By Michael Brennan, Sunday Business Post
Retired farmer has donated a development site for the building of a new daycare centre.
Mattie Cormican (84) gave away two acres of land in the centre of Claregalway village in Galway in memory of his late wife, Bridie, who had suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease. He said his wife would have been 100 per cent in favour of his decision.
The new centre will cater for 125 older people per week. There will also be 14 sheltered houses for older people who want to live in the middle of the village. The government is providing a grant of 2.5 million to to pay for those houses, but it was the donation of the site by Cormican that made the project possible because there were no other suitable sites available in the village.
Cormican consulted with his four daughters and two sons about giving away the land and got their backing. When he informed the daycare centre committee of his decision, he gave them just one condition – that any members of the committee who were not serious about the project should walk away immediately. He said this was due to his experience in farming organisations, which dates back to his participation in the famous ‘long march’ to Dublin by 30,000 farmers in 1966.
“I was 40 years on the mart committee and 40 years on the creamery committee. If you have good workers, you’ll get going. If you don’t, you won’t”, he said.
Cormican said he was satisfied the project had a “great, reliable” committee who have now secured planning permission for the new daycare centre and houses behind the Church View estate in Claregalway.
A tender has been issued and building work is expected to begin later this spring.
