Community Matters 7jan2025

The host welcomes listeners to the show and mentions an orange alert warning. Various guests are introduced, including a representative from a local GAA club, a representative from a Further Education Centre, and a project officer for an agri-environmental scheme. The first guest is John Sweeney, the President of the Connemara Chamber of Commerce. He discusses the chamber's priorities for 2025, including establishing remote working hubs and raising funds through a housing draw. He also talks about the need for support for local businesses and the importance of tourism in the area. He mentions the slow progress of the Greenway project and its potential for sustainable tourism. Community Matters is kindly sponsored by Connemara Credit Union Ltd, incorporating Clifton, Tunnicross and Carnarvon branches. Connemara Credit Union is here to serve the people of the Connemara area. Lane office, Clifton and Tunnicross branch, 19521101. Good evening and welcome to Community Matters with me, Ronan Durney at Pat Coyne on the sound desk in Letterfrack. Happy New Year to all our listeners. Hope you're all keeping safe and well. I'm sure you're all aware now at this stage, we have an orange alert warning coming in to force at 8pm. So do be safe. If you can stay indoors, please do. But if you're out on the road, do be safe as you can, because it's going to be pretty treacherous probably on the roads tonight. We have a busy programme over the next hour. Later, we'll be speaking with Seán O'Culloughn from Carna Cashel GAA in relation to their fundraising initiative in 2025 to develop their facilities in the club. We'll also speak with Mary McDonagh from the Further Education Centre in Letterfrack and Clifton around their new modules and courses that are starting in the coming weeks. We'll speak with Molly Boot from Clifton Station House Leisure Centre about their Lose to Win 2025 competition, which is kicking off on the 13th of January for six weeks. So good motivation there maybe to get healthy as the new year starts. And we'll also speak with Aoife Mannion, who's the project officer for the ACRES programme, which is the new agri-environmental scheme which has been launched. And there'll be an information session on that on the 15th of January in Letterfrack. But we'll hear all about it from Aoife shortly. And our first guest this evening is John Sweeney, who's President of the Connemara Chamber of Commerce. Delighted to have John on the line. John, you're very welcome. Thank you very much. It's rolling, isn't it? It's rolling, yeah. Happy New Year to you. Yeah. How are you? Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year. Yeah. And I hope all is well. And John, another new year, and I'm sure that the Chamber have a number of priorities for 2025. What are the main areas that you'd like to – that you're going to focus on as a Chamber this year? I'll ask you a little bit. The list is never-ending, you know. You know, we're still working away to get our remote working hubs established. And so that's a project that's been on for over two years. So that's a key – you know, milestone, it's a key target. So that's, I think, critical to the advancement of the town. And it's quite a shame that we haven't had it long ago, but – and we keep banging that drum. Yeah. One of the most – and the other thing I suppose we have, as you're probably aware, the Chamber is trying to raise funds. The Chamber doesn't have any funds. It's always strapped for cash. We're always in a difficulty to, you know, get money to do things. You know, for example, at the Christmas lights, we have to go, you know, operate a GoFundMe or one of those I-donate pages to gather money for the Christmas lights and stuff like that. So we're planning a big fundraiser this year, and we've bought – are committed to buying an apartment over the Soup Valley, the one that's built by Mark Nacton. And we're going to run a – win a home in Clifton Draw over the summer – spring and summer of 2025. And hopefully that will – if it's successful, it will give the Chamber funds to allow the Chamber to go out and to, you know, provide equity and to engage in projects like the remote working hub. Very good. Yeah, and they're very popular, those drones now, aren't they, John? They are. You've seen a few. Yeah. Westport have done them. You know, there's Roscommon GA have done two or three. So quite a few of them have been, you know, Ormore, Sock Club, Blaster did one. So it's – we've got to engage with a very, I suppose, experienced team who have been – who did the first and original ones for Roscommon GA. And so they're assisting us and going to work with us on this. So hopefully that's going to be a success. And that will be launching sometime in spring, April. Excellent. And the remote working hub, what do you hope to achieve with that now in 2025? Well, hopefully, you know, we identified a property. We got planning permission. We conducted a feasibility study. All that was done in 2023, I think. Believe it or not, yeah, 2023. It was supported by the Galway County Council. The Galway County Council applied to the central government for funding for the half a million euro grant aid for that. And we weren't successful. The Galway County Council wasn't successful in the Galway County Council application at that time. So that – so we keep, you know, pushing that to get that established. If we could get that established, I think, you know, provide walking space for up to 70 people in the centre of the town, you know. And this is all about trying to create life and keep life in the town centre on a 12-month basis. You know, we're all very happy with the way things are in, you know, April, May, June, July, August, September and even October. But Clifton in – from November through to the end of February can be a quiet – a very quiet town. And one of our state objectives here is to create more of an all-year-round dynamic and more of an all-year-round economy, market town economy in Clifton. And if more and more business can stay open on a year-round basis. So that's – you know, if you're – you know, walking space and, you know, desks and facilities and all the things that you'd expect available in the town centre, not over the Galway Road or not, but for people coming into the town centre every day, they're going for lunch, they're going for tea and coffee, they're meeting. But I think that'll be a win if we can get that over the line. Okay. We've seen, John, I suppose, and I know in, for instance, in Galway City, I've seen of late a number