Kinvara Community Council

Kinvara Community Centre is committed to enhancing the health, social and artistic well-being of our community. Built in the mid 1970s by the community, the building was structurally improved and refurbished in two stages in 2001 and again in 2005. The centre is run by the Kinvara Community Council which is a voluntary group who employs a part-time Administrator/Caretaker.

The centre is situated in the centre of the village with car parking facilities. It consists of a main hall with a capacity of 380, a meeting room combining a fully equipped kitchen, toilets and wash-hands units including two toilets for the disabled. The facility is wheelchair accessible.

The hall and meeting room are available for hire at hourly rate and special day rates are available to the community with reduction for charity and voluntary groups. Term & conditions of hire are available on applications.

The Kinvara Community Children’s Centre (KCCC) is a not-for-profit children’s centre that provides early learning and care services for 3 months to 12 year olds. The Centre offers early years programs (including free preschool under the ECCE program), after school care and holiday camps to families in the Kinvara area.

Our team’s focus on providing a safe, caring and fun environment that encourages learning through play helps to build your child’s confidence, self-esteem and social and cognitive skills, coupled with our happy, light filled spaces, ensures the ideal environment for your child’s early learning experience.

Your KCCC management team will assist you to identify the correct room for your child based on his/her age, abilities and interests. Our easy reference chart below can help you understand how a child progresses through the KCCC, however please keep in mind room spaces and progression is offered on the basis of availability and your child may be placed on a waiting list, or in an alternative room, until your desired room space becomes available. For further information please contact us

Fearing that Kinvara’s oldest building, Kinvara’s ‘hidden church’, is in imminent danger of collapse, a group of concerned Kinvara residents came together under the auspices of the community council to form the Kinvara Heritage Group. While the immediate aim of the group is to conserve the church and its graveyard, the group intends drawing attention to the area’s rich history and work to educate and preserve that heritage.

St. Coman’s Church dates from the 13th century, sited on a strategic hill at the head of Kinvara Bay. The name of the town, Cinn Mheara, leterally means the ‘Head of the Sea’. There was a much earlier monastic settlement on this site. Some records even suggest that a round tower stood here at one point.

One of the highlights of this ancient monument is a piece of 13th century graffiti carved on a corner stone. The depiction of a comical-looking figure is probably the work of a disgruntled stonemason, carved just before the building would have been plastered. This depiction forms our logo (left).

The Church, and its graveyard, have become landlocked over the past two centuries as streets were built up around the site, so that today there is no public access to the site. That, however, does not diminish it historical importance.

Many in the Heritage Group fell that it is incumbent on this generation to preserve this important monument for future generations of Kinvara people. Starting November 2017, emergency conservation work is being carried out to prevent the east gable from collapsing and to cut down overhanging trees that are a danger to the structure. This is initially being funded by a loan from the Kinvara Community Council. It is hoped to repay this loan by raising funds to conserve the building for our future generations.

Keeping Kinvara Clean and Beautiful

The Kinvara Tidy Towns has as its primary focus the encouragement of the local Community to improve the local environment in order to make the town and its immediate environs a better place to live work and visit.

The group is completely dependent on volunteers who help with all the various tasks involved; the principal general ones being litter collections, flower bed and footpath maintenance

The group enter the Tidy Towns National Competition each year, with judging usually between June and August each year.  There are several categories judged; The groups contribution to Wildlife Habitats and Natural Amenities, Sustainable waste & resource management, and the conservation of historic buildings.

There is a lot being done and as always there is a lot more to do.  We are constantly looking for volunteers.  If you feel you could make a small contribution, please come along to one of our weekly meetings held in the Community Centre on Tuesday Mornings.  For further information contact communitycentre@kinvara.ie.