Reopening of vacant community centre sought

KILRUSH town councillor Ian Lynch has expressed the hope that the currently vacant community centre in the John Paul Estate will be used again by local groups. He feels that if the centre is used, it will help to generate community spirit in the estate.

“The place is looking great. There’s a complete change around and there’s a great community over there. Since Councillor Stephen O’Gorman retired from the centre and now that he’s laid up as well, the centre has been closed for an awful long time.

“There were some great groups there and there’s a couple of groups interested in doing some stuff there. If somehow we could get a community project going over there, it would give us something to focus on,” he suggested.

“There’s a lot of different nationalities over there as well now, which is something we hadn’t seen before. I know the ladies’ group were over there but I think because it’s closed, they have moved to Kilrush Community Centre,” he added.

Councillor Tom Clyne asked town clerk John Corry if the council is in a position to pay for a supervisor?
“There was a permanent supervisor in place funded by FÁS, through the Job Initiative Scheme. But, unfortunately, when somebody retires through that scheme, they’re not replaced. I have had discussions with various groups and the community garda had indicated at one stage that he would be interested in utilising it. It’s certainly something we can look at,” Mr Corry replied.

He noted, however, that insurance costs would have to be addressed.

“We own the building and we flagged it to our insurers. They had a concern when there wasn’t a permanent supervisor in place. That did cause a problem for us. It would require that each group that would be utilising the building would have to have insurance. It’s smack-bang in the middle of the estate. It’s a well fitted-out facility,” the town clerk stated.