'Bring in the residents' suggestion

The possibility of allocating one meeting a month specifically to include invited residents associations was discussed at the latest meeting of Kilcullen Community Action.

The suggestion was made by Niall McDonnell, who believed it would be a good way to involve more people in KCA.

Chairman Kieran Forde said it was the kind of suggestion that came up about twice every year, and so far 'we've had a spectacular lack of success' in making it work.

Niall McDonnell said that if a meeting was allocated to a particular residents association, 'maybe we'll get them'.

Tony Gahan raised the caveat that 'people will come if they own their homes'. "But a high proportion in some estates are just renting, and they really don't care," he said.

He added that in other estates there were strong associations, doing 'great work'. "They're looking after their their own patch and doing it well."

Noel Clare said it had also been difficult in the past to identify the relevant people in the different estates. And J J Whelan said in many cases there might not even have a committee structure.

The meeting generally approved of the idea, and some time was spent in listing the various estates and trying to identify contacts in them.

Brian Byrne.