New Cork city car wash with a difference open for business

A new car wash and valeting service with a difference opened in Cork yesterday.

SparkLee Clean Car Wash is based in the Marina Business Park and was set up by Northside Community Enterprises (NCE), a registered charity based on Redemption Rd who offer training and education programmes to the long-term unemployed in the area.

They are involved in a nationwide Community Employment Scheme and specialise in helping people in recovery from addiction.

The scheme takes referrals mainly from the Probation Services of Ireland, as well as treatment centres like the Tabor Group and Cuan Mhuire, with a spokesperson for the group explaining: “We believe that everyone deserves a second chance.”

They offer personal development, yoga, meditation, outdoor adventures as well as forklift or hairdressing and beauty courses, explaining: “Our aim is to prepare the participants to return to [or sometimes join] work or education and where possible we will hire them ourselves until that time comes.”

Donation

They recently received the opportunity from the Templeford Limited to open a car wash, with the company donating some equipment and NCE spending the past month training up participants from the Outreach Scheme to use the equipment to valet cars and vans, inside and out to the highest standard.

SparkLee Clean Car Wash are offering a corporate service to businesses, where they can collect your car from the home/office and drop back fully valeted. They also have motor trade insurance in place.

They will be open from Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm as well as on Saturdays from 9am to 4pm.

The NCE spokesperson said the employees “are great lads that have had it tough over the last few years and are genuinely working hard to make a life for themselves free of addiction. We would like to thank Gerry Wycherley, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and John Breen for all their support as well as the Department of Social Protection who funded all the training for us.”