Carrigaline Lions Club

Providing a purpose-built facility for the youth of Carrigaline

Carrigaline & District Lions Club held a launch event for the new Carrigaline Lions Youth Centre Project on Thursday, 13th November in the Carrigaline Court Hotel. Over 100 people attended the event including representatives from a large number of clubs and organisations in Carrigaline, particularly those involved in working with youth. Guest of honour was Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney T.D. who spoke about this exciting development for Carrigaline. Other speakers included Cllr. Seamus McGrath representing County Mayor Alan Coleman; Chairman of SECAD, John Horgan; Chairman of Carrigaline Lions Youth Project, Sean Duggan and Lions Club President, Patrick Coughlan. The speakers were followed by a presentation from Kieran Barry of KJB & Associates which provided some insight into the design of the building and  included a virtual tour of the new facility. In keeping with the youth theme of the evening, it was great to have a group of young musicians from Carrigaline Community School called Melodramatix who provided the entertainment. Their final song Feeling Good with the line “it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day” was particularly appropriate.

The Case For A Youth Centre

Melodramitix from CCS

Carrigaline is a satellite town to Cork City which, in little over a generation, has developed from a village that had a population of circa. 1,000 people to a town of 15,000 people with a lack of developed facilities for its young people outside the realm of sport. Currently the youth of Carrigaline have no one location to safely spend time in, they are reduced to loitering in shopping centres, car parks or in Cafe’s which in turn can lead to antisocial behaviour, however minor. This problem is exacerbated during times of bad weather and short winter days.

A building for the next generation…

The Lions Club of Carrigaline believe that young people in our community deserve and need a dedicated building where they can spend time in a safe, secure environment that would also act as a conduit for educational programmes in areas such as mental health, music, entrepreneurship, nutrition and more.

The Carrigaline Youth Centre will provide state of the art facilities for the young people of Carrigaline. The project to build the Youth Centre was initiated and is being managed by the Carrigaline & District Lions Club. Over the past three years, members of the club have spent a great deal of time and effort in bringing the project to its current state. This included determining requirements, finding a site, getting funding, commissioning design proposals and obtaining planning permission. Construction started in June 2014 and the building is expected to open in Spring 2015.

The Challenge Ahead

Sean Duggan, Chairman of Carrigaline Lions Youth Project; Patrick Coughlan, Lions Club President; Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Kieran Barry of KJB & Associates pictured with a model of the new Youth Centre

Over the next few years, the Lions Club will continue to work hard at raising the necessary funds to service the capital debt of almost €300,000 for the building through a combination of looking for corporate donations/sponsorship and raising funds from various charity events. An exciting array of upcoming events are being planned to raise funds for the project including a Carol Concert with the Cork Symphony Orchestra in the Church of Our Lady and St. John on Sunday, December 21st at 8pm. The Carrigaline Lions Club looks forward to the continued support of the residents and business community in the Carrigaline area together with the ongoing assistance of the industries based in the Lower Harbour.

In addition to fund raising, the Lions Club will work with partners such as Foróige and other interested groups to put in place a robust and responsive management structure for the new Youth Centre to ensure that its potential is maximised and that it caters for the needs of young people in Carrigaline.

Tags: Youth Centre