Friday, July 18, 2025

Kilcullen News Update

Old Hardware birthday ... dished kerb question gets negative answer ... Kilcullen scouts on Venture Challenge ... Ballyshannon Action AGM upcoming ... getting rid of trip hazards ... On This Day ...

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The Old Hardware turns six


The Old Hardware in Narraghmore is celebrating its sixth birthday today and is marking the occasion with some birthday deals, writes Brian Byrne. Anyone coming in and singing “ Happy Birthday” will get a free coffee and scone.
If you're shy about your singing ability, you can just wish the staff a happy birthday and you'll get a free coffee. There are also free bags of sweets for children.
The popular café and community hub was an initiative of the Narraghmore Development Association, first proposed in 2017 for the by then long-closed former hardware and grocery store which had been operated by the Kelly family until 2005.
The Association put together a business plan for a community social enterprise that would provide a centre for the village, at the time on the point of also losing Kathleen Hickey's Post Office and shop on her retirement.
The €100,000 cost was funded by a Town & Village Renewal grant, local fundraising, and support from publican Mel Treacy who owned the building.
The community-run shop and tearoom is operated by volunteers. "Serving the Narraghmore community here wouldn't be possible without our amazing volunteers," the managing committee says. "Special thanks to everyone who has given their time and energy to making The Old Hardware a success over the past six years."

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Dished kerb request gets negative answer


There is no funding for a design study for a crossing at Nicholastown to accommodate wheelchair users wishing to access the new GAA walkway, writes Brian Byrne. That was the core of an answer to a question at the recent meeting of Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District.
Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer had asked for the installation of a dropped kerb on the path opposite Nicholastown and Conroy Park. However, she was told that merely doing this would encourage vulnerable users to cross the road at an uncontrolled location on a regional road.
Officials said a full design would be required to investigate a suitable type of crossing and at present there's no funding available for this.

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Kilcullen scouts on Venture Challenge

Image: Kilcullen Scouts.

Two teams from the 9th Kilcullen Scout Troop are setting out today on the Venture Scouts Challenge, hiking over 100km across Ireland. They are Max, Joseph, Eileen, and Rose.
Each day on the Challenge, which starts off from Kilcock Scouts Den, they have to find places to camp, log their journey, complete projects, and manage meals all while on a tight budget and with limited resources. Meeting local people is a key part of the event.
Their progress and initiative will be monitored by a team of trained assessors to ensure that they have met the standards for the challenge.

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Summer Pizza Party


Kalbarri Cookery School
is having a Summer Pizza Party THIS EVENING, Friday July 18th.
Walk-ins after 8pm. It is a BYOB event. 
Please call or text 087 2932501 for more information on a fun evening.

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Ballyshannon Action AGM


A reminder that the Ballyshannon Action Group AGM will take place on Thursday next, 24 July at 8pm in Ballyshannon Hall. All are welcome to attend.
The Ballyshannon Action Group was formed in 2019 to protect their rural area from unsuitable development and improve and conserve their biodiversity and  local environment. 
For more on the various initiatives they have supported over these last six almost years, please check out their website here

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Thursday, July 17, 2025

Kilcullen News Update

Learning in nature helps student anxiety ... Teach na nDaoine sale abandoned ... planning application for 70 homes ... KCA Picnic with a Twist ... Kalbarri Summer Pizza evening ...

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Lapping the Field of Dreams, 'makes happier people'

Vivienne Carty and international colleagues.

