By Damien Ahern

With the help of Councillors John Sheahan, Francis Foley, Liam Galvin & Michael Collins, Padraig Vallely of Limerick City and County Council and the Town and Urban Renewal Department of LCCC, our magnificent footbridge in Athea is due to be refurbished in the coming weeks. The bridge was erected in 2005 by Athea Community Council and was largely financed by the community. The bridge is now showing signs of disrepair and requires treatment. The structure is due to be washed, sandblasted and painted in its entirety. This allows us the opportunity to choose a colour for the bridge. In an effort to create a greater sense of place, we are proposing to change the colour of the bridge to the Athea Parish Colour of Maroon (similar to the colour of the new Athea Signs on the Glin, NCW and Abbeyfeale Rds). However, we also have the opportunity to freshly repaint the bridge in it’s current colour of black. We are currently running a poll on our social media page allowing people to vote for maroon or black. Anyone who does not have access to social media, can vote by placing their name and their chosen colour on a card and dropping it in the letter box at CD printing by Wednesday July 21st.

We are glad to report that dumping at the Bottle Banks has reduced since the installation of a solar powered Wifi Camera. There were some instances of bags of clothes left at the bottle banks during the week by a local lady, but following an image shared on social media, the bags were removed. A reminder to all that it is an offence to leave bags of any kind at the banks, even if the banks are full. We plan to take a proactive approach on social media, sharing images of offenders if required. Many thanks to the majority of you who continue to respect the use of the facility.

An exciting project is also underway on the Glin Road, which will see a new feature added here in the coming weeks. Many thanks to the Hen Harrier Project for supporting this project. Watch this space for updates.

We would like to offer our congratulations to Jamie Kelly and Karen Matthews who became engaged to be married recently. Wishing them a lifetime of happiness together.