‘It’s really going to change the norm and how we do things’

Cara Phort Family Resource Centre in Ballynacargy may have had to close to the public when the country went into lockdown last month, but project co-ordinator Maria Quinn is as busy as ever.

When the Westmeath Examiner called on Friday morning during a visit to the village to see how people are coping, Maria was waiting for the delivery of the Meals on Wheels dinners from Mullingar. The dinners are brought to Cara Phort every day and volunteer drivers then deliver them to local people, many of who are cocooning.

Nobody can enter the centre, but Maria and her team are still providing a range of services for people, including one initiative that she is particularly passionate about.

“I’m on a one-woman mission to get the whole village reading. I am distributing books like they are going out of fashion. It’s very hard to arrive at door and not be asking ‘what do you like to read?’. I’m sending everyone away with a book.

“We are also doing all of the information booklets as they come out. Not everyone would have internet or access to printers, so we print them out so they are available.”

Cara Phort would usually be a hive of activity throughout the day with young and old availing of the many classes and services hosted there. This isn’t possible at present, so Maria and her staff have had to get creative in a bid to provide some sort of continuity to people in these uncertain days.

“The children who take part in our after school can’t come into us, so we have been doing up packs and delivering them to them and giving them challenges.

“For the likes of our adult computer class, we have got homework for them from their tutor. Other groups have set up WhatsApp groups and just check in to see that everyone is okay. We are making a lot more phone calls to people who would normally come it and just checking that they are alright.

“Our two other staff members, our administrator and our development worker/family support worker, are working from home. We are continuing our family support, the counselling, the listening ear, all that, but it’s being done remotely and through social media, which means new challenges.

“It makes it harder because when someone comes here, you bring them into a room, you sit down, you can hold their hand, you can pass them a tissue, give them a cuppa – you can’t do that when you are doing it remotely.”

While no one knows when normal life in whatever form will resume, Maria is certain that the way the centre has operated will have to be significantly altered in the short to medium term.

“We are constantly reviewing our plan for the year and how we can change it. We would do a lot of family activities, the likes of in the middle of the summer we go to the zoo for the day. We had 164 people to the zoo last year. We won’t be able to do that, more than likely, this year. We would also take children for trips to the likes of Derrymore Springs and there is a likelihood that we will be able to do something like that. However, with social distancing we might have to use two buses instead of one. So it’s where do you get the funds for that as everything we do is subsidised, because it’s at a reduced cost [for families].

“With everything going on, there is more need for counselling and it’s provided at a reduced cost. We would subsidise it but where will we get the funding for the increased need for that.

“It’s really going to change the norm and how we do things. We would be at a disadvantage in that we have a very small building, so long term we are going to have huge issues with social distancing.

“More than likely when we get back up and running, we will have to find new venues to hold the activities we were holding in the centre. It’s huge,” she said.

When Dan Onofrai took over Penrose’s shop last year, it’s safe to say that he didn’t foresee that a pandemic would lead to an upsurge in business. He hopes that when the restrictions are lifted people will continue to support their local shops – without which that last two months would have been a lot harder.

“It’s proof that the local shops can be supported when people want. I hope it will be after this.

“There has been a huge increase. We are happy that the local businesses are getting supported. We are not happy about the Covid but other than that no complaints.”

Dan says that he misses seeing his elderly customers who are cocooning.

“We don’t see them any more. We are just seeing their kids, who are in buying for their mother and father. Hopefully in a few months or a year everything will go back to normal.”

Dan’s fellow shopkeeper Charlie Halligan also says that businesses has been better since the start of the crisis.

“People aren’t travelling as much to Mullingar and probably with people staying home at well. The shop has definitely got busier.”

Charlie also owns the bar next door and while he joked that he’s been sleeping a lot better since it was forced to close last month, he says that the hospitality sector faces an uncertain future.

“When the pub does open, it is all very fine for me I could have six out there and they could be a couple of feet apart, but a pub in Mullingar, or even worse, Dublin? I think people are going to be afraid to go into crowds anyway until there is a vaccine.”

Up to now, he says that local people have coped well, but “are getting a bit fed up”. Looking forward to when he can get back out on the golf course, he says that it’s vital that we persevere.

“I know we have to try and do this because six above the ground is better than six feet under it.”

Mary Finnegan, who works in the shop alongside Charlie, is also involved in the running of the local Young at Heart group. She says that its members are worried that groups like it will be slow to start up again after restrictions are lifted.

After all that the elderly have had to endure during the Covid-19 crisis, she says that it’s important that social groups bet back up and running as soon as possible.

“So much in country areas is going to die if it doesn’t get back pretty quick,” she said.

His working day may be a bit shorter due to the lack of meetings in the evenings but Deputy Robert Troy is still busy with constituency matters during office hours.

He is also the Ballynacargy postmaster, and he says that the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the importance of the local post office in rural communities, in particular.

“I know our two postmen here are bringing out papers, they are bringing out groceries to people who are cocooning at home. I know people are ringing in to Teresa Fox in the post office and she can help co-ordinate it. People who are unable to get their pensions, we are facilitating that. It [the post office] is a focal point, it’s somewhere people can come to. If people are down on their luck, we know where to direct them as well.

“The post office is a trusted brand. We have two postmen attached to this office, they are covering in excess of a 10-mile radius. They are going to every house. We are the only people who are calling to every house on a daily basis.

“From talking to the postmen, I know some people have a box put out where their messages can be left because they don’t want to interact at all, while others stand at the door and chat to them. We are very fortunate in this parish and wider area that we have two exceptionally good postmen, Pat Beglin and Johnny Riggs, as well as Teresa there. They are all very obliging but they have been obliging for years. It’s not the last six weeks that they have stepped up for their community. They have been doing that for as long as they are postmen. They are very good people. They don’t mind going that extra bit to ensure that everyone is safe and well.”