New Balyna Women’s Shed

A new Women’s Shed for the community of Balyna and surrounding areas was formed recently and they held their first event in Cadamstown Hall last week with support from Local Property Tax community funding. The formation of the group was facilitated by the excellent team in the BREDA Centre in Johnstownbridge, and Doreen Daly and…

Carbury Active Retirement

One of the highlights of my year was working with Richie from Carbury GAA, Doreen from Kildare County Council and Saskia and Maureen from Active Retirement Ireland to help establish the new Carbury Active Retirement group. It would not have been possible at all without the enthusiasm and dedication of Ciara Clancy, who along with…

School Walk Bollards

Thanks to our local council roads team for installing new bollards at School Walk and in the lane to Whitethorn Park in Allenwood. Earlier this year, concerned residents raised the issue of vehicles using the footpath with the council’s community liaison team, Doreen & Keith, and I asked for bollards to be put in place…

New Homes in Coill Dubh

I see that groundwork has started for the housing project at Coill Dubh near the soccer field, which will deliver 10 hew homes to the area. The soccer field will remain in place and plans have been made for proper pedestrian access to the field from the village, in place of the old entrance through…

Light at Willow Lawns

Thanks to the ESB for sorting out the tree at Willow Lawns Kilmeague and thanks to Lorna from the Tidy Towns for working with me on the problem. The path down to the village should be a good bit safer this winter now that the light is reaching it. There are some timber cuttings to…

€500,000 for Robertstown Eco-park

Massive congratulations to Robertstown Community Amenities Association on the awarding of €500,000 towards their eco-park project beside the Grand Canal Greenway in the village. Minister Martin Heydon and I met with Minister Heather Humphreys on the Grand Canal in March and we stressed the importance of providing canal side amenities to enhance the greenways and…

ACDAL €300,000 Grant

Well done to Cara and all the team in ACDAL Allenwood on their successful application for €300,000 for more upgrades to their enterprise centre. They provide remote working hubs and office space, as well as conference and meeting rooms, and support local community groups such as Na Fianna Ladies GFC, Allenwood Tidy Towns, Na Fianna…

LBDC Community Art

The LBDC Community Alert Art competition returned this year and the theme was in appreciation of the local Community First Responder group which was set up earlier in the year. The quality of entries was great and there was a big turnout for the awards ceremony which was hosted by Lullymore Heritage & Discovery Park….

BREDA Centre Computer Upgrade

I was happy to assist the BREDA Community Resource Centre in Johnstownbridge recently with the upgrade of their computer systems. Kildare County Council were kindly able to provide some out of warranty PCs that were more powerful than the ones being used in the centre. The BREDA centre also initiated the setting up of a…

Brockagh Cross Road Safety

There have been a number of near misses at Brockagh Cross in the last few years and some of the people that have been in touch with me were very lucky to avoid serious injury. They were mostly caused by drivers coming from the Coill Dubh or Robertstown directions and going straight through the cross…