Sod turned on €2.1m Clonakilty special needs centre

A charity has turned the sod on a €2.1m centre building project in West Cork to accommodate 200 children and adults with special needs.

CoAction West Cork is building a new state-of-the- art facility at Convent Way, Clonakilty, to be completed within a year. The Ardú project will provide purpose-built accommodation and a range of therapy, training and office space.

CoAction chief executive, Maurice Walsh, thanked everybody supporting the charity for helping them get to this stage.

The charity will need to raise €1m towards the cost of the project and to this end it recently relaunched its website, www.coaction.ie, through which people can donate to the cause.

Mr Walsh said 25 jobs will be created during the construction phase and 12 jobs when fully operational.

The centre will cater for 170 children and 30 adults from the greater Clonakilty area.