Playgroup challenge

The new 'can do' feeling generated across Ireland by the recent visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Barak Obama ('of the Moneygall Obamas) has prompted a Kilcullen resident to make it a 'call to arms' to local people to get a proposed Childcare Centre in place.

A long-running effort to get the Centre built fell apart last year because of alleged legal delays over a lease, and a €600,000 funding facility was lost. But since then a new committee has taken up the baton and the project is in train again.

"There is no doubt that whatever the reservations some have of aspects of both visits, they lifted the nation’s mood," local community campaigner Orla O'Neill says. "Perhaps Brendan Gleeson best summed it up when he said, 'It’s been a rough few years for this country, but I’m fed up of looking at the ground. It’s time to stand up, look around and breathe the air again'."

Orla says there is any number of opportunities for Kilcullen people to make a difference in their community, as shown by the opening of the new Kilcullen Community Playground after years of effort by a group of 'Yes, We Can' people.

"To borrow from Brendan Gleeson’s terminology — bloody sure it was hard work, but bloody sure it was worth it," she says. "And during this period, when we have dwelt on recent Irish history, we might do well to remember the promise, on our behalf, of the leaders of 1916 — to cherish ‘all of the nation’s children equally’, a central principle of this Community Childcare Centre."

The Community Childcare Centre needs more people to help them raise the €40,000 required to make the Childcare Centre a reality. "If you’re looking for value for money, this is it — when the community raises €40,000, it will be matched by €500,000 in Government/EU money and will provide a Centre worth €600,000 to Kilcullen."

Every effort is valuable, even if you can’t attend meetings, you might offer to bagpack, take a table at the Table Quiz, bake a cake ... it all adds up. If you want to take part in this 'Is Feidir Linn' project, call Iseult at 086 8518361 or go to their website at www.kilcullencommunityplaygroup.com and say, Is Féidir Liom!