O'Donovan Rossa GAC Belfast - Feasibility
April 21, 2015
PRESS RELEASE
ANDERSONSTOWN COMMUNITY, SPORTING & CULTURAL HUB
LAUNCH OF FEASIBILITY FINDINGS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GAA, AOGÁN Ó FEARGHAIL- THURSDAY 23RD APRIL, 12 NOON AT ROSSA PARK, SHAWS ROAD, BELFAST
CONTACT PERSON: ADRIAN MURRAY, CLUB TREASURER O DONOVAN ROSSA GAC, MOBILE 07767 447336, EMAIL [email protected]
Aogán Ó Fearghail, President of the GAA, will be at Rossa Park on Thursday, 23rd April at 12noon to launch the findings of a feasibility study which assessed the viability of a new community, sporting and cultural hub at Rossa Park.
O'Donovan Rossa GAC, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste, Tullymore Residents / Upper Andersonstown Community Forum and Niamh Mental Health & Wellbeing have established a strong local partnership with a view to developing a new hub at Rossa Park, Shaw's Road, Belfast. The hub will help to coordinate and promote a range of services including Gaelic games, youth and community services with a particular focus on health and wellbeing, Irish language and other cultural programmes. It should be noted that Shaw's Road was the first Gaeltacht in Belfast.
The feasibility concludes that there is a clear need for a new multi-functional centre at Rossa Park.
This is the new GAA's Presidents first visit to Rossa Park in his official capacity and follows on from a commitment he made early in his tenure to help promote hurling in Ireland's second city. In one of the President's first interviews with BBC Sport NI following his election he stated:
"I can't understand why hurling in Belfast is not much stronger. That's an area I would certainly like to look at." The GAA president added that "Ireland's second city has a huge population and a massive number of clubs and people".
About the Partners
O'Donovan Rossa is one of Antrim's premier clubs, with a proud record across hurling, Gaelic football, camogie, handball and, in recent times, ladies Gaelic football. The current All Ireland Intermediate Hurling Champions and county minor football and hurling Champions, the clubs success, on and off the field, directly reflects the hard work and dedication of all its volunteers. Rossa are proud of their tradition, and with their centenary coming up in 2016, look forward to a further 100 years success across all codes.
Bunscoil Phobal Feirste celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2011 marking it as the 'bedrock' of Irish medium education in Belfast City. In 2000 Bunscoil Phobal Feirste moved into a new state of the art building. In 2002 Naíscoil Bhreandáin was opened on the same site. The school has 52 children in nursery, 255 in the main school, 307 children in total. Children attending Bunscoil Phobal Feirste have limited access to Irish in the community outside of school hours. Rossa provides an outlet where children can have social interaction through the medium of Irish which strengthens the Irish language community and allows the club to holistically promote our culture and identity.
Tullymore Residents Association and The Upper Andersonstown Community Forum are the key local community organisation and deliver a range of services in childcare, youth club, education and training, healthy hearts, afterschool and volunteer projects. Tullymore Residents and the Forum take the lead locally in respect to tackling issues of social, economic and environmental deprivation. They are involved in and manage a number of local partnerships including neighborhood renewal. They are committed to working in partnership with Rossa GAC, Bunscoil Phobal Feirste and other local schools to develop a community, sporting and cultural hub in the Upper Andersonstown area.
Niamh, (the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health), is the largest and longest established independent charity focusing on mental health, learning disability and wellbeing services in Northern Ireland. Niamh provide support services to people with experience of mental illness through supported housing, day support and advocacy services in their Beacon service division. Mental health presents a major problem across West Belfast and Niamh believe that the new hub at Shaws Road presents an opportunity to provide services which redress persistent and long-term mental health related issues, many of which are as a result of the conflict in the north.
At the launch, an outline of the proposed project will be presented by Peter Quinn of Peter Quinn Consultancy Services (PQCS), who were part of a team led by Locus which completed the feasibility. The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Arder Carson will also address the audience comprised of local community representatives, local politicians, school principals, Irish language groups, Belfast City Council. Govt Agencies and GAA representatives. Finally, Aogán Ó Fearghail, GAA President will provide the keynote address.
The launch of the feasibility is the beginning of the road for the partners and other stakeholders. Public funding is required to develop this exciting project and the promoters are already in discussions with potential funders to secure their backing for the project.