of kind of cafes kind of closing down. The cost of doing business for a lot of retailers is still quite high. Obviously, there's a huge dependency in Connemara and in Clifton on the tourism sector. We have a new government kind of coming into play now in the weeks ahead. What would you like to see and what would the Chamber like to see that new government do for, you know, for cafe owners, for, you know, small tourism businesses that are trying to survive? Well, you see, there are lots of things. I suppose, you know, the government tends to focus on the bigger ticket items rather than the smaller items. But there's an up-down effect here at all times with this. And so people with a business idea or they've got, you know, they'd like to go out and, you know, be self-employed or they open a cafe or whatever, open a shop or a retailer or, you know, get a small-time manufacturing or anything at all like that, those businesses need to be supported. You know, and we've seen, you know, the business is probably one or two or three or four and they're family businesses and they're owner-managed and the, you know, and then sometimes they're in the lease premises. These businesses need to be supported. You know, Clifton's never going to appeal to, you know, the big multinationals or Connemara is not going to appeal to the big multinationals and a lot of rural Ireland will not appeal to these, the bigger concerns. But it needs to support the smaller indigenous localised, you know, businesses and industries that can be supported. So I think that's key. Clifton has, we're very fortunate in Connemara that, and it's not just Clifton but it's all of Connemara, that, you know, from April through the end of October there's activity, there are people pulling around, there's a tourism season, you know, there's, you know, we've got people driving through and they're staying and they're dwelling there. If you go inland to a lot of the smaller towns inland, they don't have that luxury that we have on the West Coast. So if we could further, I suppose, advance the case for, you know, local tourist-type projects, you know, because at the end of the day tourism is the mainstay of the local economy and anything that can advance and promote, you know, and sustain small-time, you know, localised tourism projects is worthy of support. Well, one of those kind of key projects that's been identified now for quite a while and that obviously would have an impact, you know, not just in Clifton but throughout Connemara is the Greenway project. But again, we see that the delivery of that project is so slow, John. You know, it's, and I know some of the issues, we've talked about it on numerous occasions but we're around another new year and we're still, you know, the pace of delivery of this project, which would be potentially transformative, is so slow. Yeah, I agree and look, that's, I think there are legal issues pending there and it wouldn't do for me to be commenting on those issues. But, you know, the completion of the Greenway, I walk the Greenway, it's regularly, I'll go up Dunene and I'll go as far as, you know, Amoonga and I walk that regularly and over the Christmas I walk the Van Hinch Greenway, you know, east and west there. And it's a phenomenal facility and I just thought of it as, there aren't enough people on this. So, and you know, when you drive along by recess and you see down by the lake there across the quarry where it's underway and when I was driving in this morning I see there seems to be starting up there again, I saw a truck taking off the machines there this morning. So, the Greenway was definitely, Greenway is all around the country and it's sustainable tourism because it's, you know, it's ticking every box in terms of sustainability and people are going to come to Connemara to lie on the beach, you know, if they are there they can do that, great. But it's really all about activities and, you know, the number of people who climb the diamond, I'm sure over Christmas, I'd say it was phenomenal because there were a few great days. And so, they're the kind of, I don't think they can provide amenity for people to engage with or to, you know, to involve themselves with. It has to be good, it has to be good. And on that, you know, a couple of things that the Greenway, but there were a couple of projects, you know, that were turned down for planning permission. You know, the distillery in Karnagh, you know, was a crying shame and the park in Kilkenny were refused planning permission. You know, and they're the kind of thing that we should be really pushing for and, you know, we see what Kylemore Abbey and the National Park have done to North Connemara, you know. That park in Kilkenny and the distillery, at their point, it brings a balance to it, you know. And it's a shame to see these kind of very, in my mind, worthy projects, you know, and tourist attractions in their own right, not getting traction from the planning point of view. Sure. So, you know, a village kind of thinking wouldn't go astray, I think, you know. Yeah. Finally, John, then, just in the Clifton, the urban renewal in Clifton, and I know, you know, the plans and obviously there was a strong community consultation and engagement on those over the years. I know parking is still, you know, was a concern. Is that something, you know, what's the Chamber's position now on those plans? Well, the Chamber can only represent the views of its members. And so, from the very beginning, you know, the Chamber is engaged. There's quite a few engagements with the members and it's been an open discussion. All of the comments, observations, all of the ideas and suggestions that came from the members, there's been a meeting of over 80 members one Sunday or one morning in July 2023. And so, that followed on with further engagement and displays of the plans in the Town Hall. So, we took all our members' concerns on board. And, of course, parking is the biggest issue. Nobody will dispute that, you know, the Town, as we can enhance the public well-being and the overall presentation of the Town, is good. People are concerned about the parking in the Town and with some justification. Now, my own view is, you know, there are dozens of Towns around the country that would love to have the problems that Clifton has. So, if you've got a problem with parking, it means that you've got people and you've got activity and you've got bulls and there are things happening. So, we just need to cater for it. Rather than seeing parking as being a problem, we just need to cater for