Culture Night in Balbriggan provided another stunning example of how the town is becoming a major centre for all things creative. It filled the town with colour, music, song, film, stories and wonderful events. Culture Night marked the climax of the ‘How it’s Made’ Festival, facilitated by the local Scéal Arts collective, in partnership with the Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation Programme, led by Fingal County Council, and the locally based Irish Institute of Music and Song (IIMS). ‘How it’s Made’ ran over three weekends in the run-up to Culture Night on Friday and was supported by the Arts Council and Creative Ireland. Culture Night venues included The Warehouse on Vauxhall Street, The Vault at the old bank on George’s Square, The Boathouse under the Viaduct on Quay Street, The Our Balbriggan Hub on George’s Square, The Window at 4 Dublin Street, and significantly the IIMS which will shortly open a new state of the art 400-seater concert hall, The Lark. As well as documentary film screenings, there were art and photographic exhibitions, reading and musical tours, performances and recitals with local businesses including Molly’s Coffee Shop and The Central Bar joining as hosts. Cultural organisations, castles and historic houses, extended their opening hours to the public, highlighting the wealth of facilities and talented people in the locality. Hundreds of people turned out for events in wonderful Balbriggan to mark Culture Night. Amongst other events, the Our Balbriggan Hub welcomed visitors to George’s Square where local musicians, artists and the local photographers gathered. “Culture Night in Balbriggan celebrated the superbly unique community spirit and talents of its people,” said the chair of the ‘Our Balbriggan Leadership Group’, Professor Brian MacCraith. “There was a wonderful programme of events, each of which celebrated Balbriggan’s appetite for culture.” He said, “Most importantly of all, Culture Night showcased the bonds which tie the community together and make it such a special place. “Culture Night was another wonderful example of how the town is bursting with creativity. “It was fantastic to see so many events showcasing local talent, bringing acclaimed artists to Balbriggan and also people together through the arts. “Now designated as a ‘Creative Place’ by the Arts Council, the long-term aim is that 10 years from now people from all creative disciplines will want to spend time in Balbriggan.”

The Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) CLG is developing an Energy Master Plan for Balbriggan, County Dublin, in partnership with the ORS Energy Management team. The Energy Master Plan (EMP) is funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), which supports community-led climate action in the transition to a low-carbon future. As a community, the Balbriggan SEC is committed to actively engaging all residents in the initiative, by sharing knowledge and encouraging input from all residents, businesses, clubs, volunteer groups and community representatives in the Energy Master Plan process. “We are delighted to be working with ORS on this important initiative for Balbriggan and we welcome feedback from everyone in the community to help us better understand local energy needs,” said Sarah Zimmermann, Secretary of the Balbriggan SEC.-Balbriggan has also recently been announced as a Decarbonising Zone in the Fingal County Council Draft Climate Action Plan 2024-2029, which is open for public consultation at the moment and brings welcome attention and focus on the town. As one of the youngest towns in Ireland with an average age of 31, combined with the fact that around 30% of residents are born outside of Ireland, Balbriggan has distinctive qualities. Building a climate resilient community for the long-term is a top priority given our high proportion of our young people. “Balbriggan is a unique town with a mixture of long-term residents and people newer to the area, a great opportunity exists for the people of the town to come together to help shape what a sustainable town looks like in the 21st century,” said Eamonn Donlyn, Chairperson of the Balbriggan SEC. There is currently a Home Energy Survey for residents of Balbriggan to provide input into the Energy Master Plan. Please scan the QR code to fill in the 5–10-minute survey. The community is also invited to speak with members of the Balbriggan SEC at the Climate Action Street Party on Railway Street in Balbriggan on Saturday October 21st, from 10a-5pm.

About the Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community CLG: Balbriggan Sustainable Energy Community CLG is a community organisation working to ensure a just transition to a low carbon society in Balbriggan. The Balbriggan SEC has adopted a whole of society, inclusive approach by promoting the SEC widely and encouraging participation from all residents, businesses, clubs, volunteer groups and community representatives. By actively engaging with the SEC Network and SEAI to provide feedback, the group works to share knowledge and support the SEC national mission.

Councillor Brendan Ryan (Labour) has called for a special project team to be set up within the Council to ensure that Balbriggan Beach achieves at least a “Sufficient” rating for bathing water quality in 2024. Speaking during a debate on the matter in the Council this week he stated that business as usual is not an option. “The issue of consecutive “Poor” classifications is very serious because if any beach gets five “Poor” classifications in a row there will be automatic de-designation and it can be a long road back” he stated. He continued: “The matter is serious enough to make it a special priority. Everything that this local authority is serious about, I see special project groups being set up to deliver. I see project managers; project co-ordinators and dedicated staff being put in place to deliver results. That’s the type of seriousness that I am looking for. That’s the type of seriousness that the people of Balbriggan are asking for and expect.” The Councillor added, “ I know that the current staff are working flat out to bring about improvements, but additional resources, which reflect the seriousness of the situation, must be allocated to help them. A special project team is warranted.”

