The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE Shannon unit of the Order of Malta is marking 50 years of operations this year and is looking to get a premises of its own.
At the March meeting of Shannon Municipal District, Councillor Donna McGettigan put forward a motion asking that the Council help the unit to acquire a place of its own.
In a written response to her motion, Senior Executive Officer Jason Murphy said, “The team in Shannon MD recognises the valuable contribution the Order of Malta has made to the town and surrounding areas over the last 50years.
“Shannon MD will work with the local group and explore available avenues to assist them in identifying suitable space.”
Councillor McGettigan also proposed that a civic reception be afforded to the group.
Lieutenant Eavan Dempsey is the officer in charge of the Shannon unit of the Order of Malta and she said it would be great if it finally had its own premises.
“We don’t have anywhere I could bring you and show you where the last 50 years have taken us, which would be lovely. It’d be lovely to have a purpose-built training room too.”
She said that many of the members come into the organisation at a very early age and stay on then.
“We have a Cadet organisation, a youth section for children aged from ten to 16, we teach them first aid and help develop them because they are our future. We hope that they grow up, get the bug and then stay with us.”
“I was never a Cadet myself but the majority of our core members would have been Cadets, they would have started out at 10, 11 or 12 and stayed with us.”
Eavan herself has been involved for 25 years, while she said that one woman approaching her 50th birthday has been with the unit for 40 years.
She said that the unit is typically very busy and that didn’t change during Covid, although the type of activity did.
“At the moment we’re part of the community Ukraine response team and there are ongoing plans to assist where we can.
“During Covid we had a large number of volunteers assisting at the vaccination clinic in the Radisson Blu hotel and at Limerick Racecourse.
“As recently as last week we were activated by the National Ambulance Service as back-up when they hit a level three crisis, mainly for patient transfers and things like that, to help with the overflow.
“During Covid we were part of the Clare community response team and our role was transporting members of the community for chemotherapy and radiation therapy, medical appointments, local GP appointments.
“People were afraid to take taxis, they were trying to remain in bubbles and things like that, and that’s kind of where we stepped in. We travelled the country on these transportations.”
Last week she took a day off work to bring a Ukrainian man to hospital, which is indicative of the commitment given by the volunteers.
“I’m in it a long time and I love it, everyone who is in it loves it, we enjoy what we do, we enjoy helping, we do a lot of work in the background that people aren’t aware of.”
The unit is hoping to get a new ambulance this year, while Eavan says having its own premises would leave it in a better position to offer more to the town.
“After 50 years we do need a premises, a place to do training. We could actually help our community more if we had that, we could run first aid locally. People could come and train, meet up with us, ask questions and see what we do.”
She said the unit would also be delighted to get some new volunteers as it celebrates half a century in existence.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
