Community Matters 22oct2024

Nihal O'Kane, owner of Coins Gastropub in Kilkieran, talks about the struggles facing the hospitality sector, particularly in rural areas. He highlights the lack of support from the government and the disconnect between Dublin and the rest of the country. O'Kane mentions the impact of COVID, increases in VAT and other expenses, and the closures of many businesses. He believes that the government needs to make changes, such as reducing excise rates and supporting the industry more effectively. Community Matters is kindly sponsored by Connemara Credit Union Limited, incorporating Clifton, Tully Cross and Carnda branches. Connemara Credit Union is here to serve the people of the Connemara area. Main office, Clifton and Tully Cross branch, 09521101. Right, thanks Mary for a great show there as always. This is Community Matters. I'm with me, Brendan O'Skell, and I hope you're going to stay with me for the program. Coming up shortly, we have an interview with Nihal O'Kind, who is the owner of Coins gastropub in Kilkieron, where they're talking about the hospitality section struggling to survive. Maureen Maloney, pensions researcher and retired from the University of Galway, was going to be with us in the studio to talk about the Automatic Enrollment Retirement Savings Systems Act. This is the second part from last week's program. Vivian Dee, PROO of GLC, Carnda Cashel, talking about funding for development of Pitch locally. And then Eileen Davis, the Diaspora Officer with Carnda Immigration and Diaspora Centre, is going to talk about phase two of development at that particular centre. So plenty of the Carnda Cashel area being covered in tonight's program. But we are going to go to this recording with Nihal that was on earlier today because he was a busy man. So we're going to go with this interview with Nihal just now. Well, we saw a piece of the paper which said that public and war and wild that way will just become a civic drive with no stops. To find out a bit more about this, I'm delighted to welcome Nihal O'Kane from Coins Gastropub at Kilkieron. Nihal, you're very welcome to the program here tonight. Thanks very much. Thanks for having me. Now, I know you were one of the people that went to Dublin to protest at Leinster House, but just tell me a little bit about your own business first, I suppose, Coins Gastropub. Well, it was established back in the 1890s by the Conroys of Gariffin. And that's gone through, you know, generation to generation. So I took it over there. My wife and I took it over in 2000 when I married and we just changed the dynamic of it where it was more like a food led business and my wife being a chef. And that's where the Gastropub idea came from. But really that didn't come to fruition until after Covid. I was quite ill and I was trying to stream it up again. So we built an extension outside as part of that eating outside. You know, that pushed my thoughts out at the time to get people to, you know, sit outside bars and so on. And then we put in a pantry and then we really went with the food aspect of it because we deal primarily homemade goods from the organic wines, craft beers. You know, again, give that taste of Ireland to people that are coming to visit. Not just Irish people coming to visit Côte d'Ivoire, but international tourists as well. Now, you were to take part in this event up at Dublin at the Dáil, at Leinster House. What kind of reaction did you get from the politicians or from the public up there? Okay, the way it is, as I say, if we look at, take the big picture. Now, since the economic crash, I suppose really, and I'm going back a few years there now, there's been kind of an attack on various strands of Irish business society, you know, Irish society, or maybe predominantly rural Irish society, you might say, so, you know, like that. What I mean by that is, I say, you know, one year it was the post offices were under threat. Another year it was the national schools. Another year it was the garden stations were closing and so on. But I find that since COVID, there's been a continued lack of support for hospitality businesses, especially in rural areas. The reaction from the politicians was supportive. But you have to remember, though, these politicians are governed by a party whip. So when they go in, they can say what they want and support you about what you want. When they sit in the Dáil, they have to follow what they're told. So there's that as well. So I suppose the public, you might say, are very supportive of rural businesses. They recognise the importance of the hospitality industry. But I think there's a disconnect between Dublin and the rest of the country, especially when it comes to the attitude of hospitality. The increases that have happened. I see myself, as an Irish, I say, you know, when I mentioned we set up a gastropub, when you look at now, bad timing, because we had the war in Ukraine, we had COVID, there's been increases since then regarding VAT, regarding pay, regarding pensions. By the way, I'm the guy that says that people need to be paid. You know, if you work in hospitality, you work damn hard. And it's important that you get paid properly. That's always been a problem with hospitality, is that workers weren't paid properly. So it's great to see that there's an increase there. But at the end of the day, the pay has to be paid for, has to be met, the various bills and so on and so forth. You know, you have to look at the increases there in petrol, in electricity, in overheads, not just the VAT. The VAT for you is the final nail in the coffin, that the government should look at it. And they did say that they would engage. That chap there, Peter Burke, did try and see could he reduce the VAT down to 9%. But Leo Gradker always said that was a temporary measure. Well, as temporary as it is, it's certainly done its damage now, you know. And the only thing I have is that, say, if we talk about, and that was always the white Atlantic way. Everyone has thought about, say, hospitality. But you have to understand that, say, when Brian Quinn, I mentioned him at False Ireland, began this, roughly around 2010, 2011, those meetings there in Peacock were all invited. And all Brian Quinn said, we are going to build this route. What are you going to do? And people like myself saw the