The Westside area of Galway city is an area with a very strong ethos of community development, and a new resource centre under construction will house a wide variety of services and activities in a "one-stop-shop" setting.
Parents will be able to drop their children off at the centre's creche or preschool, pop in to see the public health nurse, get advice on social welfare entitlements and attend their weekly women's or men's group, all under one roof.
The project has been funded by the Department for Social, Community and Family Affairs, the Western Health Board, Galway City Partnership and the Department of Health and Children.
The Westside Resource Centre was set up in 1992 to combat social disadvantage in an area which at the time was the city's unemployment blackspot. The past eight years have seen a variety of new initiatives such as men's and women's groups, a community newsletter and a creche and preschool, but these are currently scattered throughout the Westside.
When Dr Trish O'Flynn, a Western Health Board project leader with the Westside Neighbourhood Youth Project, said the local community identified the need for a building to house all these activities.
She explained: "There have been a few individuals who have worked extremely hard and are very community-minded. They have spearheaded a lot of things in the Westside area. It's the same people you find on a lot of committees.
"It's a very progressive community and for 10 years they also had an excellent priest, Father Martin Glynn, who was hugely involved in community development." A site behind the Westside Community Centre on Seamas Quirke Road was donated by Galway Corporation, and the rest is history.
The Western Health Board will have offices in the building, as will Youth Action and the Local Employment Services Network. The centre will also offer a drop-in service for teenagers, a meeting space for local community groups and perhaps in time a Garda sub-office.
Deirdre Cummins, the co-ordinator of the centre, explained: "The whole ethos of the centre is anti-disadvantage and community-building. Our aims are very simple."
Members of the group recently wrote and produced a play called Road To Nowhere, which ran for three nights in a local school.
The creche and pre-school have also proved very popular, and last month alone 500 sessions of childcare were provided to parents at a minimal charge. This frees parents to get involved in other areas of development or to take up courses.
The bimonthly community newsletter produced by local people is used to advertise services and events as well as announcements and items of local interest.
Ms Cummins commented: "There seems to be great excitement about the new centre. We are seeing huge growth in the Westside in general. The Rahoon flats have been knocked, new houses and a hotel are being built and the Westside Boxing Club is nearly ready. The whole area is being redeveloped."
