A new community café has opened in Carrickmacross, giving people in the south Monaghan town a regular place to drop in, meet others and have a chat. The café is run by the Irish Red Cross together with Monaghan Social Prescribing, and is based at the Carrickmacross Family Resource Centre. The first session took place on Saturday, 10 October, finishing at 12.30pm, and the café will run on the second and fourth Saturday of every month from now on.
Going by that pattern, the next sessions fall on Saturday 24 October, then Saturday 14 November and Saturday 28 November. The organisers have not published a start time for the mornings, so anyone planning to go along may want to check with the Family Resource Centre first.
Who it is for
The opening was timed for World Mental Health Day, which fell on the same Saturday. Speaking to Northern Sound, Irish Red Cross Secretary General Deirdre Garvey said the café is meant for anyone who wants to meet other people, make connections, have a conversation or simply be around others in a welcoming space. She said community would be at the heart of it and encouraged locals to come along and get involved.
Social prescribing is a service where GPs, health workers and community groups link people with local, non-medical supports, such as clubs, classes and social groups, to help with loneliness, stress and general wellbeing. A Saturday morning café is a low-pressure way in for people who might not join a club or a class straight away.
Part of a wider Red Cross push
Carrickmacross is one of only a handful of places where the Irish Red Cross runs these cafés. In a national campaign statement issued last week, the charity listed community cafés "to combat social isolation and foster connection and community cohesion" in Carrickmacross, Waterford, Drogheda and Dundalk. The same statement noted that Red Cross volunteers in Monaghan have also carried out door-to-door checks on vulnerable people cut off by storms or flooding.
That statement launched "A Million Minutes", a fundraising drive asking people to use the extra hour when the clocks go back on Sunday, 25 October, for a one-hour sponsored challenge, whether that is a walk, run, cycle or swim, with the money going to train and equip volunteers ahead of winter.
A new home for the town
The café's base, the Carrickmacross Family Resource Centre, has been more than a year in the making. Minister Norma Foley announced in August 2025 that a new Family Resource Centre would be set up in south Monaghan under the Tusla National Programme, with Carrickmacross one of five locations picked nationally and €160,000 allocated towards its development. In March of this year, Minister Niamh Smyth said the town was a growing location that needed such a centre and that it would bring three full-time jobs.
Monaghan town has had a family resource centre since 2001, Teach na Daoine in Mullaghmatt. For more on what is happening around the county this month, see our What's On guide and our story on Fire Safety Week and free smoke alarms.