chance, because I've done it with Huron. I'm not in Clifton, I'm not in Roundstone. You know, I say the typical rural hotbeds, and I don't even cry more. Like, I'm well off the beaten track. But what we have now is that with the white Atlantic way, we embraced it, we tailored our product towards it, and towards people coming to visit, and we have a picture of it. But now, you can see just how expensive it is. In the middle of it, you can have prices. And they'll be like, 612 restaurants. Just put that. Just think about all the jobs. Never mind the jobs. Think about the good people that worked in them. Because if you work in hospitality, it's not a job. It's something you love to do. You're a people person. You're going out. You're showcasing the place where you work. You're showcasing the community in which you're living. And now they're just being allowed to close as kind of, like, tough. So now, like, I suppose, if you look at it, it's more like survival of the fittest. And that was never the way. We used to say one time that a yard of a counter was worth more than an acre of land. You can safely say that that's well and truly gone now. Then, of course, then, it's different in towns. It's different in cities where, you know, it's actually, they're pretty busier. I don't know if that's a grand plan that the government has, that they'd like to see that, you know, rural areas are wiped out and basically that they just, like, put them out and turned into a park. And that's my fear of the white Atlantic way. The white Atlantic way was geared to bring tourists out of the, I suppose, the urban hotbeds where you have the hotels, you have the services, and embrace that country living, that country way of life. And we embraced it here. But now, you can safely say that with a lot of businesses are closing, not just monthly or annually, it's weekly now. Like, you might have looked there in Uxbridge, there's a place there, Camille's Cafe is gone. There's another place there. So, every name in these places is terrible. Because what you've lost there is that you've lost people who are working and good people at that, but also people who are invested in the community. So, I don't know what that disconnect is. And that's why I travel. I met Concurren at six in the morning. I teach in GRETB because I have to take on... I took on a second job because, basically, during the week, you know, my business wasn't thriving, especially in winter. But as I did those, I worked, I teach, I used to teach in Claremont Raview, the HIPS teacher, and now I teach in Further Education. But the point I'm saying is that I drove to Eppinrye, I gave a lecture on Irish history, I drove to Dublin, I marched, and I came back down, and I gave another lecture on Irish history, and then I drove home. Then I got home around two in the morning, but it was worth it. Because people in hospitality have to... Now, they have to stand, I suppose that's the thing, if we don't hang together, we'll certainly hang separately. Yeah, absolutely. You know? And what would your, I suppose, quick fix thing be if you have a kind of a one thing that you think should be done straight away? I think, if there's going to be a quick fix, the governments have to look at what they can change, what they can do. Like, you're looking at a government that has a 13 billion shortfall from Apple, whose exchequer, the rates are, you know, they have more money now than they ever had, if you read the report that you get in the paper. And yet, we have the highest excise rates in Ireland. We have the vaccine industry reduced. There has been a massive overhaul, really, of legislation regarding hospitality. Because it's got such a negative impact. You can only see it, in fact, with the tourist numbers this year. For the first time, I say, we were, you know, every year, they were getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Then we had the so-called, but then it builds up. But this year, where you think that they would jump off, they're down roughly about 20%. Now, I don't know if people in the tourist industry are thinking about this, but I can certainly say, one thing for sure, is that the alarm bells are ringing. It's very easy to lose a good product like tourism. Because people just have to go online and say, well, okay, Ireland's too expensive, let's go somewhere else. And if they go somewhere else, they're not coming back. It doesn't matter how much maxing you do. If there's bad press, if we're seen to be too expensive, that's it. Because people don't, you know, I don't know, people are just careful with their money nowadays, and rightly so. If you're going to look at a menu where, five years ago, for example, the fish and chips were, say, 12, 13 euro, and now it's nearly 20. You know, you have to wonder, and of course, because, and that's no fault of the restaurant. That's fault of the fact that you have increases across the board regarding food products, the overhead, insurance, you name it. It's all an increase, but it has all fallen on the hospitality sector. And as you say, the smaller ones are being probably worse affected. I mean, if you're a very big business, whatever, you can possibly get away with it. Do you know if there are plans to have more protest marches or anything like that, or what? Do you have an idea of what might happen? I would hope so. I know the Restaurant Association have come up with a manifesto, you know, with 10 key points there for the hospitality industry. I think the government didn't take note of the march last week. They're silly. I think that they don't seem to realize that, you know, hospitality owners, you know, they talk to their customers, and their customers vote. So, if it's a thing that they're going to just kind of cocoon them, you know, and use them, and say, well, we're in government now, and you're too obese. Well, I don't know. That doesn't work like that, you know. Ireland has changed where the diehard, if you only see the city landscape, where before you would have people who would vote just, it didn't matter if they were Fianna Fáil, Fianna Gàidhe, it didn't matter what name it was. Just vote for the party. People are smarter now. People are going to vote for the party. They think they'll represent them. And Ireland has changed in the past 20 years. You could say something for the good, you