it. Because if we didn't have parking and if we didn't have cars and if we didn't have traffic, that would be a whole different problem to have. So, we're fortunate that we have some of these issues that we have to contend with. And, in fairness to Coventry County Council, the Chairman met with Liam Hammerhan there from, and he's a very senior executive there in Coventry County Council. And, indeed, with Liam Keneally. And, they're anxious that, you know, the Town gets the improvement and parking would have to be part of that. So, in the recent submission to on board, you know, the Chairman encouraged everybody to individually make their own submission. But, we had a meeting there on Zoom in December, which, again, on the back of that, there was a submission there to on board and all that. And, all of that information is on the Chamber website and you can see what we said in that submission. So, we're, of course, very, I suppose, proactive and encouraging and supportive of the plans for the Town. The biggest issue, I suppose, is, you know, a Town without, you know, facilities for people can come in and park and do the business, go to the chemist shop, post office. You know, we need to be able to accommodate that. And, I think there are, you know, the Council, you know, they are mindful of it and I do think they have plans for it. And, I know that Ida Emanuel and Gerry King are banging that drum constantly. And, we are fortunate we have the local residents who are mindful of it. So, I do think that, you know, if we get this thing underway, parking, the parking will be resolved. And, I think there are a couple of projects there where that can happen. Very good. So, we'll leave it at that. And, listen, best wishes for 2025 and let's hope a number of those projects that you've referenced, you know, have made significant progress this year. I think, you know, in terms of the urban renewal, in terms of the remote hub, the greenway, obviously, the fundraising initiative that you referenced would be very interesting. And, hopefully, that gives a little bit of, you know, will give more flexibility to the Chamber to drive some of those projects and priorities for the years ahead. So, John, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. And, a very Happy New Year to all your listeners. Thank you. That's John Sweeney there, President of Connemara Chamber of Commerce. We're going to have an ad break and we'll be back shortly with Ethan Mannion. 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Provide building supplies, plumbing and heating supplies, fuel merchants, DIY and general hardware. Contact the Clifton Supply Centre on 095 21476. And you're very welcome back to the programme. You can contact us at the station here via Facebook. You can email us at communitymatters at connemarafm.com or you can phone us on 095 416 16. We always love to hear from our audience. And if anyone has any suggestions for any items you'd like to cover on the programme for your future editions of Community Matters, we'd be delighted to hear from you. Now, I'm delighted also to be joined on the line by Aoife Mannion, who's the project officer in North Connemara and Arras area for the Acres programme. Aoife, Happy New Year. You're very welcome to the programme. Happy New Year to you and thanks for having me on. Not at all. Really looking forward to hearing about the Acres programme. And I know there will be an information session in the National Park next week and we'll come to that a little bit later. But Aoife, if you could explain for our listeners what is the Acres programme. Tell us a little bit about the scheme. Yes. So, Acres is a national results-based agri-environmental scheme. So, it's a five-year programme and it started in 2023. So, it's the first national scheme that's using the results-based model. So, it's following on from other programmes that were locally led, such as the Pearl Mussel programme, which was based, some of it, as a matter of fact, there on the Doris River. So, results-based, what it means is that the land is scored, the habitat is given a score, and a high score gives the farmer a higher payment. So, I work for Acres West Connacht and it's a private company which is responsible for delivering the scheme in North West Connacht and South Mayo and Connemara. So, it's a big area, but all of these areas are broken up into smaller sections. So, in North Connemara, where we are, there's two part stockyards and that's the case in all other areas. So, it stretches from Belmulloch to the Ox Mountains, Aco. It includes South Connemara and Corwin Mask and that's just Acres West Connacht. There's other CP teams over the other areas. And why there's CP teams in these cooperation areas, as we call them, is because they have a lot of designated land. So, SACs, SPAs, which have sensitive habitats and species that need protecting. And that's why we're using the results-based model on them and rewarding the farmers for the first time for the habitat and the ecosystem services that they provide, such as clean water and the biodiversity of the vegetation and the animals, everything that's on their farms. Okay. So, give us a feel for how it works in practice. Yeah. So, a local farmer signs up to Acres West. What's actually involved for them? Yeah. So, they're signed up and, basically, it's their farm advisor that would score their private ground during the summer months. And it's us, the CP team, that score the commonage ground. So, there'll be a lot of commonages in the area and they're interesting because they're areas of land that are farmed by many different farmers that have shares in the one area of land. So, during September there, we had commonage weekends with farmers going through the scores on their commonages and just identifying ways that they could bring up their scores. So, essentially, to go out and score in a field, you walk the land and you're taking notes as you go and you're filling out your scorecard. So, the scorecard, it has a list of species that you'd like to see in certain areas. So, walking in a grassland field, you're going to use a different scorecard to when you're walking in the hills or up on your peatlands and your bogs. So, for example, in your grasslands, if you have a variety of different plant species, so, yellow flag, any plants and heathers, you'd be getting for them. So, it's important that the farmers know when they see those plants in their ground that they're getting rewarded for that and you don't have a semi-natural area that isn't fertilised too much. And then, for