Increasing access to nature while teaching can help to mitigate the kind of anxiety that is a common and growing feature of student life, writes Brian Byrne. That’s according to Cross and Passion College Kilcullen teacher Vivienne Carty, recently returned from a special Erasmus programme workshop on the subject with fellow teachers from 17 countries.
Those rising anxiety levels were a common point of discussion between the course participants over the 5-day event held in Sicily. "It's always interesting to see how other people are doing things, but what was really interesting was that all of the other schools represented were seeing the same challenges that students are facing, and the high levels of anxiety. Every country is having the same experience, that the levels of anxiety among young people is unprecedented, really."
Reasons range from pressures of transitioning from school to the wider world, to young people being always 'switched on' through their engagement with technology and social media. That last is also associated with a disconnection from nature, which previous non-tech generations would have been able to experience through normal play and social interaction activities. "I think we now have to try to help them allow their brains to switch off, and nature can aid in doing this if we can only get them out there."
During the course, Vivienne Carty and her co-participants did things like mindfulness walks, meditation in forests, and outdoor games that engaged the senses. "We also worked on a range of indoor activities, including chair yoga, dance, and discussions on biophilic design where you try and bring nature into buildings," she says. "In very simple terms, that could be creating a vegetation wall in a building, bringing plants inside. All that kind of thing has been shown to have a powerful effect on everybody's well-being." She says that the course in general equipped her with new elements to her wellbeing 'toolbox', adaptable to the Irish climate. 
As a teacher with particular responsibilities for Social, Personal Health Education (SPHE) and Behaviour for Learning, Vivienne Carty has for many years been incorporating several such ideas at CPC. An example is a Mindfulness Room established in the college in 2010, which is still working for different generations of students. "It brought mindfulness to the forefront of their activities and made them more aware of their own well-being. That they also decorated it themselves with murals, making it their own space, was important. Successive groups of students have always respected it as their 'drop-in' space."
With the support of the school management, CPC students are taken outside as often as is practical within the requirements of the curriculum, and disconnected from their devices by the use of a phone bag. "Initially, when we started that, they were not happy, but they got into it. Being outside and being physical without a phone, and being in nature, is a very powerful antidote to all the pressures and the challenges — it's quite simple, really." She especially references the advantage of the recent addition to Kilcullen of the walking circuit around the GAA club's Field of Dreams. "Just a couple of laps around that, it changes the students. At the end of it, they're just happier people, so I bring my own students out there as often as possible."
Looking back on the course, she reflects on the advantages of connecting with others who are interested in similar things, sharing stories and perhaps helping each other to reignite passion for what they do. "My passion is the well-being of my students, and meeting with others you don't feel so isolated. It kind of fires you up again, and that was wonderful."

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Widespread welcome for resolution of Teach na nDaoine issue


A veritable orchestra chorus of 'well done', 'great news', 'great work', 'brilliant', 'fantastic', and 'sense has prevailed' commentary on social media today reflects the widespread relief in Kilcullen that the planned sale of the Teach na nDaoine building has now been abandoned, writes Brian Byrne. The news was received yesterday afternoon following weeks of uncertainty about the future of a facility that will now be used for community needs in Kilcullen.
Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer relayed the positive confirmation that the HSE and Kildare County Council have an agreement in principle to transfer the building to the council. "Both parties will now work closely together to bring this project to conclusion," she said.
The councillor expressed her thanks to all involved in resolving the issue, including Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, KCC chief executive Sonya Kavanagh and council staff members, local people who spoke out and 'put a human face' on the need for the original older persons’ day care facility for which the original project was initiated, and local news media for support in raising the issue. 
"This was a real community effort, from the committee who had the vision in 2015 to the people of Kilcullen who fundraised for it," she added, thanking everyone involved for their support during the recent campaign. "Days like today remind me why I do this wonderful, crazy job!"   

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Application for 70 homes development in Kilcullen


A planning application has been lodged with Kildare County Council for a 70-home development between Moanbane Park and the Kilcullen Industrial Estate, writes Brian Byrne. The site is 1.77 Ha and the application is by Kilcullenbridge Developments Ltd.
The development will comprise 4 one-bedroom maisonettes in a two-storey block; 43 two-storey houses (15 two-bed units and 28 three-bed units); 13 two-storey with dormers houses (four-bedroom units); and 10 three-storey houses (four-bedroom units). 
The development will also include the provision of a new site entrance onto the Naas Road; internal roads and footpaths; 105 car parking spaces; bicycle parking; bicycle and bin store; hard and soft landscaping; boundary treatments; lighting; and all other associated site and development works above and below ground.
The file number is 2560804 and submissions may be made up to the 19th of August.
The site was previously the location for an application to build an older persons’ nursing home and apartments, in 2021, which was subsequently withdrawn after a high level of objections from housing estates surrounding the proposed development and from other parts of Kilcullen, and from councillors. 

