Tag Archives: Ballyvaughan Development Group

WITH the amount of Ukrainian refugees in Ballyvaughan now greater than the permanent population of the village, the local Community Development Group has asked that no more be housed there. With local services struggling to cope, Ballyvaughan Community Development Group wrote to Minister Roderic O’Gorman last week about the issue. The group claimed the population of the area had suddenly risen from 300 to 700, and as a result the local national school is struggling, while there are long waits for appointments at its Medical Centre. It also warned that small businesses that rely on Ballyvaughan tourism will struggle if there is no tourist accommodation and that the winter could see a lot of boredom and frustration among the new arrivals, due to the relatively meagre facilities in the area. “The local community is becoming increasingly frustrated and angry with the lack of Government support and the lack of communication between IPAS (International Protection Accommodation Services ) and the local …

THE Ballyvaughan community continues to prove itself willing and welcoming to Ukrainian refugees with various collections and fundraisers being organised with the help of the Ballyvaughan Development Group. With the sudden surge of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland, the Ballyvaughan Community Facebook page became a kind of forum for organising what was needed and where. Karen McDonnell, who runs administrates and runs social media accounts for Ballyvaughan Development Group, explained that an email address quickly followed to streamline the process of distributing supplies to the refugees. She said, “What I did was monitor the comments on our social media and redirect people to co-ordinate it better. “Now, we have coalesced with Lisdoonvarna Fáilte, who have a full-time office. We have linked up to found a new website, NCCommunity.ie, which is now the umbrella group in North Clare for recognising needs and matching them with what we can offer. Last week, we had so many donations that we had to declare …