Lahinch Swim Club, Clare Crusaders Children’s Clinic and Kilrush Comhaltas Ceoltóirí are the three Clare organisations announced today as county winners in the National Lottery Good Causes Awards 2019.
The awards were created to honour and showcase the inspiring work being carried out by thousands of projects, clubs and individuals in their local communities across Ireland thanks to National Lottery Good Causes funding. Nearly 30 cent of every euro spent on National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes all over the country.
Announcing the winners of the county phase of the awards today, National Lottery CEO, Dermot Griffin, said: “We were bowled over by the number and calibre of entries we received for these awards and it is proof that organisations supported by National Lottery funding are having a huge impact in their local communities. Recognising and celebrating this impact is what the National Lottery Good Causes Awards is all about.”
The Clare winners are:
Sport – Lahinch Swim Club: The swim clubs members are involved in surfing, scuba diving, deep sea diving, open water swimming, water polo, water safety, surf lifesaving, the Irish coastguard in Lahinch and all share a passion in educating our young children in having a respect and love for the water from an early age. grassroots of our club
Health & Wellbeing – Clare Crusaders Children’s Clinic: The Clare Crusaders Children’s Clinic was established in 2007 and now provides therapy to over 450+ children with special needs across the county.
Arts & Culture – Kilrush Comhaltas Ceoltoiri: Kilrush Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann was founded over 40 years ago and our purpose is to promote Irish Tradition music, song and dance and to insure that all children get the opportunity to learn about our traditional culture of Sean Nos and set dancing, traditional singing & Irish Traditional music.
Speaking on selecting the winners, Broadcaster, publisher and businesswoman, Norah Casey, who is Chair of the competition’s judging panel, said: “It is a privilege to be involved in these awards and to learn first-hand of the impact of Good Causes in every parish, village and town in Ireland. They truly are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. With more than 480 entries, selecting the county winners has been a very tough job. I congratulate all of those who have come through the County phase of the competition and look forward to the Regional Finals later this month.”
The awards, which culminates in a televised Gala Awards Dinner in Dublin on Saturday, 2nd November, has six main categories: Sport, Health & Wellbeing, Heritage, Arts & Culture, Community and Youth. A seventh category, Irish Language, will have a special award to be announced on the night at the Awards final, in recognition of outstanding work done in the promotion of the Irish Language.
The full list of County Winners can be found at www.lottery.ie/goodcausesawards.
These winners will now go forward to the six Regional finals, competing for a place in the National Finals in Dublin on Saturday 2ndNovember. Each category winner will received €10,000 and the overall Good Cause of the Year will receive an additional €25,000.
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on National Lottery games – or over €620,000 per day goes back to Good Causes all over the country in the areas of Sports, Arts, Culture, Heritage, Community, Health, Youth and the Irish Language. Last year alone more than €226 million in funds for Good Causes was raised by participants of the National Lottery.