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Countdown to Picnic with a Twist


The KCA picnic in the Kilcullen Library Garden on Saturday week (26 July) looks set to be a colourful and enjoyable event for all families. Under the banner of Picnic with a Twist, there will be food, fancy dress, and fruit and vegetable tasting.
It's a free afternoon, running from 1pm-4pm, with the potential for making lots of fun memories.
Families are asked to bring their own picnics as well as home baking items to share —  a prize for the best baker is promised.
Both children and adults are also encouraged to dress up as characters from their favourite books.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2025

White smoke over Teach na nDaoine


The Teach na nDaoine has been secured for community use for Kilcullen, writes Brian Byrne. After negotiations which went up to and beyond midnight, an agreement was reached with the HSE at the highest level, which translated this morning into a retraction of the organisation's plan to sell the premises on the open market.
Full details of the agreement, which is so far an in principle one, have not yet been finalised, but the threat to the ambition that Teach na nDaoine would be for use as an older persons’ day centre for people in the Kilcullen area has now gone.
The premises may also be used for other community needs in the town, once necessary further upgrading of the building is completed. Kildare councillors have committed LPT funds totalling €180,000 over the next three years for this purpose.
"There's still a lot to be worked out, but the key agreement in principle is there," Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer said this afternoon. She has led the effort for the council's acquisition of the building for some considerable time.
The premises were refurbished and extended by a voluntary local community over a number of years, at a cost of more than €164,000, and then handed back to the HSE with the expectation that the vision for a day centre would be realised under its watch. 
However, in the middle of negotiations which had been ongoing between it and the council, the health executive recently announced a plan to sell it on the open market, saying it was surplus to their medical service requirements.
As late as yesterday afternoon, despite several direct approaches and appeals on local news media — including the Diary, KFM Radio and the Kildare Nationalist — for a change of heart, that remained the position.
An intervention was made by Kildare South TD and minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon yesterday, at the highest level of the HSE, to try and untangle what had become an administrative knot in the matter. That finally succeeded, and now there will be a collective sigh of relief across the community that there is a future for the original vision of Teach na nDaoine.

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Have you seen Simba?


A black fluffy cat, Simba, has been missing in Kilcullen since the 20th of June. Last seen on that date in Bishop Rogan Park. 
He is microchipped and the owner misses him terribly.
Call 087 1489056 if you have seen him.

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Kilcullen News Update

 

Minister Heydon intervenes in Teach na nDaoine row ... Grandson of Kilcullen woman is Riverdance's newest male lead ... Kilcullen Parish Lotto results ... Kalbarri Pizza evening ... the passing of George Browne ...

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'HSE approach on Teach na nDaoine will change' - Martin Heydon


Kildare South TD and Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon says he is determined that the HSE approach on the Teach na nDaoine issue 'will change', and he is raising the matter 'at the highest level', writes Brian Byrne. In a statement this morning, he expresses 'real disappointment' at the difficulty being experienced by Kildare County Council in acquiring the property for the people of Kilcullen.
The minister's intervention follows a second public appeal by Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer, on KFM radio yesterday, for the executive to negotiate the transfer of the facility to Kildare County Council for community use. After that, the HSE doubled down on its position that it intends to sell the property on the open market.
“Both myself and Cllr Tracey O’Dwyer support the continued vision of the use of this property for community use in Kilcullen," Minister Heydon says. "I continue to engage with the HSE to see if any avenues exist that could allow Kildare County Council to take on the project and facilitate its community use in Kilcullen."
He added that any agreement between the HSE and KCC needs to reflect the additional costs required to complete the building, and the goodwill of the local community to the project.

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