example, an area that would be, say, very undergrazed or very tall vegetation, that's not going to score as high as an area that's grazed a bit more and has a good structure. And then, other things that could deduct marks from the scores, so, if there was invasive species. So, locally, rhododendron and the gunnera or the giant rhubarb, that's an issue for a lot of farmers and it's deducting scores. But, with the scheme, probably in the late summer, we will have landscape actions available. So, we'll have funding available to help farmers to treat these invasive species. So, there's already a local group doing great work treating rhododendron. So, we could either put the farmer themselves and make sure that they're trained properly to use the herbicide or else they could get a group of contractors in to treat the rhododendron for them. And then, the next time that it's scored, their payment is going to go up. Okay, so the idea then, Aoife, with the scorecard is that as the farmers carry out some of these interventions on their farms and maybe, for example, tackle a little bit of the invasive species or just implement actions that will improve the biodiversity, the next time they're scored, then you'll see the results and the results then will trigger the payments. Exactly, yes. So, each parcel of land is scored three times over the course of the contract. So, the majority of land was scored in 2023 and most of it will be scored again for the second time this summer coming. So, if farmers got a chance to have a look at their scorecards and if there's any questions, definitely talk to their farmer advisor or talk to the CP team. You can get in contact with us and just see if there's any way that they could bring up their score before it's scored again so that they'll get the benefits of their payments then in turn going up. And the incentives then, Aoife, I know you've referenced the payments, but what type of payments are we talking about? How attractive are they? Yes, so there is a max payment of 7,000 per year for the results-based side of the scheme. So, that's your scorecards on your land and any general actions that you have. So, 7,000 every year, that's a per hectare payment. So, it depends on how many hectares people have. And then there's also a three and a half additional budget for actions that farmers can take. So, there's actions that they can take on their private grounds to improve scores or to improve their farms. So, for example, we have funding available in the form of MPIs for, say, fencing, gates, water trough, riparian margins, if they wanted to fence off a stream, or else bat boxes or to plant trees, you know, to bring up, to increase the biodiversity on their farms. And then, as well, there's landscape actions. So, these are the riskier actions. So, you're treating your invasives, there's chemicals involved, and that's when the CP team is more involved just to make sure that everyone is trained properly just so that we're not going to damage the environment in doing these actions. And another example of a landscape action that would be available to farmers, it would be funding for the GPS collars on grazing animals just so that they target areas that they probably wouldn't graze as much, and that would also increase their score if there was areas, like, very undergrazed. It would be a way of bringing up their score. And if there is a case of a farmer not reaching that 7,000 in one year, because, say, their scores weren't high, or to do with the amount of hectares that they have, any balance that's left over is carried on and added on to their actions budget. So, that 3.5, you're adding on to that by whatever you didn't use out of that 7,000. So, definitely have a chat with the farm advisor and your CP team, the local project officers, to see how you could get the most out of the scheme and to improve the biodiversity, and to reward yourself for the hard work the farmers are doing and having the clean water and looking after their farms and animals so well. And is there a limit to the number of hectares that you can benefit from under the scheme? It depends on the scores that you achieve. So, basically, the max is 7,000. So, if a person has a lot of hectares and, say, if they get a 10 out of 10 on their private land, it's 400 per hectare on private ground. So, it just depends on what scores that they get, but it's capped there at the 7,000. But is there a cap to the number of hectares that... I think it works out to about, like, 60 or 70 hectares. It depends on what payment rate. So, say, like, a score of 7, if you get €250 per hectare, and if you have 100 hectares, like, you have 2½, so you have more to get there, you know? Yes, I understand. Whereas if you got a 10 and you had 100 hectares, you'd get 4,000. OK, and Aoife, where... You know, people want to make contact with you. Where are you based? Yes, so we have an office in Westport-on-Belmolish, but I live locally in Clifton. So, again, there's local project officers in all of the areas. I can give out my contact number, and I can also give out the Westport office contact number. So, if people do have queries, if they give their details, and they'll get forwarded on to their local project officer who could help them out. OK. So, do you want to provide those details now? Yes. So, the office in Westport, it's 09844942. That's 09844942. And then my own number there is 0852683602. Great, and I'll give those numbers out again a little bit later. And Aoife, there is... I know there was an information session planned, but now with the bad weather this week, it's been rescheduled to next week. So, tell us a little bit about that information session for farmers. Yes. So, thanks to Siobhan at the National Park for inviting us to speak at it. So, it's basically these evening talks, and there is one scheduled for tomorrow evening, but we rescheduled it just because of the bad weather. So, instead, it's happening next Wednesday, the 15th of January, at 7 p.m. in the AV room at the Connemara National Park there in Lettifrack. So, basically, I'll be giving a presentation, and I'll be explaining the scheme and explaining the benefits of the habitats and species, why we're looking after them, explaining the scorecard as well, because it's important that farmers and people in the community understand the scorecard, and to know any management practice that you carried out, okay, how is that going to reduce or improve my score, and also have a look at some of the data that we've collected over the past surveys that we've done for the