New group aims to help local authority area residents

A new group which has set up in Mullingar, has stated that its aims are to 'identify and respond' to the needs of five local authority housing areas in town - Grange, D"Alton Park, Ennell Court, Farran and Raithín.Mullingar Community Together (MCT) is made up of volunteers from the various estates involved, as well as representatives from statutory bodies.On Wednesday morning, a number of training courses for the membership was held, at the Riverside Centre in D"Alton Park, and following the course, MCT chairperson, RSM Noel O"Callaghan addressed a gathering at the Parish Community Centre.'This is as good a beginning as I have seen for any group I have been involved in for a long time,' he said, explaining that members of MCT were anxious to let the residents of the target areas know that there was now a movement 'on the ground' to help identify and address issues affecting those areas, such as, for example, the question of social inclusion.The volunteers in MCT comprise three representatives from each area, representing the local residents, the childcare sector, and the local 'community houses', while the statutory agencies involved are Mullingar Youth Project, the VEC, Westmeath County Council, An Garda Síochána, the HSE, Westmeath Community Development Ltd., the Open Door Project and FÁS.Said RSM O"Callaghan, there are the residents of the five target areas must work as a key part of MCT.' If you are really interested in the development of your area, and the health and prosperity of your children, your young people and your elderly, then you must work as a key partner with MCT.'The key is in the name 'Mullingar Community Together', for it is only by working together that we can succeed.'We see this as a productive move, particularly in what"s been a bad year for those areas,' he said.However, he continued, the 'unsung heros' of the past year had been those parents who had ensured their children were not involved in any of the problems, and who had kept their children indoors when the trouble was going on.Rosie Monaghan, secretary of MCT, said funding has already been secured for two caretaking posts.