New facility for local senior citizens

SENIOR citizens in the Dublin 17 area received a boost recently after a building was donated for a day care facility.

For the past few months, the Darndale Belcamp Village Centre has been working towards putting a new senior centre and day care facility for older people in its car park area.

A generous donor gifted the 2,600 square foot building to the village centre, and it was delivered in May.

Nicko Murphy, PRO for the Darndale Belcamp Village Centre, told Northside People:

“This is an exciting project and we look forward to opening the doors of this fantastic facility by December.

“Once the centre is in operation we will have 20 full-time day care places with drop in facilities also available.

“This is a great step forward for the whole community. At the moment there are 354 members registered with us who avail of our services on a daily basis, this number is constantly growing.

“In 2012, our Care and Repair team delivered 3,748 hours of work in the homes of older people, 80 per cent of these hours were delivered to older people living in Darndale and Belcamp.

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Mr Murphy said the new building would enable them to provide even more services to older people living in the area.

“We plan to have a reception area, assisted shower facilities, kitchen, utility room, activity space, quiet room, and a dining area,

? he stated.

“Our team is currently doing the refurbishments inside the building and preparing it for the next phase of construction.

“We believe it will become a resource and an asset for the entire community.

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Mr Murphy added:

“We will keep the community updated as the project develops.

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In another boost for the centre, it has been announced that the Department of Social Protection will provide staff for the facility.

In a letter to local Senator Averil Power (FF), the Department advised that 15 community employment places have been approved for the initiative.

“I am absolutely delighted that these places have been approved,

? said Senator Power.

“Dublin 17 has a huge population of older people, with over 1,600 residents over the age of 65.

“Darndale Belcamp Village Centre runs a number of excellent programmes from their current premises but is limited by space constraints.

“With new facilities and extra staffing, it will be able to provide a much wider range of services for a greater number of people.

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Senator Power commended Linda Hayden, manager of the Darndale Village Centre, and all her team on the

“huge work

? that they have put into the initiative.

“They have worked incredibly hard to get this proposal off the ground,

? she said.

“They have secured a donation of a temporary building and raised much of the money needed to kit it out.

“After lobbying the Minister to approve their staffing application, I was delighted to hear that it has been approved.

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Senator Power added:

“I will continue to work with Linda and all the staff at the centre to help them get the rest of the funding and personnel they need to make this badly needed facility a reality.

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