New community minibus project officially launched

As the song goes 'The Wheels On The Bus go Round and Round' and that is set to happen locally following the launch of the Sláintecare Healthy Communities RAPID Athlone Garda Community Minibus Project on Friday last.

The new 232 registered 16-seat disability accessible mini-bus was parked outside Athlone Civic Centre in brilliant sunshine for the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and at the Department of Health, Hildegarde Naughton, to perform the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Managed and maintained by Athlone Community Gardaí, the innovative bus project costing €93,000, is a collaboration between several agencies and groups to tackle the lack of access for local groups operating in the RAPID areas of Athlone. They are Ashdale/Woodland Grove, Battery Heights, Sarsfield Square, Willow Park and Blackberry Lane.

Opening proceedings, Deputy Mayor of Athlone Moate Municipal District Cllr Paul Hogan praised Westmeath County Council for having the foresight to be one of the pilot areas for the Sláintecare Healthy Communities project which takes a place-based approach to tackling poor health, in partnership with the HSE, Youthwork Ireland, Barnardos, Athlone Family Resource Centre, Westmeath Community Development and Community Gardaí.

“The aim of the Sláintecare Healthy Communities programme is to identify specific areas in which high risks to the health and wellbeing of the population are particularly prevalent with a view to implementing targeted initiatives to tackle this challenges.”

Introduced nationally in 2021, Sláintecare Healthy Communities is a cross-Government initiative to deliver increased health and wellbeing services in 19 areas of greatest need across Ireland.

“One of the key projects fully funded by Sláintecare Healthy Communities in Westmeath is the Sláintecare Healthy Communities RAPID Athlone Garda Community Minibus Project. This mini-bus will be managed, maintained and driven by members of An Garda Síochána,” Cllr Hogan said on Friday before a large crowd, which included many community groups in the RAPID areas.

“It is anticipated that this 16-seater disability accessible bus will service all RAPID areas to provide a safe, secure and cost neutral transport service to access health and wellbeing services, recreation facilities, community-based training or other additional supports within and outside Westmeath,” added Cllr Hogan.

Gardaí will provide the drivers, house the bus and pay for any overheads associated with the vehicle which is estimated to be an in-kind benefit in excess of €10,000 per year.

Supt Michelle Baker from Athlone Garda Station said it was a privilege for her, on behalf of Gardaí, to launch the bus for communities in Athlone.

“We're just one little segment of what is a great collaboration between a number of State agencies. The day-to-day running of the bus will fall to An Garda Síochána, but that to us is quite a small task. Getting it here today has been the achievement,” she said, acknowledging the many groups involved.

Referring to the fact there was a community bus in Athlone previously, for some ten or twelve years, Supt Baker said it had been a “great asset” to supporting communities and doing real, practical work to help them.

As well as that, it provides officers with “an opportunity to really engage with people in an informal way” and a couple of hours spent on a bus with a guard means there's advice given out, conversations are had and relationships are built with communities.

She thanked Sgt Andrew Haran for the work he has done on the project over a long period, and Sgt Damien Connaughton, who will be responsible for the day-to-day organising of the trips and having garda members available to commit to it.

“Having it (the bus) is one thing but now we need to deliver it now. It's a demonstration of the commitment of An Garda Síochána here in Athlone to our current community policing unit and how we intend to expand that in the future.

“So this gives us an even greater impetus to keep going with that and we hope over the next number of months to increase our numbers of community-based gardaí so that this is a meaningful gesture for the guards and that we really actually to do some supportive work for the communities,” she remarked.

Special guest Minister Hildegarde Naughton commented that the Sláintecare Healthy Communities programme is all about collaborative working which is very evident in Athlone.

She explained that the programme aims to improves health and includes measures to, for example, help people stop smoking; develop and sustain good eating habits, abuse of alcohol or drugs, and support good mental health.

€400,000 has been provided to Westmeath County Council in enhancement and seed funding to date, and total of €93,000 of this funding has been used finance this 16-seat accessible minibus among the projects supported, she told the gathering.

"All of these projects have been decided upon in close consultation with the RAPID communities. They are very much community-led projects and programmes and are designed to positively impact the health and wellbeing of the Slaintecare Healthy Communities in Westmeath,” the Minister of State, who has strong local links to South Roscommon, pointed out.

Examples cited by the Minister included a community hub for services in Ashdale/Woodland Grove, a raised beds project by Coosan Men's Shed, which has provided fruit and vegetables for the community and exercise equipment and landscaping in Willow Park.

Padraig Higgins, Chairperson of Willow Park Residents Association and the RAPID area representative, told the gathering that the mini-bus project has “huge community support”.

He believes it will "impact positively on our communities for at least 15 years" and "will support access to amenities for community groups" and provide an improved sense of community, safety and wellbeing.

Sláintecare Healthy Communities Local Development Officer, Brigid Geoghegan, paid tribute to the communities of the RAPID areas for their support, the many agencies involved and Primo Coachworks in Ferbane for the conversion work to the bus.