might say something for the bad. But this election is going to definitely be a change, you know, highlight the change that there is in this country. Okay. So, it's a very interesting time ahead for all of the country, but especially for the small businesses. So, I suppose, I know you have to kind of leave us, so I don't want to delay you too much. But what, I suppose, the other thing, what can people do besides yourselves? I mean, you know, we are the people, the customers that go into pubs and restaurants. Have we a role to play in this as well? Well, I hope that people will support their local restaurants, local bars, you know. It's very easy to go to your local shop and buy your take or your off-license or whatever, and I get that, you know. But without people, without bums on seats, these places are going to die. Now, people say then, you know, that we need to, you know, that's what I'm talking about the government. I say, do they need to have that much tax on alcohol? Do they need to put that much of that on food? That places like this, these are going to die, you know. Do they not, do we have to look at some form of regulation regarding overheads in these businesses? Because without these businesses, that's why I keep saying, you won't have a white line, it will just be a drive. And if that's what we want, that will be it. Absolutely. Well, Micheál, thanks a million for being with us this evening. And I say, we'll follow this up again, I've no doubt, in the future. But the best of luck to you and to everybody there. No, because we got through two world wars and whatever, we'll get through this. But it's still a good time to stand up and just say, this has to stop. Absolutely. Stand up if we can't. Okay, Micheál, this has been Bernie Lamarcus. Thank you very much. Bye. Bye. That's Micheál O'Kind there from Coyne's Gastropub there in Kilkearon, talking about the problems that the small businesses are facing. And as he said there, the Wild Atlantic Way will become just a drive with no stops. That's something that we must try and protect against. So keep an eye out for this one. I'm sure we'll be coming back to this subject again. Westport-based seraphodist Martin McNally will be doing home visits in the Connemara area on Thursday the 24th of October. If you would like to make an appointment, please call him on 087-222-6260. Sea Week Adventures for All continues right up until next Monday the 28th of October. Thursday, try kayaking with Connemara Adventure Programme. 12 noon, meet at Abroca Pier. The annual Active Age Dinner takes place in Rossleek Manor House Hotel at 1pm. Friday, come and join the fun and food at the Wild Goat Café for our Connemara Sea Week sensory game with Ballycayle Active Age. Starts at 1pm. Music every evening at Speldon's Seaside Bar. Stay tuned to Connemara Community Radio for daily updates and check out Connemara Sea Week on social media. Full details are available on connemaraseaweek.ie. Leiden's carpets and flooring by Cullen. Huge range of carpets, vinyls, laminates and engineered flooring at competitive prices. Excellent service to the Connemara area since 1994. Call us on 091-555-962 or email leidenscarpets at gmail.com. West Coast Insulation, your local cavity wall and attic insulation specialist. 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Bounce Back Recycling can collect old mattresses and furniture direct from your address. Recycled materials are recovered and diverted from landfill for a more environmentally friendly option. So go green and get in touch today. Collections across Connemara every Friday. Bookings are subject to availability. To get a quote or make a booking call 091-760877, see bouncebackrecycling.ie or message bouncebackrecycling on Facebook. Joyce's Bar and Grocery resets. Services include grocery, wholesalers, petrol and diesel, lottery agents, bar and live music at the weekends. Bar food daily until 6pm. Sunday lunch special serves from 12.30 until 6pm. Call Joyce's on 095-346-58 for more information. When I got up this morning, the house it was a-freezing. I checked the app with one quick tap, the Sweeney Oil Smart Saver. Control your costs and monitor your oil levels with the Sweeney Oil Smart Saver. Call Sweeney Oil on 1-800-555-999 or visit sweeneyoil.ie. Sweeney Oil, I'm Bala Kastioli. You may remember if you were listening in last week that Maureen Corbett had a very interesting conversation with Maureen Maloney about the Automatic Enrollment and Retirement Savings Systems Act. Maureen Maloney of course is a pensions researcher and retires from the University of Galway. Maureen was able to follow on with last week's interview but we're going to look at this week. I think how the small businesses will be affected from the point of view of the business owners themselves. Maureen, you're welcome to us once again here on Calum Martin's radio. Well, thanks for having me back, Brendan. Maureen, before we get into this section, just let's talk a little bit about or look back a little bit about what we have already discussed in this particular subject. Okay. So, as you said, automatic enrollment is a retirement savings scheme and it's designed to help employees to have adequate income. So, it's in addition to the state pension. It's not a replacement for the state pension. So, it will be introduced over a 10-year period so that it's an easier adjustment for both employers and employees. Okay. So, it will make a bit of a change but we'll follow some more about that in a moment. But what's it going to look like, I suppose, from the employer's perspective? So, there's going to be a new authority which is currently being set up. So, this will collect the contributions from the employer, the employee, and from the government and it will invest the money into an account called the Future Fund for each employee. So, the authority is going to operate online portals. So, the first one is for the employee where the employee can manage the opt-in, the opt-out, suspensions of auto-enrollment, and auto-re-enrollment. It will also be the employee's main source of information about their Future Fund. The authority will operate an online portal also for the employers and this is to facilitate the payments and the monitoring of their contributions and that will be accessed through ROS, which is the Revenue Online