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Pictured at the Crazy Hair Day at St Colmcille's Girls' National School on Thursday last are twins, Arina and Karina.
9th June 2015 • Volume 22, Issue 20 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. • Tel: 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie
Swords Woman Scales New Heights At UN The exploits of Swords woman and mother of four, Niamh Collier-Smith, who has carved out a spectacular career for herself at the United Nations in New York, has been recognised by her college, Dublin City University.
By Patrick Finnegan Niamh’s meteoric rise within the organisation has also been noted by UN Secretary General, Ban Kimoon. The college have decided to recognise her achievements, by including her on their prestigious Alumni Wall. A ceremony took place last week, which was attended by her family and friends, in which President of DCU, Professor Brian MacCraith presided over the event. Niamh said, “This is a great honour for me to be recognised in this way by my former college DCU, who have been very good to me and it’s something very special to me,” While home on holidays, she explained to the County Leader how she came about having such a high-powered career within the UN. She said, “I went to school at Loreto College, Swords and from there I went to Dublin City University (DCU) where I
did my degree in Journalism and French and then I went on to complete my Masters in International Relations”. “One day I was looking at an internet site when my husband, then boyfriend, Pio Smith and I were backpacking around Australia, wondering what we would do next. I came across an advert for an internship with the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. At that time Ireland had an awareness of the UN, because Mary Robinson was the Commissioner for Human Rights then. This struck a chord with me, even though I wasn’t fully aware of the UN. I knew that this was something I wanted to do, and I sent off the application, while still travelling around Australia. Eventually, we ended up in South America and I was standing in a phone box in the middle of Patagonia, covered with dust, doing an interview over the phone for this UN internship. Somehow they decided they liked me and I was offered the job,” said Niamh. Niamh started working on Human Rights, which was a great start to understanding what the UN is all about. After working for a while with the World Bank in
London, she was offered a United Nations job as Communications officer in New York 10 years ago. “This led me into a whole new world of politics and international development, which was absolutely incredible and I was filled with pride to see all the flags of the world’s nations where I worked,” she said. It was then that Niamh moved into policy development to resolve problems, whether it be energy crises or how to ensure that elections run smoothly and to get people involved in voting. It also included empowering women to become political leaders. Last Monday, Niamh left for her next posting in Bhutan, which is a Himalayan state, neighbouring Nepal. “It’s the last Buddhist kingdom in the world, which, up to about 20 years ago, was a very closed society and culturally very proud. I’m really looking forward to my posting there, which will last for about three years. I will be the deputy resident representative for the UN, which means helping the UN development programme to figure out how best to be of service to the government of Bhutan. This will mean getting villages ready for climate change, particularly those located at the bottom of
Local Authorities On Collision Course Over Fuel Pipeline The County Council has given the go-ahead to a project, which will see a pipeline, that will carry jet fuel 14km from Dublin Port to Dublin Airport. However, the local authority is facing objections to the plan from their neighbours in Dublin City Council, who have issues over health and safety surrounding the proposed pipeline. About 11km of the planned pipeline will travel underneath land overseen by Dublin City Council, with the final 3km leg making its way through territory in the Fingal County The route of the proposed new fuel line Council area. The scheme is a revived version of a plan first roads in the country. This is a major problem for approved more than a decade ago, and would Dublin City Council. see the pipeline wind its way under heavily Two companies who are behind the plan, point out populated areas as well as some of the busiest that current fuel demand at Dublin Airport results
in over 15,000 fuel tanker journeys a year being made between it and Dublin Port. These companies have advised the local councils that the transport of petroleum products along busy commuter routes, raises a number of health and safety issues. They also point to a study carried out in the UK, saying that the operation of the proposed pipeline has a significantly lower level of risk. It is estimated that about 200,000 litres of diesel are used each year by the tankers transporting the fuel to the airport, equating to emissions of approximately 500 tonnes of CO2. There are also concerns within Dublin City Council about the impact the pipelines would have on the digging up of roads there, and the feeling among many representatives in the area, is that the project will be referred to An Bord Pleanala
Niamh Collier-Smith is pictured with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York
mountain ranges, where glaciers are melting with the risk of flooding.” “We also look to help to develop the local economy of the country, which up to recently was a monarchy and is now a democracy,” said Niamh.
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