Challenges have ‘utterly changed’ for IRD
AT the recently held, IRD Duhallow AGM, its CEO, Maura Walsh, said in reviewing the operations of the company over the past year that the challenges have “utterly changed” in the context in which they operate.
“But we can record preformances in other programmes in the past year, “she said. She said their Life Raptor programe, under the expert project management of Eileen Linehan, has seen over 20 farmes sign up to conservation measures which are desigend to enhance the habitat of the rare hen harrier, merlin, salmon and lamprey, while enabling agriculture to continue.
They have joined with the NPWS (National Parks and Wildlife Services) to tag young birds so their progreess can be tracked.
However, she pointed out that the threat of “yet another huge wind farm” looms over the community as well as the birds. She was referring to the Silverbirch Renewables Ltd application to erect 14 wind turbines across 15 individual holdings in the Ballydesmond and Gneeveguilla region.
This is now with An Bord Pleanala for a decision.
She outlined how their Life Raptor team has fenced 19 kilometres of river bank, removed 80 kilometres of Himalayan Balsam and treated 25 kilometres of the dreaded Japanese Knotweed.
The Skillnets programme has gone from “strength to strength” with the number trained in the past year almost trebling to 685 trainees and 245 rural business have now joined their network.
IRD Duhallow’s Warmer Homes Programme now has the tender for an extended area of North Cork and all of County Kerry.
“Our teams also carry out insulation work to community buildings with 32 communty halls completed in the last five years,” she said.
She said IRD Duuahllow believes that community enterprises, through the development and support of a vibrant social economy is the way forward for rural areas.
“Essential services that are not economically viable due to sparse populatons and economies of scale, while meeting international standards and regulations can best be delivered through community organisations that have the capacity to meet these standards and regulations,” she said.
By way of example, she pointed to the eight community creches in Duhallow and the sheltered housing projects.
“More centralised responses are sometimes appropriate and pojects like the warmer homes, furniture revamp, rural meals service are best operated at a central specialised centre but made accessible to all rural dwellers in the wider Duhallow region,” she said.
She thanked all of her staff for their Trojan work over the past year with so many who went above the call of duty to deliver excellent outcomes.