Services. The authority will also identify which employees are eligible through the revenue payroll data to inform the employer. So, it will be the authority that will tell the employer which employees should be auto-enrolled. So, this is designed to limit the administrative burden for the employer. Okay. And the employees, I mean, which employees will be eligible for this? So, there's three criteria. The employees will be between the ages of 23 and 60. They'll earn €20,000 a year or more across all their employments. So, this means that if an employee has more than one employment and they make over €20,000 per year, each employer will be responsible for the pension contributions on their share of the employee's earnings. So, let's say, for example, the employee earns €30,000 a year, €10,000 from one employer and €20,000 from another employer. The first employer will be responsible for a percentage contribution on €10,000 a year and then the second employer will be responsible for a percentage of the €20,000 per year. The last one is that employees are eligible if they do not have an existing supplementary pension coverage. And by supplementary pension, these are pension coverages that are coming from their employer's payroll. So, an employee who is younger than 20 or older than 60 or earns less than €20,000 a year can opt in. And in that case, the employer will also have to contribute. Okay. So, does this apply to small business owners as well? This will apply to all employers who have eligible employees. So, it's not dependent on size. Okay. Okay. So, I know that you mentioned that there's a change in this, but when will it begin? Yeah, well, there's been lots of changes in it, but it's supposed to begin on the 30th of September 2025. So, that's about 11 months from now. That is the most recent date that we have from the government. So, the introduction has been postponed several times, but now the legislation is in place. So, I think that that date is probably pretty firm. Okay. Okay. And how much does the employer contribute instead? Okay. So, the contributions are going to escalate over the first 10 years of this scheme. So, this was done to give the employers a chance to adjust to the increase in their payroll costs. So, from the 30th of September 2025, employers will contribute 1.5% of gross earnings for all eligible employees. This will increase to 3% in 2028 and to 4.5% in 2031. Then by 2035, employers will contribute 6% of eligible employees' gross pay. Okay. And does anyone else then participate in this? Yes. So, all contributions are based on the employee contributions. So, during the first year, the employees contribute 1.5% of gross earnings matched by the employer contribution of 1.5%, and then the state contributes a half of a percent as a top-up. So, this is a change. The government top-up replaces the tax relief. So, by year six, the contributions will be 6% for employees, 6% for employers and 2% government top-up. Okay. That could be an interesting one. Do employers have to participate in this? They do. So, employers failing to meet auto-enrollment obligations will be subject to penalties and possibly prosecution. The new authority will publish a list of employees convicted for non-compliance offenses. Okay. So, that's the key to the one on the straight and narrow there. Is there any incentive for employers to participate? Yes, there is. The employer contributions will be deducted from corporate taxes. Okay. So, that's very useful for them there. And then do employees have to participate as well? The employees have a choice to contribute, to opt out or to suspend their contributions. If the employee ceases contributing, the employer's contribution and the government top-up will also cease. Okay. And what if the employer does not want to participate? The employer has no choice. The employee does have a choice to participate. So, the employee can opt out or they can suspend their contributions using that employee portal that I was talking about earlier. Employees are then automatically re-enrolled every two years or sooner at the employee's request. But once the employee resumes, then the employer and the government contributions also resume. Okay. Okay. Will this be complicated for the employer then? Is there a lot of work to this? Well, I think pensions are complicated. The system is designed to limit the administrative burdens. However, the employers can anticipate employee questions, particularly when the contributions begin. Okay. And then, I suppose, what are the first steps these employers should be taking? So, if an employer already offers a pension as a benefit, they should contact their pension provider to see if they need to make any adjustments. Also, talk to your payroll provider to see if there are plans in place for auto-enrollment, especially the transfer of funds to the new authority. Talk to your accountant because this will be in addition to cost, and you want to try to figure out how that's going to impact on your business. And then, finally, I've requested that there are websites posted on Connemara Community Radio. So, the best ones to look at are the ones that are the information coming from the government or from citizens' information. Okay. Now, I know last week when you were talking about this, the whole idea, I suppose, is that the less people are going to be working in the future because of the changes in all of this. Is pensions a very big problem for a lot of people? I mean, I know we talked about this a little bit, but for an awful lot of people, they don't seem to even now get the idea that they should be paying into a pension. Yeah. Will this help that way, do you think? I think it will. I think it definitely will. So, there's been a lot of research on this, and sometimes people are offered a pension by their employer and given the choice about whether they should opt in or opt out. And oftentimes, employees don't opt in. And when they don't opt in, they're not only losing their contribution, they're losing the contribution of their employer and from the government. So, you know, the way that this is being organized is that they have to opt out. And the government's hope, and it's something that has been tried in other countries, particularly in the UK, they find that once employees are automatically enrolled, they