acres' work, and also go through the practical measures that people can take, so the NPIs and the landscape actions. We'll have a little bit on those, examples on how farmers can apply for those and where to put them, and just all the benefits they can get out of engaging with the scheme. And also, it's an opportunity for people to ask any questions that they have, because it can be confusing, and definitely just reach out to us, and we're always there to answer your questions. Okay. That's brilliant, Aoife. And that's on the 15th of January, so that is on Wednesday? Next Wednesday, yeah. Wednesday the 15th. Yeah, and it's at what time? 7pm at the National Park in the AV room. In the AV room. Okay. So I think that would be really, anyone who's interested in learning more about the ACRE scheme, I think you've given a good overview this evening as to how it's structured and so on, but to get into a little bit more detail on it, and to have a Q&A, questions and answers, etc., would be really good. So that's at 7pm on the 15th. Finally, Aoife, what type of response has there been to the scheme so far amongst the farming community? Yeah, there has been delays, of course, with payments at the outset. It was a big undertaking from the Department to go from a national scheme, so there has been delays with payments, and it's frustrating for farmers in that line. And then there's others that are eager to get things going, and farmers, they do have respect for their land, so it's just all about working together with us, and hopefully we'll get on top of it. Definitely, they're invasive, they're a big job out here in Connemara, so we have big work ahead of us. Very good. Aoife, best of luck with that, and thanks so much for joining us this evening. That is Aoife Mannion, who's the Project Officer for ACREs in North Connemara and Arras area. And again, the contact details there for the Westport office, which is kind of the local office for us here in North Connemara, is 098 44942. And also Aoife can be contacted on 085 268 3602. That's 085 268 3602. And don't forget the information event on the Wednesday, the 15th of January, 7pm in the National Park in the audiovisual room. Aoife, thank you again for joining us. Thanks very much. And that was Aoife Mannion, as I said there, from the Project Officer with ACREs. And it reminds me a little bit of, I remember back when I used to start work as a community worker, and back in the early 90s, I think, going back to the very first rural agri-environmental scheme, the REP scheme. And prior to REPs, actually, there was an area out in near Ballyconeilly where a pilot environmental scheme was run. And there was another area up in County Offaly. And there were the two pilot areas where the first environmental schemes were introduced prior to the REPs being designed and rolled out. And I remember travelling with a group of farmers from Ballyconeilly up to visit the scheme up in Offaly and see what they were doing. And so it's come a fair bit a long way since then. So, yes, I hope that will be of interest and anyone who has an interest should attend that information event on the 15th of January at 7pm in the Connemara National Park. Newsie Matters is kindly sponsored by Connemara Credit Union Ltd. Incorporating Clifton, Tully Cross and Carna Branches. 195 211 01 Now, I'm delighted now to be joined on the line by our next guest, who is Molly Boot, who is a trainer at the Clifton Station House Leisure Centre. Molly, you're very welcome to the programme. Thank you. So, you're here to tell us about Lose to Win 2025, which begins on the 13th of January for six weeks. Tell us a little bit about what is Lose to Win? What's it all about? So, it's just a bit of a competition to help people lose weight coming into January. A lot of people, they try to pick up New Year's resolutions and stuff and it can be difficult when you do it on your own, so this just helps to give a bit of motivation. It's €30 to enter and then you do it for six weeks. You come into the gym once a week and you get weighed and then the person who loses the most weight gets €500 as a reward and we hope that after the six weeks then you keep coming in and keep up with the exercise and stuff but it's just to help you along the way to get into the habit of doing it. Okay, so it's really just a competition to incentivise people to maybe give it a shot at trying to be a little bit more healthy, lose some weight as we start the new year. You've done this in previous years, Molly, isn't that right? Yeah, we have. We've done it for a while now but we get more and more people every year doing it once people kind of know about it, they want to do it and it's good to, obviously January, New Year, everyone wants to get into good habits so it's a really good thing that we have. Excellent. So you pay a €30 registration fee, there's a weigh-in then every Monday but you don't have to go you don't need to go to the gym per se to lose the weight but you do need to go for the weigh-in every week. Exactly and we give exercise plans and dietary plans as well when you pay to enter the competition so you will get a bit of help from us and kind of advice on what exercise you can do. We have a sale on in the gym at the moment so if you did want to come in you might get a bit of a discount on that but you don't need to be coming into the gym to do it, you can go out walking, running on your own whatever you like to do. And over like a six week period because I know a lot of people including myself are thinking how can I be a bit more healthy now as I start the new year some people will start but they can often fade can't they? You start off with great intentions and then you kind of lose interest or you kind of don't see the weight falling off and you just go back to the old habits so how do you make it work in such a short period of time in a six week period? Well so having the loose to win is kind of because there's so many other people doing it and you'll meet people going in when you go weigh yourself that will help keep you motivated as well, you're not on your own it's quite difficult when you do things on your own and you kind of feel like you're a bit alone and as well it takes three weeks to build a habit so we're here at the gym to help you get into the habit and you'll start to realise yourself once you keep going, it's actually easy to keep going after that and keep working then for the rest of the year and how do any of our listeners who are thinking about participating in it, how do you sign up for it? So you can come