Making Cootehill the ‘most accessible town’

Cootehill Town Team was set up just over eight years ago and is now embarking upon its second five-year plan to progress the town.

Chairperson of the group, Mary Brigid Duffy, explained the aim for this year is to make Cootehill “even bigger and better” and to “get out there and give people a voice”.

The committee consists of eight members and multiple subgroups. One such subgroup is the Accessibility Subgroup, which has a huge goal in mind – making Cootehill “the most accessible town in Ireland”.

The group works on “the practical stuff” identifying issues that hinder people using the town with ease.

Along with members of the local community, the group organise ‘walkability’ audits, where people walk around the town and photogrpah areas or items that are causing an obstruction. They then re-group to discuss the issue and solutions. They have obtained Town and Village funding to repair footpaths, making crossing roads easier and ensuring there are curved areas in the footpaths, making the town accessible to wheelchair users and those pushing buggies or prams.

The organisation has become involved in different events such as the ‘Back in Five’ initiative, where you block off parking spaces and leave a sign saying ‘Back in Five.’

“It’s all about people realising that when they park in a blue parking space for a disabled driver, they are really causing an inconvenience to people who cannot park anywhere else,” Mary Brigid explained, detailing reasons such as “only popping into the chemist for five minutes” as never being acceptable.

“We have also been involved in getting accessible equipment for the playground,” she said, explaining the playground is currently undergoing renovations and will include sensory equipment so children of all ages can benefit.

Another subgroup of the committee is the Social and Community Subgroup which carried out a large-scale community needs analysis “exploring issues and needs among the most vulnerable in our community”.

The group provided a lot of support during the COVID-19 pandemic with a food bank, phone and delivery supports for people.

“Volunteers were linked up with elderly people who would usually have attended the day care centre,” Mary Brigid said, explaining they called a few times weekly “literally just for a chat”.

A party recently took place in the Day Care Centre where people providing phone support got to meet people they were speaking with for the first time.

“It was a lovely event,” she said.

The Economic and Heritage subgroup provides supports for small businesses. The presence of Hub Muinchille provides “a base in town” for businesses which don’t have their own office space.

“They have floors upstairs in Hub Muinchille, which were initially intended as meeting rooms,” she said, explaining how they are now used for small businesses providing “a base in town”.

These are just some of the projects the committee are working on, bringing services and facilities to the community.

Mary Brigid said the Cootehill Town Team is “open to anybody to get involved” for those who wish to help with “the stuff that you don’t realise that has to be done”.