County Mayor's Diary

My week began at Bandon Fire Station to launch Cork County Council’s campaign for Fire Safety Week.

I joined the Council’s Fire Service staff and the brilliantly talented Sophie Donellan, winner of the 2020 Fire Safety Week Art Competition, to ask that everyone test their smoke alarm weekly as part of the national awareness campaign.

Last year fire claimed the lives of 29 people in Ireland. Cork County Council’s Fire Service attended 1,828 incidents.

We have seen a nationwide decline in fire related deaths over the past 15 years due to fire safety awareness and the uptake of domestic smoke alarms. These devices save lives. I would ask that everyone reading check their smoke alarm and make a habit of doing so weekly. I’ll be implementing a Test it Tuesday policy in my own home!

We recently celebrated the hard work of our beach lifeguards, who lowered the red and yellow flags in September after a busy bathing season. These 39 brave young men and women oversaw safety during a critical year for our beaches. They carried out 21 rescues, reunited 23 lost children with their families and responded to 940 first aid incidents.

They played a vital role in ensuring that our beaches are safe and enjoyable places for visitors and can’t be thanked enough. Personal safety always benefits from community effort, which we saw on our beaches, where cooperation between visitors, beach guards, the Coast Guard, RNLI, An Garda Síochána, National Ambulance Service, Fire Service and Medico Cork secured a safer summer for us all.

Safe enjoyment of natural amenities is also dependent on a clean environment, and Cork County Council are committed to exploring ways to preserve our natural heritage and promote environmentally friendly initiatives.

For National Reuse Month this October, I was delighted to join my counterpart in Cork City Council, Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Colm Kelleher, to officially launch Revive Paint.

This initiative involves two social enterprises, Cycle Sense in Skibbereen and Northside Community Enterprise in Cork City, in reusing and upcycling waste paint collected at our civic amenity sites. This October is an opportunity for all of us to play our part in National Reuse Month by considering how we can make reuse part of our daily lives.

Social enterprises like Cycle Sense and Northside Community Enterprises represent an exciting new way of doing business, providing services and products while making a meaningful difference in the community. To support such projects, Cork County Council is delivering the 2021 Social Enterprise Grant Scheme locally, with €43,000 in funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development available to Cork county.

Eligible enterprises can apply for grants of up to €3,000 through Cork County Council’s Customer Service Portal YourCouncil.ie. Applications close this Friday 8 October so be sure to get yours in!