All set for Corofin hall’s €600,000 revamp

Re-development work on Corofin Hall is expected to commence in mid-August following the signing of the building contract. The €600,000 revamp follows years of planning and preparation by CHAF Ltd. (Corofin Hall and Field), a hall development group which was set up in 2006, to examine how St Patrick’s Hall could once again become the centre of community life for the area.

When completed, the new community centre will serve the needs of a huge number of local voluntary organisations. It will provide training facilities and cater for large events such as drama, concerts and dances. Dressing rooms and showers will be provided for clubs using the adjoining sports-field as well as comfortable meeting rooms, a community office and community café.

“We want the centre to be used on a continuous basis, with activities during the day as well as in the evenings. We will be making the facilities available to groups and individuals who have innovative ideas to ensure that this happens,” according to CHAF secretary, Dolores McKey.

The breakthrough on the funding front for CHAF came with the approval of a LEADER grant of €300,000 by Clare Local Development Company. This grant was applied for at the end of 2010 but final confirmation only came through at the end of 2012 when a contract was issued. CHAF also secured a loan arrangement with Clann Credo for €200,000 with the parish providing a further €100,000, some of which is a grant and the remainder an interest free loan. With the funding secured CHAF entered into a 25-year lease on the hall with the Killaloe Diocesan Trust earlier this year.

“We’re obviously delighted to have secured such a significant amount of grant aid towards the development,” said CHAF chairman, Gerard Kennedy.

“However, the project also represents a huge commitment and investment by the local community.”

According to the chairman, more than €250,000 will have to be made in loan repayments over the next 10 years. The community has backed a major fundraising venture since the outset and he appealed for continued support to enable the committee to meet loan commitments.

The contract for the hall development went out to public- tender, for a second time, earlier this year and the building firm of Galvin Construction (Faunrusk) Ltd. was the successful tenderer. The building project will be supervised on behalf of CHAF by Michael Dillon, Consulting Engineers.