All About Cork: Make it a resolution to shop local and post local

A Cork city councillor has urged people to make it their New Year’s resolution to post local and shop local in 2025 to support local businesses in the city and suburbs such as Blackrock, Ballintemple, Ballinlough and Douglas.

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan recently called on Cork City Council to adopt an enhanced service support scheme for local post offices in Cork, warning that more may close if support is not provided.

“We have to adopt a use it or lose mentality,” said Mr Horgan.

“From shopping local to posting local, supporting the local post office for jobs such as bill payments, savings and other items like motor tax and tv licences, we have to support our local post offices.

“When a post office closes it is like a dagger in a local community’s heart.

“We have to use them and show we want to retain them now, not after the fact,” he added.

Mr Horgan recently submitted a motion to Cork City Council, asking the local authority to examine a pilot project to allow for council related payments at local post offices.

In response, Cork City Council’s chief financial officer, John Hallahan, pointed out that An Post currently processes two different types of rent payment for the council - household budget and bill payments.

Cork City Council pays An Post a flat fee for every transaction of €1.11. The total payment to An Post in 2023 for both of these services combined was €137,612.75 - €102,320.35 for bill pay and €35,292.40 for household budget.

Other than rents, the largest volume of public payments taken by the council are fines, which include parking fines.

Mr Hallahan revealed that the possibility of using An Post for fines had been examined previously but that it was deemed not feasible for a number of reasons.

This included the complex nature of managing fines and various increase or cut-off dates, the fine appeals process, and the lack of access to council departments that have authority over the fine.

Rangers former player scores for Sheffield

A former Ringmahon Rangers star scored his first goal for English Championship side Sheffield Wednesday last week, much to the delight of the local Mahon club.

Gabriel Otegbayo netted in the 85th minute against Millwall on January 4 to ensure a share of the points. The game ended 2-2.

Wednesday are currently 10th in the Championship table, the second tier of English soccer.

In a statement on January 4, Ringmahon Rangers said: “Huge congratulations to former player Gabby on his

first goal for Sheffield Wednesday FC this afternoon.”

Tidy Towns work to resume

Volunteers from Mahon Tidy Towns will be back in action this Saturday to continue their stellar work from last year.

The local group had a major impact on the community during the year, organising regular litter clean-ups and getting involved in a wide range of local initiatives.

The latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey shows their work, and that of other local initiatives, has paid off.

Mahon was cited as showing “significant improvements overall”, with just one litter blackspot.

“The recent works [and] local initiatives certainly seem to be paying dividends,” the report stated.

“Hopefully, this upward trajectory will continue.”

However, Mahon’s one blackspot, off Ave de Rennes, “wasn’t just littered, but subject to dumping”, while St Michael’s Lawn and St Michael’s Drive were both heavily littered.

In a recent statement, Mahon Tidy Towns said: “We’re back on Saturday, January 11, meeting at 10.45am at Mahon Community Centre to head out and do an after Christmas cleanup.

“Everyone is welcome: Bags, picks, hi-vis jackets and gloves are provided.”

Blackrock clean-up

The Blackrock Clean-Up group will host its first event of 2025 this Saturday to ensure the coastal area looks its very best.

In a statement, the group said: “We are delighted to hold our next clean-up on Saturday, January 11, from 10am to noon.

“Meeting at Blackrock Castle car park at 10am, with refreshments at the Castle Café afterwards. Under-18s must be accompanied by an adult.”

Euro 2028 games

Labour Party Cork City councillor Peter Horgan has said that the next minister for sport must convince Uefa to stage games at Páirc Uí Chaoimh for Euro 2028.

“It was heartening to hear outgoing minister Thomas Byrne reiterate support for games outside of Dublin, specifically in Páirc Uí Chaoimh,” Mr Horgan said.

“The effort for the incoming senior minister for sport, when the government is formed, is to leverage as much support for that as possible.

“Cork City Council has agreed unanimously with my motions to support a move. The FAI and the GAA are in support. Stakeholders across the city and county are behind this. This can be monumental for Cork and the wider Munster area.

“I am appealing to Aleksander Čeferin (Uefa president) to intervene and come to Cork himself and see the facilities that we can provide and the atmosphere an all-island tournament will bring to the competition.”

‘Apple elves’ thanked

The Rainbow Club, which supports children and young people who have autism, has thanked their ‘Apple elves’ for their support all year.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Apple volunteers worked with the Rainbow Club to create an inclusive Santa experience, to provided families with a compassionate, sensory-friendly visit that eliminated the holiday stress and rush.

The Apple volunteers wrapped 1,000 presents.

The Rainbow Club, which is based in Mahon, serves as a hub for the autism community.

“I am absolutely thrilled to be able to say, publicly, how much Apple supports us,” Karen O’Mahony, the CEO and founder of the Rainbow Club, told The Echo. 

“We like to always acknowledge people who help us, so I’m delighted that Apple has agreed to allow the team to put this out there.

“They’re what we call our ‘Apple elves’. They come on board every year and wrap all our presents; we send them up to their team and they wrap, label, and send them back to us very quickly.

“It saves us a huge amount of time. Our Santa experience runs from the start of December, so our volunteers are really tight for time, but Apple also sends some employees down to help wrap shoeboxes, which have been donated to us.”

Their relationship extends far beyond the Christmas events. “Their support is ongoing throughout the year,” Ms O’Mahony said.

“They help with other initiatives, like setting up for our masquerade ball, and they support us financially, as well.”

Ms O’Mahony has also been invited to Apple to give talks to their employees and teach them more about the Rainbow Club’s work.

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