are more likely to stay in and continue contributing. Yeah. You know, you often hear people talk about this, and they have this idea that it's never too early to start a pension. I mean, people can say, oh, we'll leave it until, you know, we're 50 or 60 or 40, whatever. But I mean, the quicker you start, the better it is for you in the end, isn't it? Oh, well, that's definitely the case. And I'm sure that, like, well, I know life events happen, and sometimes it's very difficult for people to be able to contribute. And that's why, in the case of this policy, they will be able to opt out for a while and then re-enroll and then come in. But, you know, it is the case, of course, that the longer that you save, the more you're going to have at retirement, you know. Now, having said that, everybody should think about pensions, even if you're 60 years old, you know, because you can get the contribution of your employee and from the government. So, even if you're only contributing for six years, that's still six years of contributions that will be very helpful for you when you retire. And you're never going to get that same amount of interest on savings as you would get because of those contributions. So, you say the scheme is now kind of officially getting up and running, but not fully open as yet. So, I suppose, really, people should be learning about it now. That's the thing, that this lead-in time will be very important, as you said, especially for the employers. Get onto their accountants and see exactly what's involved and make yourself aware of it because it's going to hit you very quickly. Yeah, I think that people are surprisingly unaware of this, you know, both employees and employers. And, yeah, I mean, 11 months is not very long. It's really coming down the road really quickly. So, yeah, that's the reason why I asked Connemark Community Radio if I could talk to people about that. And the other thing, I mean, usually with anything from the government, most employers get all these letters and law descriptions. Will this be, or has it already been sent out to people so that people are being fully aware of it, do you know? Well, it's interesting. I was participating in an event with the Connemark Credit Union and it was very surprising that, you know, there were some small employers that were there and most of them were really not informed of it. That's not to say that there hasn't been information about it. There has been. This has been well flagged from government, from, you know, IBAC, you know, the Small Firms Association. It has been well flagged by these different groups. But I think, you know, employers have so many things coming at them all the time, as your last interviewee suggested. And I think that, you know, sometimes it's difficult for people to get their heads around things, especially when, you know, it could be put off to some time into the future, do you know? It's just easier to concentrate on what's ahead of you. But I think that this one is coming up pretty quickly now, so it is time to pay attention. OK. As you mentioned, we have the information up on the website for people to have a look at. And I suppose really what people should be doing is informing themselves and at least being able to make a proper decision when the time comes. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, Maureen, thanks a million for being with us again. And as I say, very important. And I think a lot of people will be interested in this particular one. And it certainly is no harm, as I say, to start thinking about pension because unfortunately a lot of people don't realise this and it's really urgent that people should, I suppose. I think we're going to take a little piece of music. We've got a lovely piece from Mary Bergen, and we're going to listen to Rhyl Donan. RHYL DONAN RHYL DONAN RHYL DONAN RHYL DONAN RHYL DONAN Right. She's Mary Bergen and she'd like a fair piece there of Rhyl Donan's music. And we're going to listen now to Vivian Leigh, CEO of CLG, Carnal Cashel, about the funding developed by Carnal Cashel. Vivian, welcome to the show. Thank you very much, Brendan. Vivian, Carnal Cashel got some funding news just this week. Tell me a little bit about the club itself to start off with. Yes. So, like you mentioned, we'd like to get the funding. Our club, CLG Carnal Cashel, I suppose we're a long time on the go now, a club based between, I suppose, the parish of Cairn and Cashel. The club is growing all the time. We've a lot of teams between men and women, so I think there's nine team teams at the minute between boys and girls right the way up to adults. So for a small place, it's a big number for the club. So we'd like it. Yes. And you've been there, as you say, for quite a long time, working away and doing quite well for yourselves as well. But I suppose more and more places and people now are looking for further developments of things because people have moved on an awful lot with how they perceive what they should be able to play on and play with. Yes. That, I suppose, is part of it as well. But even so, for the likes of ourselves, we've one pitch, again, great for force. But if there's a match on in the evening and you're supposed to be out training, your training gets paused because another team has a game, which, again, rightly so. But then you miss out on a training slot and you might not be able to get it back because there's 18 other teams then obviously trying to get in as well, training. So it just makes sense for us to get a new pitch and as well as that, obviously, the Athletics Club going on and we're hoping to have a walking track around as well, which can only add to the area. So it's not, I suppose, the football side of things will benefit, but just the general population will as well, to be safe, safe for walking around and all that. So, I mean, I suppose the facilities that people are expecting now and that's, as you're saying, you're updating all of that. But does it also take in, you know, club facilities in the line of, you know, changing rooms and all that kind of stuff or not? Yeah. So that is in the plans as well to build, I suppose, a sports hall, if you'd like to call it, where there will be an indoor sport area, new changing rooms, and we're hoping, obviously, to have Cumbertase Tunnel Great in 2028. So we will need to have