Dundalk Men's Shed find a new home
After months of hard work and negotiations, Dundalk Men’s Shed are in the process of setting up a new home at Muirhevnamor.
The Men’s Shed had been told that they had to move from their original base in Seatown to accommodate a new St John of God day service at the location and there had been fears the group would be left without a premises.
However, with the help of Louth County Council, local politicians, the Muirhevnamor Community Gardens Committee and the members themselves, the group will now have a new home on the community gardens site at Hoey’s Lane, Dundalk.
“We’ve had huge support from Louth County Council senior staff, Councillor Kevin Meenan, chair Dundalk Municipal Council, and Deputy Ruairi Ó Murchú,” said Peter O’Neill chairman of Dundalk Men’s Shed.
“Shed members Brian Byrne and Chris McShane have put a lot of work into this move and I’d like to thank them for all that work.
“We are waiting to move into temporary accommodation on the site and to develop a project from there.
“In the meantime, Dundalk Youth Centre at Roden Place has generously offered us the part-time use of their premises.
Dundalk Men’s Shed treasurer, Brian Byrne, said the move was bitter sweet:
“It’s a difficult time for all our members. We have been in Seatown for over ten years.
“We’ll miss the place and our great neighbours, but with the support of Louth County Council and the Youth Centre, we now have a real opportunity to build for the future.”
Secretary of the shed, Gene Yore, said the move was many months in the making and the focus would now be on creating a new home for the group:
“We will be working with the community in that area towards getting funding to have something more substantial and practical.
“We have been working with Louth County Council on this for the last six months to a year.
“We’ve got a lot of help from Kevin Meenan and Ruairi O’Murchu.
Gene says that a lot of work has gone into getting the site and praises, in particular, Joe McGuinness, Director of Services at Louth County Council for all his help and support.
“We’ve been working on this for 6-9 months and the Council is all for it because it gives them an opportunity to support the local community and support their age friendly policy because they were the first Council in the country to introduce [the policy].
Gene says the shed has seen an increase in members since Covid:
“We’ve seen an increase in people since covid who actually do need this [service], because it’s all about mental health and social access and I think a lot of people experienced a lot of different things during the pandemic.
“They would be getting professional advice or GP advice and we are getting a lot of referrals and I think that since the pandemic we’ve realised more how necessary it is.
“I think the people of Dundalk and district know that as well, because when we would be out on our flag days or have the choir out on some social event, the amount of support we get from people is tremendous.
“It is something that is a growing necessity because I think loneliness and isolation are a growing problem in society regardless of the age or gender of people.”
He added, “this is the perfect outlet for that. That’s why we’re glad to have the support of the county council because they know how to get things off the ground and when we needed their help, they were there.
“It’s a winner all round for everyone in the community and the council who serve the community.”
The Men’s Shed say they are tremendously grateful to Dundalk businessman, Mr Joe Mulholland, for his great support.
“He got all our machinery removed and stored and we can’t thank him enough for his huge generosity.”