Southside projects win prestigious Lord Mayor Award

TWO Southside organisations have won a prestigious Lord Mayor Award.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Oisin Quinn, presented the award to the Ranelagh Arts Festival and St Andrews Resource Centre.

Since 1989, the annual award has honoured individuals and groups that have made a special contribution to Dublin.

It is an opportunity for the Lord Mayor, on behalf of the citizens of Dublin, to express gratitude to the people and organisations that make a difference to the life of the city.

This year the Lord Mayor chose to present the award to three individuals and three groups in the areas of technology, arts, sports, youth, community and social justice.

The recipients include Paddy Cosgrave, the Ranelagh Arts Festival, Jim Gavin, the One Young World Bid Committee, St Andrews Resource Centre and Dil Wickremasinghe.

The Ranelagh Arts Festival has been showcasing the arts to an ever-growing audience since September 2005.

The festival has proved to be a major success due to the aspirations and hard work of the organising committee, the local community and the continuous support of businesses in Ranelagh.

St Andrews Resource Centre has served the community of Dublin’s South Inner City for 40 years, with a broad range of services.

Last year the Sewing Crew of the centre came to the aid of artist Miriam McConnon and assisted in repairing the Touring Tama exhibition in Merrion Square following vandalism prior to its opening.

For many years the centre has been hosting adult education, childcare and job centre activities, welfare rights, and events for the youth.

Among the other recipients is Paddy Cosgrave, the co-creator of the Dublin Web Summit, Europe’s largest tech­no­- logy event.

He is listed at No 23 on Wired Magazine’s list of 100 most important people in tech and was appointed as an e-leader for Information and Communications and Youth by the United Nations.

Jim Gavin was also recognised by the Lord Mayor. He has gone from an All-Ireland winner as a player in the 1995 Dublin senior football team to successfully guiding the Dublin Under 21 footballers to nationwide glory with All-Ireland Championship success.

The One Young World Bid Committee succeeding in attracting the Youth Summit to Dublin in October 2014 when young people from all over the globe will come to engage with world leaders and debate.

Dil Wickremasinghe was the first recipient of the Frederick Douglas Award, for those who have come to Ireland and made a significant contribution to the life of Dublin City and its people.

Originally from Sri Lanka, she has campaigned for gay and migrant rights, been involved in raising money for survivors of the South Asian Tsunami and has been instrumental in tackling the stigma around mental health.