additional great changing rooms. We have two, obviously, at the minute, but, as you well know, that Cumbertase Tunnel will need more because there'll be a lot more teams than obviously with two pitches. That's why we'll need at least four changing rooms and if not more. So, yeah, and then, you know, like, the likes of kitchens and meeting rooms and all that as well, they're all in the plans for our sports hall that we're hoping to build. Okay. So I suppose all of this, the development of things like this, all help in the rural areas. I mean, we've been talking about that already because we were, as I say, talking with Michal O'Kind from the Coins Gastropub. And the whole idea that, you know, people in particularly the rural areas, they're looking for more and more facilities. So this will all kind of help, but it's not just yourselves because other areas around got some funding as well, I think. Yeah, exactly. We're all trying to improve. All those local communities, not just sporting groups, all groups are trying to improve their facilities when we can. So it's moving with the times as well and moving with the, you know, trying to be better to the economy. Yeah. Okay, so you're just going to break it up a little bit there, Vivian, I think. Sorry. No, you're okay. So I suppose, though, I mean, what's the timeline for this? When do you get started or what have you to go to do before you get started? No, more than anything, we apply for planning permission. So the ground is now bought. So, again, that's where most of the money has gone to this point. So with the funding that we have just recently got from the minister that he granted there on Friday, we're now going to be able to employ the corollary in that. Can you hear me, Brendan? Yeah, yeah, perfect. Sorry. So we'll be able to employ the corollary and to move on to the next step. So hopefully the plan will be approved. And, again, like how long is a piece of string and all that kind of stuff. So when the plan is approved, we get moving. We are hoping to have the pitch ready for 28. So I suppose it seems like a long time away. But in the grand scheme of things, it's probably not when you have so much work to do on the ground. Okay. And I know, obviously, this funding is so important because generally, other than that, you're fundraising yourself. And it's always so difficult for local communities to keep fundraising. So a capital investment like this is really important. Yeah, exactly. So like I said, we have been. We've done some fundraisers up to date. Grateful for the money that we are off to get, but we do have to fundraise ourselves. So we just launched Cards Cornucosal at the minute of that. So we're hoping to get 250 people on board where they have the option of paying 250 either a year or they can do it weekly or monthly. So that will also be contributing. And we're doing a competition in New York as well. So giving somebody the opportunity to win a trip to New York while also raising funds towards the project as well. Okay. Well, look, it's great to be talking to you about the various aspects of what you're doing and the best to look at it. And I noticed that the Minister also, of course, tied in the Irish language into this. And she talked. And now, is there anything else you'd like to say to the group? Oh, well, there's a lot to say about the Irish language. We do everything in Irish. There's the Irish language magazine. The texts that we write are all in Irish. Obviously, we're conscious that there are Irish people everywhere. So we put a lot of effort into that. But it's the Irish language magazine. So, yeah, it's definitely based on Irish as well. Well, that's great. Well, Vivian, thank you for being on the show tonight and thank you very much for being there. Thank you. And thank you again, I think. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Right. That's Vivian Knee there, who's the CEO of the CLG Cornish Casual. And, of course, they got that funding, which was great to see. As I say, it helps out with all of those problems. But it wasn't, as I say, just Cornish Casual, GAA, because Barnaul and Furbach Hurling Club and the Cornish GAA Council and the Mayo, Saigon and Leitrim Education and Training Boards also get funding there as well. And all of these things, I suppose, are very important, again, to promote the area and to help the parts that they wouldn't really have a chance to do a lot of this themselves. So, it's really, really good that they have that chance to do that. But, again, as I say, they have Gaeltocht, Bainbridge, Cointreach, Ariesh, Tome Capa. Well, as I say, we have been looking a good bit at the Gaeltocht area tonight with Cian Ciarán, Cornish Casual and Cornish Ariesh with Eilidh Davies now from the Cornish Immigration and Diaspora Centre. Eilidh, welcome here to Radio Pobol Tán Amharas. Thank you very much, Brendan. Thank you. Thank you, Brendan, and hello to everybody from Cornish. The Centre to Co-immigrate the Immigrant in Cornish. So, Eilidh, just tell me a little bit about the Centre to start off with because, I mean, it's been on the go for a while but it's an amazing place there for people to come and visit. Thank you, Brendan, yes. So, basically, the Centre is the brainchild of, I suppose, Martin O'Caughan and the committee. They're Cush, the Forum, and Sanyuk who would be a voluntary committee in the community. And they have a lot of other strengths to their bow They would have been responsible for bringing the water scheme into the area, you know, with themselves going to council and a combination of other committees and that. They have done work on the nursing home along with Dr Mike Casey and, again, there was a lot of care that would have had to be put into that. There's a lot of housing developments that would have been looked to, in particular, in the village of Carnagh, Gary and Sarberth and Gary and Crocher. And both of those would be instigated by, you know, probably from the voluntary end of things with Cush, the Forum and Sanyuk and then the official line comes in then when Ulrich, the Associate and Council become involved. Now, for a number of years, well, past 30 years, there's a magazine that's published there and it's known locally as the Irish Now. And, basically, arising from the popularity of that with the immigrant population abroad, it