Minister Calleary promises support to “forgotten” area in Limerick city

– Minister Dara Calleary said support for areas such as Ballinacurra Weston will be increased.

The minister was welcomed to Our Lady of Lourdes Community Centre in Ballinacurra Weston by co-managers of the centre Kate Clifford and Yvonne Galvin, by Senator Maria Byrne, Maurice Quinlivan TD, local councillors, volunteers from the community, community workers, community gardai and Limerick City and County Council officials. Members of Limerick Traveller Network (which rents office space in the centre) were among many to make their concerns known.

Addressing the gathering Minister Calleary said, “I know there’s a frustration. I can feel it, that this community has been forgotten. And I’m not going to tell you I can wave a magic wand and reverse that.”

Responding to concerns, he said, “I will give you a guarantee”, and he thereby committed to working with Senator Byrne who serves as the chairperson of the community centre’s board, and with Maurice Quinlivan, TD, and Willy O’Dea, TD, among others “to try and start putting building blocks in place that might be able to help.”

“We’re not going to change it overnight, but we are going to be working on it,” he said, indicating he intended to discuss the area’s challenges with cabinet colleagues, especially in the areas of housing, children and youth.

“We’ve had some good chats upstairs with about how we do it,” he said of talks with local community leaders.

• Siobhan Madigan, Senator Marie Byrne, Minister Dara Calleary and Kelly McCarthy – Siobhan and Kelly are employed as Community Companion workers in a vital project funded by Limerick City Council.

Currently the minister and his officials are looking into creating a new national programme that would support communities such as Ballinacurra-Weston.

“I don’t want to over-promise, but absolutely, as we begin the work of looking to see what that new community programme looks like, I’ll be thinking of Our Lady of Lourdes a lot,” he said.

• Maurice Quinlivan TD, Dara Calleary, Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Margaret O’Brien, Olive O’Reilly and Anita Pannell of Limerick Traveller Network, and Senator Maria Byrne outside Our Lady of Lourdes Community Centre.

The area has some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country, alongside King’s Island also in Limerick city, and its challenges were never properly addressed through Limerick regeneration.

It also has a strong community spirit, evident on the day the minister called by to lend support. He complimented all involved in community development in the area. (You can follow Our Lady of Lourdes Community Centre’s activities here on Facebook).

• Kate Clifford, Minister Dara Calleary and Yvonne Galvin – Kate and Yvonne are co-managers of Our Lady of Lourdes Community Centre.

“Absolutely, there are challenges,” continued Minister Calleary, “but you’re not letting them be the story of Ballinacurra-Weston. They’re not. This is the story,” he said to applause.

While the minister did not have a cheque book on this occasion, he did present a plaque to Community Employment Scheme supervisor Karen Hannon commemorating 30 years of CE locally and nationally.

• Local volunteer Gerry McCormack, Minister Dara Calleary, Community Employment (CE) supervisor Karen Hannon and Fiona Casey from the Department of Social Protection who works regionally supporting CE.

Earlier, the minister had welcomed over 200 delegates to Ireland’s second National Outdoor Recreation Conference which took place in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Co. Limerick. He travelled on to visit a project in the county that benefitted from regeneration funding through the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.

– Watch our 2 minute report on Minister Dara Calleary’s visit to Ballinacurra Weston: