The countdown is on to the seventh annual Kennedy Summer School, which is set to see an influx of visitors from across the country and the globe descend on New Ross for three days of political and cultural debate, public interviews and lectures along with a series of social events including the Tea Party of the year!

A limited number of tickets are available to Thursday evening’s events, the Kennedy Tea Party and the Kennedy Summer School dinner on Saturday evening plus the free events, which are set to take place at New Ross Library.

The former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Seamus Mallon will officially open the 6th annual Kennedy Summer School in New Ross County Wexford on the evening of Thursday, September 5^th.

During the 1960s, Seamus Mallon was introduced to politics through the Civil Rights movement. He became Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in 1979. In a distinguished political career, he served as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001.

The leader of the Irish Catholic Church, Archbishop Eamon Martin, will also be a keynote speaker at the Kennedy Summer School in County Wexford on the opening evening. The Archbishop of Armagh and Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Dromore, Primate of All Ireland, President of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Chancellor of the Pontifical University, Maynooth will deliver the Edward M. Kennedy lecture on the role of faith in politics. 

Some tickets to the Kennedy Tea party are also still available, this will take place at the JFK Arboretum in county Wexford during the annual Kennedy Summer School on the afternoon of Thursday, September 5^th. The Kennedy Summer School will celebrate the iconic Presidential visit of John F Kennedy to New Ross and Dunganstown with a special event of talks, entertainment and afternoon tea. The event will be hosted by Sean Connick, Chief Executive of the JFK Trust New Ross and will feature guest personalities Michael Lyster and Senator Frances Black to talk about their very different career paths and their rise to national celebrity in very different fields. A very limited number of tickets to this event are available from St. Michael’s Theatre on 051 421255.

A very special free event aimed at secondary school students will be hosted on Friday morning, September 6^th at 10 am. Titled ‘Inspiring Ambition over Adversity’ will see some very inspiring speakers including writer Stefanie Preissner and Communications expert Gina London who will take to the stage at St. Mary’s Secondary School in New Ross as they discuss the challenges they have faced and overcome in life.

The Summer School which is deliberately held outside the peak tourist season brings significant economic benefit to the town and surrounding area with visitors from the US, the UK, France, Germany and all across Ireland, have snapped the 1,300 tickets for the three-day summer school up. Some 8% of attendees hail from the international visitor market and 64% from all across Ireland with 28% of attendees from Wexford and the immediate vicinity, figures which will see New Ross boosted by an economic impact of €255,000.