Duhallow News
LEADER in the community Spotlight on: Mount Hillary Holiday Pods
The Duhallow region is stepped in natural beauty offering incredible holiday experiences to visitors including its rich culture & heritage, outdoor pursuits and outdoor activities including a fantastic walking trail infrastructure. Tourism has a significant role to play in the development of Duhallow. With the aid of LEADER funding, Mount Hilary Holiday Pods were established and are a welcomed addition to the Rural Tourism Product of the Duhallow region. Located in Banteer, Co. Cork, at the foot of Mount Hilary, these three fully contained holiday pods enhance rural tourism and promote walks on Mount Hilary which is located South East of Banteer village and consists of three different looped walks.
Further, this offering will help combat the accommodation shortage in Duhallow. The holiday pods were carefully designed and constructed to fit the natural landscape around them with the intention of bringing visitor close to nature providing a glamping experience. It is hoped that the development will further stimulate the local economy including local shops, restaurants and pubs, and further
tourism providers that are located in the area as well as create new, seasonal employment in the area including management, housekeeping and maintenance.
#SICAPstories IRD Duhallow’s Friendly Phone call Service IRD Duhallow’s Friendly Phone call Service counteracts the impact of social isolation and loneliness felt by people in Duhallow. This free service helps to give those in need of support, a greater sense of social inclusion, helping to reduce isolation and loneliness. This service was particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic when redeployed staff and trained volunteers from IRD Duhallow made weekly phone calls to over 700 people during this time whereby referrals were also received from the national organisation Alone. Many of these using the services during the COVID-19
pandemic in particular, requested to be included in the friendly-call service, while others already on it have asked for more frequent and longer-lasting calls. IRD Duhallow responded to the issues of loneliness and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering their message on national media with our report of the impact of COVID-19 on Older People making the front page of the Irish Examiner and Maura Walsh our CEO delivered the message on a feature with Dr. Ciara Kelly on Newstalk. It also attracted the interest of local media with C103FM, Kerry Radio and Tipp FM all featuring the findings of the report. For further information on this fantastic service, contact Bríghid-
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DiscoverDuhallow@irdduhallow.com
Íde Walsh on 029-60633.
The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) 2018 – 2022 provides funding to tackle poverty and social exclusion through local engagement and partnerships between disadvantaged individuals, community organisations and public sector agencies. Administered by Pobal and funded by the Irish Government through the Department of Rural and Community Development, it also receives funding from the European Social Fund under the Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning (PEIL) 2014-2020.
Issue 70 August 12th, 2022