into the gym, you can ring up if you want to or you can come in, you just pay the entry fee and then you write your name on the computer, it's completely confidential so someone will just come up with you, you take your weight on week one and then the final weight then is taken on week six and we keep tabs of it every week, we can tell you how much you've lost and then we'll tell you how much you've lost as well at the end of the six weeks and you can come in at any time we're open from 7am to 9pm so any time between then you can come in and someone will be able to go up with you and the weigh in just to be clear, it's not something you do you come in and just weigh your weight you're not doing it with loads of other people, is that right? No, no, it's all you're on your own when you get weighed Exactly, it's not like Operation Transformation where someone's weighed in front of a group a big group of people, nothing like that you can do this quite privately if you really want to, you can just pay the registration, do your thing in terms of exercise and diet etc, go in at any time you want on a Monday, get weighed and obviously there'll be prizes at the end so the first prize you said Molly was €500, is that right? Yeah, we do, the second prize is a three month single membership to the gym and then third prize is one month single membership Excellent, and the number then at the Station House Leisure Centre is 09530433 09530433 if people want to sign up Ok, is there anything else Molly relating to this that you'd like to say? If people are kind of wondering what to do, obviously in the gym we have the membership options not everyone would be into going to the gym 5 days a week, 6 days a week we have day passes so you can get 7 days or 3 days they don't have to be used consecutively so if you want to get a 7 day pass you can go once a week then for 7 weeks maybe if you just wanted to go for a swim we have fitness classes on and swimming lessons for adults and kids as well and you don't have to be a member so if anyone wants to come down to the gym we have a big timetable of all the different things that we offer people could use that as well to help them in the Lose to Win and everything is 15% off for the whole month of January Excellent, ok Well Molly, thank you very much for telling us all about Lose to Win 2025 it's a great initiative, great to really motivate for people to be a little bit more healthy maybe, starting off the new year and those prizes are great, first prize is €500 and second and third prize is a 3 month and 1 month membership of the Station House Gym in Clifton, so Molly thank you very much for joining us Thanks for having me, thank you That's great, that's Molly Booth there who is a trainer at the Station House Leisure Centre and for anyone who wants to sign up it begins on the 13th of January so you have another week or so, just less than a week to consider whether you'll give it a shot for this year €30 registration fee and yes, sounds like it would be good setting a challenge for yourself as we start off the new year, I know that I'm trying to be a little bit more healthy and get out and do a run when I can but I'll probably have to do a bit more now to shift a little bit of the weight off, I'm going to weekly run but we'll see. So that is Molly I'm delighted for her to join and I'm now happy that and delighted that our next guest is joining us Mary McDonagh who is from the Further Education Centre in Letterfrack and Clifton Mary, Happy New Year and you're very welcome to the programme Happy New Year Ronan, thank you very much for having me on Not at all and always talk to yourselves now in the Further Education Centre in January about the new modules and our courses that are starting in the coming weeks, so can you give us a flavour of what you have on offer this year? Sure, I can do. I myself, I teach on the Healthcare Support module so the classes I'll be teaching will be palliative care and care skills so we teach, I'll be running palliative care on the Wednesdays starting tomorrow weather permitting and so that's on a Wednesday morning and that's available to anybody but the usual learners we get for that will be people who are working in home care industry locally or want to get employment with the HSE as healthcare assistants and then on Thursday evening, so we run that on Wednesday mornings in Nester Frack and then on Thursday evenings we also run a class and what we're running this semester is care skills so that's one of the mandatory modules to gain the award for healthcare support to enable you to become employed as a healthcare assistant with the HSE or with private agencies and most of the courses that you have Mary, they do lead to potential work opportunities, isn't that right? Oh they do, yes indeed so I suppose the healthcare ones are quite geared to employment but obviously anybody who's looking after another person at home or who has an interest in these topics are welcome to join us as well but we also have a level 5 special needs assisting that will be starting as well and that can lead you towards work as a special needs assistant in primary or secondary schools and you can go on again and add on further modules to that which can lead to employment as a special needs assistant we also have the sort of administration modules as well that will be starting payroll, manual and computerised and spreadsheets as well this semester so again anybody that maybe might be self-employed that needs to brush up on their payroll skills or maybe is looking to change career or get into upskill maybe in the job that they're in or looking to moving into a different sector, they can lead you to qualifications in business administration support I see you also have one called Care of the Cunnamara Pony Yes we do, yes we just started a few modules in horsemanship there this last semester they were very well received so that would be Daria who has a lot of experience with working with Cunnamara Ponies who will be running that on the Malta Tools farm now this semester so that went down really well so I think they did horsemanship just gone so we'll be looking at running more of those modules that will lead to the horsemanship award so that's really good for anybody who has a pony at home and maybe wants to learn more about caring for them and for any of our listeners who are interested in the course of Mary, are they open to anybody pretty much, you don't have to give them any prior qualifications or nothing like that not at all, not at all and we'd really encourage anybody