Opinion: Long term plan needed for future of Columb Barracks

It will be interesting to see if the demands issued by local councillors concerning Columb Barracks will get anywhere. They are looking for a meeting with Oireachtas members and the ministers who have responsibility for the property, which is used to house a number of community and sporting groups and also contains an IPAS centre and modular homes accommodating Ukrainian refugees.

The council’s hands may well be tied, as officials told the elected members at a meeting this month, but the status quo for the barracks is not really acceptable.

What should happen is a long term plan, and if work on that hasn’t started yet, well, the best time to start it is now.

The refugees from Ukraine probably won’t be there forever, and the people who are making International Protection claims will have to have their cases dealt with, eventually.

What is to happen after that? There is a strong case for using the modular homes for local people who don’t have anywhere to live, but that isn’t entirely satisfactory either; they should have proper homes where they can settle and raise families and contribute to society. Modular homes are well designed and should last well, but really they are for the short term.

Separately, the Corpus Christi Procession from the Cathedral of Christ the King on Sunday marked a revival of a tradition that had fallen by the wayside.

It was a lovely event, and around 500 people attended, including as is traditional, First Communion children, and Mullingar Town Band, who led it from the cathedral, across Carey Bridge and back to the cathedral via the Green Bridge and Mary Street.