, Fanore, Kilkee, Lahinch, Mountshannon, Spanish Point, Whitestrand Doonbeg and Whitestrand Miltown Malbay. The updates coincide with the commencement of lifeguard cover at County Clare beaches this June Bank Holiday Weekend. Lifeguard cover will be provided at Clare’s Blue Flag beaches from 11.00am to 7.00pm this Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Cover will continue on Saturdays and Sundays during the month of June, while there will be full-time time cover at these locations as well as at Bishops Quarter (Ballyvaughan) and Seafield Quilty during the months of July and August and the first two weekends of September.

ENNIS District Court has heard of the perils of social media after gardaí outlined how a Shannon man uploaded Facebook profile images of female friends to a porn site and added explicit captions. Evan Meehan (23), of Dernish Lawn, admitted to 30 charges of knowingly making a false report tending to show that an offence had been committed, contrary to Section 12 of the Criminal Law Act 1976. The offences relate to dates between October 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014. On Wednesday, Inspector Tom Kennedy told the court that Meehan had taken images of a number of girlfriends who were known to him from Facebook and he wrote comments on the pictures. “He then put them up on a porn site. Because of the comments he had written and how the ladies were dressed, there was sexual connotation attached. They found out and were very upset and distressed,” Inspector Kennedy stated. He said Meehan was identified as the person …

A new Facebook appeal in memory of Munster and Ireland rugby legend Anthony Foley has been launched by his 11 year-old son. Last Saturday, Tony joined his brother, Dan (8) with Munster players in the middle of the pitch at full-time for a poignantly charged rendition of the Munster anthem ‘Stand Up and Fight’ in Thomond Park. It proved to be a very emotional moment, as over 25,000 in the packed stadium united to remember Munster Head coach, Anthony “Axel” Foley, who died suddenly in Paris the previous Sunday. His untimely passing has prompted an unprecedented outpouring of grief as Munster and rugby fans throughout the world struggle to come to terms with the loss of the 2006 Heineken Cup winning captain at the age of 42. Now, Tony (11) has set up a new Facebook site – Axel Foley Memorial, which is gaining huge traction on line since it was launched shortly after midday on Monday. At the time …

NEW data released by Facebook has revealed that Fine Gael are the most discussed political party on Facebook in Clare since November. Across the county, Labour were the second most discussed party while Fianna Fáil are in third spot. Sinn Féin come fourth in the rankings for conversations in Clare, followed by the Green Party, then Renua, the Social Democrats, the Anti Austerity Alliance and the People Before Profit Alliance. Facebook’s data, published with less than two weeks to polling day, has also revealed that infrastructure, health and the economy were the most discussed election-related issues in Clare. After that came social welfare, crime and corruption, flooding, education, housing and abortion. In terms of personality politics, Taoiseach Enda Kenny was the most discussed political leader in Clare, with Tánaiste Joan Burton coming second. Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin was third in the county ahead of Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin. Eamon Ryan of the Green Party was the fifth most discussed …

President Michael D. Higgins has launched a Facebook page called “President of Ireland / Uachtarán na hÉireann” (www.facebook.com/PresidentIRL).The latest news, photographs, videos and speeches from the President will be featured. Facebook users who “like” the page will receive updates about the President’s work through their news feed. Another Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ArasAnUachtarain, will provide regular news about the Áras itself and its long and varied history. The launch of a Facebook page is the latest addition to the President’s social media strategy: Earlier this year, the President launched a Twitter account (@PresidentIRL), which provides regular updates about the President’s work. The President also uses Soundcloud (soundcloud.com/arasanuachtarain) to disseminate recordings of speeches and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/presidentofireland) for videos. The President is also starting an Instagram account (www.instagram.com/presidentirl) that will provide a regular stream of photos of the work of President Michael D. Higgins. All of these platforms are integrated into the President’s website, www.president.ie.

Senator Lorraine Higgins has written to the Oireachtas committee on communications to request that representatives from facebook and Twitter be called before it Senator Higgins has sought their attendance at the committee in order to answer questions about their practices in light of the outcome of a recent survey by Vodafone, which found that one in every four children in Ireland have been cyber bullied, with 51% believing the issue to be bigger than drug abuse amongst young people and 45% feeling totally helpless when it happened to them. Senator Higgins said, “This is an issue that I not only have been talking about but have introduced legislation on to curb abuse, threat as and cyberbullying online. While legislation is only one way to deal with the issue there are others like education and awareness within schools. However, that is not to say that social media companies should get off scot free when it comes to legal and moral responsibility …

TEN-year-old Clare children are inadvertently engaging in cyberbullying, according to a local community garda. Garda Deirdre Scanlon, who is based in Ennistymon, has also warned that there are 11 and 12-year-olds with Facebook pages who are befriending people online who they don’t know, without realising they could turn out to be a sex predator. Having delivered a series of cyberbullying talks to primary and secondary schools over the last two and a half years, she believes the increased availability of different forms of information technology has facilitated more cyberbullying by children and teenagers. “Children and teenagers put up a comment and they have no idea it is up there forever. It seems every comment has to be worse than the next. It can be a case of bitchiness with the girls, who tend to be worse than fellas. Fellas don’t seem get as involved as much but girls can get involved in groups. “I tell children, ‘if you met a …