Egg-citing times ahead for loca­l children and families

By Mary Dennehy

A TASTY stash of more than 500 Easter eggs have been collected by Tallaght’s community police who this week hopped to Carlow to pick up the chocolatey hoard donated to needy families living in Dublin 24.

For nearly 20 years, the residents of Hacketstown in Carlow have staged a Christmas toy-drive for some of Tallaght’s most needy families, with the caring community also starting an Easter egg collection in recent years.

The toy-drive was originally initiated by former Killinarden priest Father Jim McCormack, who transferred from Tallaght to Hacketstown nearly two decades ago.

On his arrival to Hacketstown, Father McCormack made an appeal on behalf of Tallaght’s disadvantaged families to his new parishioners and the annual toy-drive became a tradition – with the bumper Easter egg collection also growing into an annual custom for the Carlow community.

The eggs are being distributed to local families in need, many of whom the gardai would have come into contact with through their line of work.

St Vincent De Paul and local schools will also assist in the distribution of eggs, while a bag of goodies will also be delivered to Tallaght Hospital.

While helping to ensure that all children living locally wake up to an Easter egg, the donation also helps out the Easter Bunny, who is getting busier and busier every year due to all of the new housing estates in the area.

Speaking with The Echo, Garda Gary Duffy, who works in the community policing section at Tallaght, said: “This collection is amazing, there’s between 500 and 600 eggs here and all of them will be distributed to local families who may need a little extra support this Easter time.

“You can’t put a value on the difference these eggs will make to local families, and to the children that will wake up to an Easter egg.

“There is still a whole lot of families still struggling across communities and these eggs will bring a lot of happiness to many kids.”

He added: “We can’t thank Father Jim and the community of Hacketstown enough.

“Despite everybody going through hard times they have continued to donate toys at Christmas and eggs at Easter.

“It’s a beautiful gesture that doesn’t go unnoticed and the difference it makes on the ground in communities is really amazing.”