Firstly congratulations to Blarney Community Associations who held the very successful music day on Saturday March 18th. The weather gods shined down and a great day was had by all. The organisation of the day was impeccable and thanks to the Community Association, Sgt Mark Dempsey and Blarney Gardai, Blarney Castle Hotel, and The Muskerry Arms. Cork City Council provided the funding for the day along with ward funding provided by Cllr Sheehan and myself.
Good news in that planning was granted for the Sunset Ridge site. I have been working with all parties to make this happen and hopefully we will see the eyesore that is the ruin, knocked to the ground and a suitable development of housing and retail units put in. The plans are freely available to view on the Cork City Council planning website and look very impressive.
The old building of Scoil Mhuire gan Smal attracted a lot of visitors for its open day. The new school is a hugely impressive building with the sort of facilities that students deserve, all extra-curricular will be catered for with a theatre and pitch in the build. I visited the old building on the open day along with my brother, a past pupil. The pictures on display evoked a lot of memories and it was fascinating to hear the stories.
The Bus Éireann portal has now opened for new applications for school transport for the 2023/24 school year, closing date for new applications is Friday April 28th. New applications made after this deadline date will be deemed late and families are not guaranteed a seat. Payment/medical card details for all pupils who wish to be considered for the allocation of a ticket can be submitted between April 3rd and June 9th 2023. It is important to ensure that payments/medical card details are submitted for new applicants and also for pupils who have previously applied/availed of school transport and require a seat on a service for the coming school year. Children (who are eligible for school transport) with valid medical cards (GMS Scheme) are exempt from paying the annual charge, however their medical card details must be submitted. Updates can be found on Gov.ie (link to School Transport) and on buseireann.ie.
Many congratulations to the local ICA and St Vincent de Paul who put on an excellent fashion show on March 29th. They style was incredible and MC on the night, Annette Enright, did a wonderful job of keeping the whole thing flowing. I visited briefly and the craic was mighty!
The bus connects project for Cork was updated further and the NTA have rightly reconsidered the Sundays Well portion of the project. The plan for Sundays Well was , in a practical sense, unworkable. This has no bearing on the provision of the new bus services for Kerrypike and the connection between Cloghroe and Ballincollig. They are still planned for delivery, with work on them starting later this year. At a recent meeting with Bus Eireann we were told that at least 100 more drivers will be required over the course of the next 2 years to deliver what is promised.
As always if I can be of assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me Kind regards, Damian