On Saturday last, Mayor Malcolm Noonan hosted a civic reception for the Sudanese community in Kilkenny to mark their one year anniversary in the city.
The night was also used to formally launch the Association of Sudanese community in Kilkenny and for the mayor to announce an initiative to develop an integration forum for Kilkenny’s immigrant community.
The event was attended by many of the 73 Sudanese UN programme refugees, Bishops Freeman and Burrows and by Muslim and other church representatives, TDs John McGuinness and Mary White, and local councillors, as well as members of other immigrant communities in Kilkenny.
Mayor Noonan praised the work done by the interagency group, Marguerite O Donnell, resettlement worker, Lindsey Butler of Kilkenny County Council and all the volunteers who have helped the Sudanese community settle in Kilkenny.
He spoke also of the great praise that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR ) had for the resettlement programme and hoped the integration forum would become a good working group to deal with ongoing issues relating to Kilkenny’s new communities.