became very important to those people and, in turn, we became aware of a need for something to, basically, welcome back people because so many people from that area, in particular, I mean, all of Connemara has been decimated by immigration down through the years, but the Carnagh area, in particular, would see a huge amount of people, you know, pretty much right up to the present day and, mostly, they would be going to America and, in particular, Boston, from the Carnagh, Rosmocon area of Sanyuk. And, you know, many a person would come back and be looking for their family and, of course, by then the family may be gone and that now my own background is my own grandmother came from Glensk. She was more of a Cane and she was married initially. And, on the other side, on my mother's side, I had a great-grandmother from that Gerrard. So, we always had a great fondness for the area and I have to say my father was still doing us a great respect for those people and I think my mother would be very fond of her own family. And then, in 2011, I was working in the nursing home and I was invited on to, of course, to form an assignment by Susan King, who was a friend of mine. And, ourselves and the community, the general community, got together with various ideas as to what would be done with the old hall. Two other committees had gone a long way on it and there has actually been some money raised, which amounted to about £30,000 in the end, by a committee which was also part of, you know, Martin O'Caughan, Mary Theresa, Caine, another cousin of his and a number of other local people. So, we looked for planning permission, we got a lease from the Diocese of Shul and, in 2018, the building was officially opened. And, at that point, then, of course, we were basically not getting money from Uber, although we had got a large amount of money from Marie and Miguel to build it. And, it has developed and then we became aware of a need to actually put a specific part of it towards tourism and the attraction of people into the area. Now, we had been doing a lot of work in that area in 2019 and 2020 and then, when COVID struck, a lot of that took a back burner. But, we continued with it and we now have... So, yesterday, the site was turned by the Minister for Safe, Thomas Byrne, TD, and Gónaidh Mhaitha Neamh from Udairas na Gaeilge was there, as was Éamon O'Heanio and a number of representatives from the community. So, it was an absolutely huge day and there will be a building put on that space there and it will be an interactive tourism space to honour the people who have gone to the States and all over the rest of the world as well. I am employed as a diaspora officer and part of my remit, or most of my remit, is to keep in contact with those people and to build relationships, to be there to greet them when they come back, to find out if they are family. We have a very good genealogist working with us, an American-based, which is where people are from. Actually, the people originated in Clifton. Most of them were Lydons from here in the town. They were part of the Blackfeet Lydon and they in turn moved down into Karna where one of the Gaileys became her grandmother. So, we have a network of people from the American universities. As I said, Boston, Portland, Maine. We have a huge collection with Portland, Maine. We are working with St. Paul's, Minnesota. Recently, we have started to do a lot of work with sheep men, the men who are left here to farm sheep and herd sheep in Minnesota, Idaho, and Oregon. So, we are building a lot of bridges and out of that, this interactive tourism display, which will cost, when the whole package is done and the building is up, the value of it will be 1.2 million. The contractor on the job is Jacki Okuda and it's basically made up of a lot of local men working. He would have built the original one as well, which at that time was worth 1.3 million when everything was fitted out. So, in total, we have a value of about 2.3 million when the whole thing is done and set up. If nothing else, it's providing local work. It's using local expertise and I'm proud to be part of it and I think anybody else that's on the committee and the boards of the community is behind it and I think that that's wonderful and Father Shane Sullivan is there, Josie Cook, Martin O'Connor's chairperson is really the, he's the deck and row, he's the powerhouse, he's the engine that's, you know, driving us and we all have our own things that in turn feed into that. That's what it's about. I suppose like this whole, the idea of this and it's something that could be replicated all over and it should be in lots of different places because the stories of these people that left and, you know, the families that were left behind and all that, it's so important to be able to link them because people, when they have been living in America or Canada or Australia or wherever, as you say, when they come back, they need to try and connect to wherever it came from. So, it's really a very important aspect for local people and for the visitors or the people coming back. Oh yeah, I believe that there should be a space like this in every town and village and in fairness here, from Clifton, like Captain Villiers told you, the number of local people here would have put me in contact with people who would have come to town looking for their families and we have, I mean, when I say we're looking at Tarnank or Tarnan, they're a sign, we're looking at all through Connemara like South Wales, anywhere where they went and worked as groups, I mean, there was men who went on the beach, I mean, they settled in England, a lot of them after the beach. My own father was one of them and a number of people in the Kilkenny, Lathamore area. I mean, there's a lot of people and people here would have gone as well, but they'd have gone more so into the 20s and 30s and there's great history. I mean, we have the railway here in Clifton and we have, you know, we have a lot of people who would have come in into the town, you know, from the south, from Tarn, from, you know, further afield, and people coming up from Galway, people who came as guards. There's a huge amount of information as well, I mean, there was lay schools, there was one in Clifton, there was one in Carnage, there was one in Rysmook and, I mean, there's a huge amount of