especially at this time of year, getting out of the house is really important for your mental health and your well-being anybody that has an interest or is interested in any of the courses, we also have horse culture science that will be running as well on Thursdays and we get a lot of people maybe that have an interest in gardening have their own gardens at home, want to learn more about gardening that attend that one too, but yeah I'd really open to anybody, you don't need to have the leaving cert it's adult education, it's very open to everybody from all walks of life from school leavers to retirees, we get the whole cohort really coming through the doors to us and like I said really important this time of year for people to get out of the house to meet people and socialise and keep the brain active and keep your mind active and keep the brain learning which is really important for your lifelong cognitive health and mental health as well. And are all the courses, are the in-person courses not online are they? No, we're not registered to deliver them online obviously that has to happen over COVID but different ETBs around the country do offer online learning, certainly you can look up what's available on fetchcourses.ie but everything that we deliver is delivered in person in our centres, either in Letterfrack or in Clifton. Ok, so they're either in one or the other in Letterfrack or Clifton and is there a cost Mary for them, is there a charge for each course? No, if you have anybody on social welfare you will most likely have anybody on JobSeekers or anything like that or any social welfare payments don't have to pay. With some courses there is a contribution towards them but it's best to speak to CERC about those. Ok, and if any of our listeners now want to register for any of the courses, how would they do that? Well you could pop into us certainly or give us a ring just to talk about if there's any sort of queries on any of the courses themselves. But if you want to register that's best done on fetchcourses.ie www.fetchcourses.ie www.fetchcourses.ie and you'll just put in you can either look for Letterfrack Further Education Centre or put in the course code or the module code or the description and just follow the steps along to register. You usually have to set up an account if you don't have one yourself but it's fairly self-explanatory and easy to do as well. And just on that as well we have a basic computer skills course coming up as well so really important for people as well I would say digital literacy in this day and age you often have people coming in and say oh I'm no good at computers and it really does do a lot for people's confidence and self-esteem when they do come in and get to grips with things like sending emails and using just basic computer skills really. Fantastic and if any of our listeners want to find out a little bit more about the courses is it through that website as well? www.fetchcourses.ie or yeah? Yeah, that'll give you a bit more detail on the courses. A Google search as well will bring up more information on them or pop into ourselves in the centre and there's usually somebody around to answer a few questions or give us a call. Okay and what's your phone number there if anyone wants to give you a ring? It's 095 41302 095 41302 Yeah, that's it. Okay, that's brilliant Mary. Listen, thank you very much for joining us this evening and it's sensitive to think about there in terms of new courses that are starting in the coming weeks and www.fetchcourses.ie or you can call into the centre in Letterfrac or give a buzz to the centre either if anyone wants to find out a little bit more on that. So thank you Mary. No problem, thanks very much. That's again, as I said, Mary McDonagh there from the Further Education Centre, Letterfrac in Clifton and often it is great, they're very accessible all these courses you know, they're easy to access free of charge in a lot of cases, particularly if you're on job seekers they're free of charge and then a modest contribution for others who might be interested in doing the courses for different reasons and as I said, cater for all age groups really up to you know, people who are retired, people who are self-employed who just want to develop a little bit of skills such as there's a range of options there. Okay, so we're going to take some ads now and then we'll be back with Sean O'Coolan from Tarna Cashel's GA who will be our final guest this evening. Discover the beauty of Calmarabby Nestled in the heart of Connemara 1,000 acres of history, nature and serenity await you Join our series of talks and events Stroll through enchanting woodland paths and take a moment to pause and reflect in the neogothic church Engulsh in homemade delights of the Calmar kitchen and explore the best of Irish brands and local crafts in our craft and design shop Create timeless memories at Calmarabby Plan your visit now at calmarabby.com Calmarabby, a story so timeless it's still being written Working from home, talking to friends and work colleagues children and teenagers, playing games and connecting with friends it's a lot to ask of any broadband connection However, at LightNet we can give you the best broadband connection for your home LightNet high speed broadband offers you the best solution Reliable connectivity, a fixed IP address for stable VPN connection and free high spec award winning WiFi hub for all your broadband needs Call LightNet today 091 395 804 or visit lightnet.ie And you're very welcome back to the programme and I'm delighted to be joined now by our final guest this evening is Sean O'Coolan Sean is Secretary of the Carna Cashel CLG Sean, great plans afoot in Carna Cashel for the development of your facilities for the GAA there can you tell us a little bit first of all about the vision that you have for the facilities in the community Yes, good evening everyone and thanks for having us here and letting us share this news The pitch that we have is there for over 100 years it's served us brilliantly but I suppose looking to the future and trying to cater for all the teams that we have between men's teams, ladies teams, underage teams boys and girls, we need a second pitch we need a training pitch but also it's all part of the preparation for the national in 2028 which is a national event with probably up to over 30 teams 900 footballers and they visit about 10-12,000 spectators visitors to the area over the 2028 bank holiday weekend the whole commerce would be televised live on TGTR and for that we know and we believe that we