Mark Saturday November 18th in your diary! We will be having a gala concert to celebrate 140 years of the St Patrick’s Brass and Reed Band. The Band will be joined by Irish National Foresters Brass Band Navan on Nov 18th in the Bracken Court Hotel to celebrate our 140th anniversary Be sure to save the date!

Recently, a record was broken in the UEFA Champions League by a young girl from Ireland. Former Glebe North Player Hannah Healy played for Shelbourne Football Club in their Champions League game in Lithuania vs Glasgow City. At the age 15 and 262 days, Hannah Healy is the youngest ever player at the UEFA Champions League, women and men. Hannah played for Glebe North Football Club for nearly 7 years. After some time in the academy, at age 8 she joined the Under 10 Girls teams to compete in the MGL and start an unbelievable winning streak with the Under 11 Premier League & cup, Under 12 League and Cup, the under 13 League, and trophies from various tournament, regional and national level. The Pandemic stopped a potential U14 League & Cup winning with only a couple of games remaining while leading the table and a Cup final never played…Hannah joined Shelbourne after a season with Bohemians, reaching different achievements and awards, national and international recognitions. We at Glebe North FC are all so proud of Hannah’s achievement more than ever before! Well done Hannah.

Congratulations to Balbriggan Cricket Club’s victorious 2nd Team after their recent win which sealed the League Title. It was a team effort on the day, Shak Ir was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 15 off his 4 overs, Skipper Samad took 3 and there was 1 each for Syed Haris and the evergreen Duane Harper to bowl out Phoenix for 84. With the bat, after a little early wobble, Cian Rooney and Bilal Iqbal batted superbly to bring us within a few runs of the target, Cian with an excellent 43 and 32 for Bilal. Fittingly it was the skipper who hit the winning boundary to settle the contest. Skipper Samad’s side have been unbeaten in the league all summer and sealed the title recently at home in The Jack Harper MCG. It’s 2 promotions in 2 years for this team and they are now up to the 2nd XI Premier League, the highest league a 2nd team can compete at in Leinster. Congratula-tions again to all the players and mentors.

Cllr Brendan Ryan, Labour Party, is calling for Fingal County Council to reopen its council offices in the Town Hall, Balbriggan. Cllr Ryan said; “the closing of Fingal County Council offices in Town Hall, Balbriggan, has had a devastating impact on the people of the town with no direct local access to council services, particularly housing services, which are located in Blanchardstown.” Ryan continued;” Given there is no direct public transport route to Blanchardstown for the people of Balbriggan it is a challenging commute to access these services. I submitted the following question to a recent council meeting on this issue: “To ask the Chief Executive if consideration can be given to reviewing any formal decision made in the past to close the Council Offices at Balbriggan Town Hall, depriving the people of Balbriggan of local access to Council services, particularly housing services which are located at Blanchardstown, as this is a challenging commute by public transport?”

This is the Council’s reply: “The Customer Care Unit is the subject of on-going review and evaluation in relation to improving and enhancing performance and customer satisfaction. A more in-depth review is currently being considered regarding the services being provided in our buildings. Members will be kept informed regarding the outcome of this review in due course.” Ryan concluded; “I am pleased that Fingal County Council are considering an in-depth review of services provided and believe this review should be carried out without delay. Re-opening the Balbriggan offices has got to be included in the review and I can only conclude from the reply that it will be. Given the population increase in Balbriggan I believe it is imperative that the council reopen its offices in Balbriggan, and I will continue to pursue this much needed service for the people of Balbriggan vigorously. “

Balbriggan Men’s team won the Beachy Cup making it three in a row in the North East Blitz Competition, on Sunday. Balbriggan beat Navan, Ashbourne, lost to Ratoath and drew with Boyne. Ciaran Hannigan, a former youth player with the club, made his senior debut along with our new overseas player Jamie Kinninmont. Well done to them both.

The Seniors went to Spain in recent weeks on tour where they played Gernika Rugby Club. Meanwhile please remember -Training continues every Tuesday and Thursday at 7.30pm.

Congratulations and best of luck to one of our local firefighters Aidan Smith who has recently retired from the service after 29 years of dedication to the community.

Thank you, Aidan, for your service and we hope you get to enjoy your retirement and spend many happy and healthy years with your family. You are indeed a true professional who is always on hand to help people and no doubt your colleagues will miss you. The turnout was well deserved and it was great to see so many appreciative people there wishing you well in your retirement.

All at Ardgillan College were thrilled for the Class of 2023 on their exceptional exami-nation results recently. A remarkably large number of students achieved in excess of 500 and indeed 600 points. The talent and commitment of this group of students was rightly rewarded. Principal Nuala Ní Mhúrchú was delighted to welcome students and their parents into the College to celebrate together and was excited to hear about the many college courses on the horizon. She wished to extend her sincere congratula-tions to the entire class of 2023 and a heartfelt thank you to the parents for all of their support over the years. All at the College wish them a lifetime of success and happi-ness and hope that they enjoyed celebrating this very momentous achievement with their families. Also, Ardgillan College’s Open Evening took place on Thursday the 7th of September and it was a fantastic event. Thank you to all of the families who visited to learn more about our school. Thank you to all of the wonderful students who helped out on the night.