Carlow Youth Centre, Green Lane

By Suzanne Pender

CALLS have been made on the owners of Carlow Youth Centre at Green Lane to apply for funding to bring the facility up to modern standards.

At a recent meeting of Carlow Municipal District, cllr Tom O’Neill raised the issue of the parish-owned building and urged them to enhance facilities, which would be a wonderful asset to the town.

“It’s great to see the centre being used by many great clubs as well as having bingo and other organisations, but with a little imagination and support from government, which is available, we could see many more sports clubs and organisations use this centre on a regular basis,” said cllr O’Neill.

“As a proud Carlow townie, I have grown up using this great facility, but I strongly feel we can do so much more with this youth centre, which would benefit every man, woman and child in Carlow,” he said.

“I now call on the parish centre to sit down with the council and set out a pathway to modernise this great youth centre in the heart of Carlow and in our talks decide what can be achieved by also using the lands that surround the youth centre, which have been left idle for far too long,” said cllr O’Neill.

“Maybe sports clubs can have access to use the lands, or we can look at these lands for housing … let’s have that conversation now,” he urged.

Senior executive officer Brian O’Donovan said that the parish land was zoned for enterprise and employment, so currently housing couldn’t be built on this land. He stated that the council had made an offer to buy the land, and the parish “was considering it”.