NAAS: 15 May 2001: by Trish Whelan. Naas Town Hall was recently declared a Torture Free Zone for a few hours.
Members of Naas Youth Parliament stole a march on the rest of the country when they set up stall outside the Town Hall to draw awareness of instances of torture taking place in a number of countries around the world.
“Naas is the first town in Ireland to condemn torture and we used the Town Hall as our figurehead,” explained Alastair Conway on behalf of the young people.
Hundreds of passers-by put their names to their petition asking to make this a torture free country. The students said they were ‘astounded’ by the support they received.
Support of a different nature on the day came from local musicians Johnny Warren from ‘The Greenbacks’ band, David Jordan, and Samuel Small (Sallins), whose lively drum playing kept the crowds well entertained.
Colm Redmond and Mary Jo Gilligan, pictured above with Alastair Conway, will represent Naas at an International Youth Conference which takes place in Denmark from July 2-15. They attend Naas CBS and St Mary’s College.
Other Parliamentarians include: Aoife Gillespie, Kate Ryan, Eilish Hayden - all from St Mary’s College; Sue Pender, Marlene O’Connor, Elizabeth Daly, Frances Jennings - from St Patrick’s Community College; Ger James, Ger Noone, Mark Doyle, Darren Walsh and Eoin Spring from Naas CBS.
Naas Youth Parliament was the first of its kind in Ireland when set up by local councillor Timmy Conway, some years ago. Members are elected by students from all secondary schools in the town. Meetings are held in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall with the young people seated around the same table as used by UDC councillors and officials.
With the influx of people from different countries into Naas, they are also planning to run an international soccer day with teams from different countries taking part in an effort to welcome newcomers to the town.