Kilkenny County Council’s making a temporary move.
Councillors are to gather for their February monthly meeting at James Stephens army barracks.
It’s to celebrate the centenary of The Bloods, the 3rd Infantry Battalion which was formed 100 years ago and which for the last 25 years has been based at the local base.
Local authority Chairperson Pat Fitzpatrick made the request and explains why it’s important to mark the occasion; “We’re celebrating on the 27th of this month the 100th anniversary of the army barracks in Kilkenny, that’s an army barracks and a personnel of over 500 people and that’s 500 families that are contributing massively to Kilkenny city and county and indeed the service of the army and its personnel right across the world”.
The invitation was extended by Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Prendergast and accepted by the elected representatives.
Local authority Chair, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick, says it’s “Just to acknowledge the wonderful service and the importance, there’s an importance of our army barracks in Stephens Barracks and indeed all the members that have served in the defence forces in Kilkenny it will be a great day to celebrate on the 27th and then on the 20th of February we will have the council meeting”.
And he adds “We look forward to meeting and we’ll get a detailed presentation because there’s really positive developments going forward with the Stephens Barracks, you know it’s the longest serving unit, the Bloods, and it’s absolutely fabulous and I’m delighted just to bring the council meeting and the councillors have agreed to my request so I’m very, very happy”.
