MacDonagh Junction offers itself to the community as a space to raise funds for local causes.  Since we opened in 2007 we have facilitated several charity collections in the Centre as well as raising monies for local charities through Fashion Show partnerships and food and toy collections for St. Vincent De Paul, the Newpark Family Resource Centre and the Amber Women’s Refuge.

MacDonagh Junction is the main sponsor of the O’Loughlin Gaels camogie club in St. John’s Parish. This year O’Loughlin Gaels Camogie Club celebrates 30 years since it was established in 1991. The club currently boasts nearly 250 members, the second highest in Kilkenny. Its home base is at St. John’s Park, Hebron Road, Kilkenny. In 2019 it won the County Camogie Junior Championship for the very first time and currently holds Intermediate Status. It is hoped that Senior Status and top tier competition is not in the too distant future. Juvenile camogie teams start at u6 and continue bi-annually up to u18 before moving into the adult teams of u21 and intermediate teams. Currently the camogie club has three of its players involved with the Kilkenny Camogie Senior Team which is also managed by O’Loughlin Gaels clubman, Brian Dowling.  O’Loughlin Gaels Camogie and O’Loughlin Gaels GAA continue to thrive and grow and form an integral unit within the community.

The Happy to Help project is a community support initiative which was launched in MacDonagh Junction in March 2014.  The Project was developed by Access (SOS Ltd) in response to a need for social opportunities in the local community.  All of the people supported by Access already participate in their community as employees of various organisations throughout Kilkenny but each person identified a wish for more independence and a more varied and interesting lifestyle. Key to this is meeting with friends socially & independently of others.

Finding a supportive space to achieve this was essential to making the programme a success and working with a key community supporter was in our opinion the best way forward. MacDonagh Junction is the biggest shopping centre in Kilkenny and has a vibrant and exciting environment for both shopping and leisure activities.   It is the ideal venue for people to meet their friends for coffee, lunch or a bit of retail therapy in a safe environment.

The manager of MacDonagh Junction Marion Acreman was approached and has given the initiative full support, both from her and the Centre’s staff.  MacDonagh Junction have organised training sessions with all support staff in the centre from security to maintenance to the cleaning team and have facilitated further training to ensure everyone is able to navigate their way around the centre safely & confidently .

Many of the shops in the centre have enthusiastically agreed to become Happy to Help points and are displaying the Happy to Help stickers.  The staff from these shops will be on hand around the centre to offer support and help if required for people when they are out meeting with friends.

Look out for the Happy to Help stickers around MacDonagh Junction- Supporting One community!