stuff that we have. We just need to resurrect it. I mean, there's brilliant historians here in the town yourself. I mean, the Heritage Club near Clifton is amazing. I mean, you know, Bernie McLaren said, you know, in the library, and people like that. I mean, there's amazing people around and I think it's one of the main... If people are coming back here and if there are so many Americans claim Irish roots in America and, I mean, they come to Clifton, they stay in the station house, they're in Aberdeen, they're in Ballymahinch, they're in Airbnbs, they're in guesthouses all over the place and they like to connect and I think that there's a big demand for that sort of tourism now. Yeah. And we have found it in Cairn. I mean, the hotel at the moment is not in operation but there's still people there. There's people from, you know, there's refugee people there but there's still local people working there, you know. Yeah. And people don't mind the traffic and they'll come out from Galway and whatever. And in addition to the centre then, I mean, there's, you know, there's this good restaurant locally. I mean, there's, you know, Coyne's in Clifton. There's Mac's in Cairn. There's cows, there's nice teas and coffee places. There's lovely, you know, there's slurpees, fish and chips there along on the road at Ardmore and there's a pub in Ardmore. And the beaches are second to none. I mean, you're really looking at not just the wild Atlantic whale, I mean, there's the gold rings, there's the faunas, it's all true. And the language, I mean, the language and the richness of it. And, I mean, I'm OK with the language, you know, but I'm not as fluent as a lot of people but I have to say, I mean, it's something to be really proud of and Clifton has it. And now the fact that Clifton is, you know, becoming part of the language plan for, you know, Clifton and their quality advertising for an office of the town and that. And again, you yourself have been a big support in that and John McNeely and people like that. I think that the area, people like to complain. People like to complain that they like to look at the niceness but Colmar is a great place and people haven't been coming here for years and years and years. I mean, you know, we have the fishing and not to forget the boats. I mean, I'm passionate about boats and the people that come and go out every Sunday and go to the regattas and keep them going. Absolutely. There's a huge amount and I would hope that, and, I mean, we've done O'Hara, Central, Kilroy, you know, we have Primal Abbey, you know, we have this necklace all the way from Lettermore, Lettermore and from the Aran Islands into the sea way back to Lettermore up to Westmuck, you know, into the Poirot Pierces, then back over to Karnagh, all the way up around. You know, there's a huge amount and I think that we could, there's a lot more that could be done. Absolutely. I mean, just, I suppose, before we finish up, two things. One, I suppose, is is the Centre open all the time for people to visit or watch the story? Yes, the Centre, the Centre now, to be honest, up until, you know, up to Covid, it was open, you know, daily. There's usually somebody in the office now. Unfortunately, at this time, just this week, since the turning of the sod, basically, the building will have to, it'll be operating inside and the website is up and running and my own phone is going and that kind of thing. But at the moment, the building is in progress. The diggers are on site, the men are on site and so, unfortunately, it's not open and the cafe is not open at this time. We didn't put the cafe back into full operation after Covid, mostly to do with the fact that the hotel wasn't in operation and we were running a lot of our own little conferences on that. But we have HSE approval and once the place is up and running, there will be a cafe there that will be offering, you know, teas, coffees, really meal service, you know, where they march in. But, as I said, there's also a cafe just across the street from us. There's also Max in the bar, in the village, Warren's Pub, just up the street, you know. Yes, so there's plenty of places. Plenty of places on that. And then finally, I mean, I suppose the new centre then, when, like, have you an actual plan as to when it will be open? We're hoping, we're hoping that it will be up and running into the tourist season of 2025 and that being it now, where it is at the moment, the builders are on site and it will basically be a large, it's going to be a large, you know, stone and glass, very much in keeping with the other buildings, which was basically put together by our own committees and then designed by Roisin O'Caughan, who's a local girl and she's working in England. She's an architect and an engineer in England. And we're working, we're working on that with a very, very good engineer, you know, Paul Akina from Athlone, who, you know, we went out to Tinder. We had a man from outside of the area. He was the man that went to Tinder and we were, we were blessed with him and now, in this new phase, there are other engineers. So basically now, in this new phase, there are other engineers that will be working with their own engineer on that build. So we're not the people who are, we're not the people who know the timelines, but we are the people who are prepared and ready to go and stop and running. There's a company called, and I'm not going to remember their name now, it'll come to me again, but they're actually the people who are doing the fit-out. So the fit-out is ready and when you come in the front door, you will be buying your ticket, you will be taking a tour around from when you, from what you left at home to that American way to what you were leaving to the place where you went to in the state and then, you know, the combined history of the two areas and then outside of the building on the hill, it's not an all, an indoor attraction. Outside on the hill is going to be the Queen's Macon Emirates and that's going to be the Queen's Macon Emirates, that's the garden to commemorate the emigrants and that will have outdoor seating and walkways and that will be open to the public. Well Eileen, it sounds absolutely great. So, thank you very much for being here with us and we hope to speak to you again but, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.