The Committee

The committee is called Mid Offaly Housing Association. It was established in May 1990. Donal Leonard is chairman and Johnny Butterfield is vice chairman. The secretary is Kathleen Mullins and Sr. Mary is the assistant secretary. The treasurers are Ronnie Bryant and Olivia White. Other committee members are Mary Bracken, Gret Monahan, Ger Monahan, Maureen Owens and Brigid Daly. They meet on the first Wednesday of every month in Ard Aoibhinn. At the start of the project [Ard Aoibhinn] they held lots of meetings on the planning.
The first chairman was Johnny Butterfield. The vice chairman was Seamus Gleeson. The joint secretaries were Donal Leonard and Ann Daly. The joint treasurers were Jim Casey and Brigid Daly. The committee members were Gret Monahan, Olivia White Nurse Molly Buckley, Martina Casey, Hughie Mullen and Ger Monahan.
The first meeting was on May 21st 1990 and the second meeting was on May 31st 1990. They weren’t sure what to build or where they would get money. Lots of people thought they would be crazy trying to build five houses, nevermind trying to build ten houses but they convinced them. They built Ard Aoibhinn, then they built Gleann Ard and now they are going to build a new high support unit.