need two. We need another pitch a pitch with a stand we'll cover for our supporters and for visiting supporters. So phase one of this would be ready, the pitch, the stand, the walkways would be ready for the 2028 commerces and phase two which would be a sports centre work on that would begin after the commerces so the cost for phase one would be 2.5 million and looking to apply for planning permission in this spring for us as a local community we're looking to fundraise between now and then almost 400,000 which is a huge sum but at the moment we've already collected and we've purchased lands adjacent to the pitch in Carnell and this new initiative that we've just announced Cora's Econoclastic Fundraiser it's central to our plans. Excellent, well it's a really impressive plan and you've very clear targets there where you want for the commerces plan and the games sector to have it which you'll be hosting in 2028 to have phase one completed which would consist as you said of the new pitch, the new stand, walkway etc and then obviously the phase two which would come after the commerces would be the sports hall so the estimate you're saying for phase one is 2.5 million you hope to get 80% of that, is that right? through grant aid and then the 20% from contributions is that right? Yes and that's it and we're looking to over the next collect almost 400,000 for that our main plan is Cora's Econoclastic Fundraiser which we have seen work elsewhere in the country and what it is for us looking at it for the next five years we're hoping to get 250 subscribers families, households and individuals to sign up and contribute the equivalent of about five a week so that's 250 people for five years and that's equivalent to about €310,000 so it's achievable and we're looking at our local community here looking to sign up all current and past club members and players and also local families and households who are now or once connected to this club but also looking outside the local area and for people we know are scattered all over the world and just want to reconnect in some way with the home area and contribute to the fund so we see that building a new football pitch and stand doesn't happen that often and we have lasted over 100 years and we know it's a huge ask but it's an opportunity for the community at home and abroad to come together and build something that's more than just a once in a generation project, but it's a once in a century project and will last and it's as simple as we can to people because I think it's important that people know exactly what they're signing up to, you know, it's 250 people now if we can get more, we hope to get more, even better but we've set ourselves a target of 250 people paying €250 a year for five years and that will bring us €310,000, a huge ask but I believe once there's a feasible plan and a good committee selling that plan nearly all communities will come up and back it and so at the moment so Sean, you're very much looking for for those, you want to try and get your 250 people who will subscribe to that so if there's any of our audience now, anyone who wants to contribute to it, who wants to become one of those 250 subscribers how would they go about it? I suppose for those who are on social media and follow local events, I think you plan to help find the ad or find information so it's all on the local CarniCasual, CarniCasual social media accounts, but also we have our website CarniCasual and through those you can pay online go to your Stripe account, so it is easy there is a receipt there so you'll always see what you've paid in and the receipt will come out and it sets itself up, once you make the first payment through Stripe you can do it for a year or two or three or four or five so that's the easy way, the other way then of course for people who prefer to pay in cash they can just make contact with any local committee member there's one of us, between Casual and Recess down to CarniCasual, there's one or two people on the 16 person committee, so there's plenty of people local there ask a question and you'll find us and also for that, as well as that fund paying into a fund, there's a yearly draw each Christmas there'll be a yearly draw, depending on how many subscribers we get, but if we get 250 we believe we can get 5000-1000 euro prizes at the end of each year just as an extra incentive, no one's going to refuse free money at Christmas time, so we felt that that was a good way to pay something back to the community and there's also an initiative there for people who just want to back in the community, but there's also a chance to get something back, and also special acknowledgment of those who support the fund for 5 years there'll be a club wall at the pitch down in Carni, and those who subscribe for 5 years will get an opportunity to have their name or their family's name or some message put on the wall Fantastic, so that's the annual draw there with the cash prizes really provides an opportunity for some people to get their money back, really, if they were lucky enough to win that as well so there's that element, and that's a nice touch as well, the club wall which is to acknowledge everyone who is a subscriber and who makes that contribution so look, that's really, it's great to see that vision it's a very clear vision, very clear targets there that you've set for yourselves It's probably the June bank holiday weekend isn't it? It is, yes, and I hope that we have grass to be feeded long before that Long before that, exactly, so it's all ready to June 2028 will be the culmination of all this work and obviously a huge amount to be done in the meantime but I think it's a really interesting initiative It breaks down, Sean, as you said, about a five hour week for five years, which I know it does add up, but it's still a price of a point as well, to make a long-standing and lasting contribution to the community in Carnegie Castle and to the wider structure Yes, it's to share the cost I know there is a €250 a year and that person would pay €1,250 over the course of five years but when a community can come together and we're a small community and we're scattered all over the globe when we all come together, we can build something really important and something that will last a chest of time Sean, happy new year to you, best of luck with that initiative to everyone in Carnegie Castle and I hope it really goes well for you in 2025 We look forward to hearing from you on our community radio and the progress that you make over the years ahead Thank you very much, Ron