THIRTY-FIVE WICKLOW VOLUNTEERS CREATE MASKS 4 ALL IRELAND
OVER 3,000 facemasks created by volunteers throughout the county have been donated to local organisations dealing with vulnerable people in the community during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Masks 4 All Ireland was originally established by Mary Murphy, who currently lives in Derry but is originally from Redcross.
There are now over 3,000 members of the group working to create the safest standard of facemasks possible that can protect frontline workers.
A Wicklow hub has been established which features around 35 volunteers across the county.
Niamh Ni Cholmain of Rathdrum, who is leading the Wicklow campaign, said: ‘We are a sub group or hub of the Masks 4 All Ireland group. There are around 35 of us collaborating to get fabrics and sew the masks.
‘The masks are going to health care workers and organisations and people who deal with the most vulnerable members of the community, such as Meals on Wheels and Cancer Support groups.
‘There are different teams in the county working away and we are all pulling together. Local organisations from Wicklow have received over 3,000 masks and we also sent 400 facemasks to hospitals in Dublin.’
Volunteers making the masks have quickly found themselves running out of the necessary materials, mainly 100 per cent cotton materials and elastic. Any donations will be gratefully accepted and any funding raised will be used directly by the Wicklow hub to purchase much needed fabric and elastic.
‘We urgently need materials,’ said Niamh.
‘It has to be 100 per cent cotton so the masks can be washed and reused.
Everyone has used up their own fabric supply. We also need elastic, which is proving difficult to come across.
‘Most people probably know someone who has a stash of fabric, maybe a granny or auntie. We received a very generous donation recently from a local company which should last us to the end of the week.
‘By establishing a hub in Wicklow we can fundraise more locally and purchase the materials as we need them. Any funding or donation will be used exclusively for the purchase of fabric and elastic.’
Anyone who may be in a position to help the Wicklow volunteers can email wicklowmasks@gmail.com, visit the group’s Facebook page or contact Niamh directly on (085) 1445209.
THE public are being asked to conserve water in the months ahead and not to water gardens or wash cars, patios and driveways.
Irish Water and Wicklow County Council are asking the public, both householders and businesses to help in maintaining vital water and wastewater services by conserving water, where possible.
In particular, non-domestic customers are asked to turn off all non-essential water in buildings which are not going to be in use for a period of time, including, for example, the automatic flushing of urinals. Domestic users are asked to refrain from using hose pipes for watering gardens or washing cars.
Leak detection staff and meter readers, who had been stood down due to Covid-19 restrictions, have been recalled to work to establish the extent of water demand. Water usage has increased by 20 per cent since February.
Members of the public can report leaks to 1850 278 278.