Fingal County Council has welcomed the news that as well as maintaining the much-coveted Green Flag Award at six locations across Fingal, the hard work undertaken at Santry Community Garden has also been recognised after picking up a Community Award..Green Flag Awards are the benchmark international standard for publicly accessible parks and green spaces around the world. This year, around 2,300 public sites in 16 countries achieved Green Flag or Green Flag Community Award status. Those Fingal sites to retain Green Flag status in 2021 are: Ardgillan Demesne, Malahide Demesne, Millennium Park in Blanchardstown, Newbridge House and Farm, Santry Demesne and St Catherine’s Park. In addition to Santry Community Garden, The Rock Garden in Swords also received a Community Award, the second year in a row it has managed to achieve the accolade. These Awards are acknowledgment of the efforts made by local community groups to improve a community green space.Raising a Green Flag at Malahide Castle, Minister of State for Community Development and Charities Joe O’Brien thanked park staff and community volunteers for their hard work in securing the awards.Praising the achievements, Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Seána Ó Rodaigh said: “I’m absolutely delighted that Fingal has received increased recognition for the number of locations that manage to exceed tough environmental standards in green space management, and excellence of visitor attractions.

The Aircraft Noise Competent Authority (ANCA) is holding a 14-week public consultation on its draft recommendations regarding DAAs application to amend aircraft operating restrictions at Dublin Airport when the new north runway opens.The public consultation will inform ANCA’s final direction to the Planning Authority before it rules on daa’s application next year. ANCA’s recommendations are: (a) Introduce a Noise Abatement Objective for Dublin Airport - the first of its kind in Ireland – as a long-term plan to ensure best management of aircraft noise at the Airport. This will serve to dramatically reduce the long-term impact of aircraft noise by 30% by 2030, 40% by 2035 and 50% by 2040, compared to 2019 aircraft noise levels. They also plan to make three new conditions: (1) Noise Quota System – or noise budget - for night-time operations at Dublin Airport between 11pm and 7am; including a restriction on very loud aircraft flying at night. (2) Restrict flights on the new north runway between midnight and 6am (00:00 – 05:59). and (3) Provide a new Residential Sound Insulation Grant Scheme of up to €20k for residents most affected by night-time noise from Dublin Airport. The ANCA team will hold webinars and be available to engage with stakeholders during the consultation period which is running from 11th November 2021 to 28th February 2022.. ANCA has recorded a short video on the public consultation available at youtu.be/IZD2DeRidkE and registration has now opened for the first of a series of evening webinars where the public will have the opportunity to put their questions to the project team

Former Republic of Ireland international John O’Shea was the special guest at the launch of the sixth year of the Football and Fitness Transition Year Course which is run by Fingal County Council and the Football Association of Ireland.The course, which attracts participants from across Fingal, gives TY students an opportunity to sample full-time football training while also fulfilling their educational requirements and obtaining qualifications in coaching and fitness training.The 2020-21 course was officially launched by Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Daniel Whooley, FAI President Gerry McAnaney and Fingal County Council’s Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly at a special ceremony in Corduff Sports Centre where the course is based. John O’Shea, who won 118 international caps, and is one of Ireland’s most successful footballers ever, took part in a Q&A session during which he imparted plenty of sound advice to the young students who travel every day to Corduff from across the county. Ireland Under-21 assistant coach and former international player O’Shea said: “It was a pleasure to meet all the students and coaches at Corduff and to help them celebrate the launch of the sixth year of the Football and Fitness Transition Year course run by the FAI and Fingal County Council. As I explained to the students, I would have loved to have such an opportunity available to me when I was their age. This is a great programme which offers them a pathway into football and the fitness industry whilst continuing their studies at the same time. There are so many career opportunities now available in sport and I wish them all the very best of luck for the year ahead.” The President of the Football Association of Ireland, Gerry McAnaney said: “The transition year programme at Corduff offers an excellent opportunity for those players on the course to further their football career in tandem with their education. It is an exemplary programme that we would love to expand on across the country. Our thanks to Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly and Fingal County Council for their ongoing support for this wonderful programme and my thanks to our FAI staff for their commitment to the development of these young players.”

Gemma tells us about assistance dog ‘Marco’, raised and trained by Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
‘We were matched to Marco in March 2017. Applying for an assistance dog was the best decision I ever made. I have a son who is on the autism spectrum and also has a learning disability.Marco has helped our family in so many ways, from busy airports, to crossing roads and best of all to my son gaining independence. He would get very stressed and anxious when travelling to the UK but since Marco came along my son is so much more relaxed and it helps me be less stressed too. When people see my son with his dog they no longer stare or make rude comments as they can see his hidden disability. We’ve been to playgrounds, the cinema and even visited Santa which is something I could never even attempt before we got Marco. I cannot thank Marco enough for what he has done for my family and I will be forever grateful to him. He is the sweetest, kindest and most beautiful dog in the world’. Adel, puppy in training, is now 9 months old. She has been busy out and about with her puppy raiser Anne Mulligan. In late August, on a beautiful sunny day, they visited Tully Nurseries, Co Dublin. In September along with Tom O’Neill and his Guide Dog ‘Qeb’ they returned to Skerries Community College to present a trophy to Johnny, Ellen and Daniel who accepted it on behalf of all the students who raised €1,223.55 for Guide Dogs.Next they travelled to Ashbourne to visit Specsavers and Chez Emily Chocolate Boutique. Both locations have our Tap to Donate €3 machine. Specsavers Ashbourne have raised €258 and Chez Emily €326. Specsavers, Balbriggan raised €1,050 from customers who have tapped and donated. Thank you everyone. Look out for our Christmas cards and calendar in Balbriggan and Skerries shops and stores, or you can contact us by phone/text: 085 7663107. Email: GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com

Councillors have approved Fingal County Council’s €784m three-year Capital Programme which provides for significant investment on projects across the County during period from 2022 to 2024. It represents a €17m increase on the previous Capital Plan with the 2022-2024 programme identifying 237 individual projects with an estimated spend of €783.73m over the three years. The Programme projects a capital spend in 2022 of €237m, followed by €265m in 2023 and a further €282m in 2023. Just over half of the €784m has been allocated to Housing with the €393m budget underpinning the Council’s commitment to delivering a significant housing programme under the Government’s new housing plan, Housing For All. resources and to provide good quality housing to purchase or rent at an affordable price. The Council expects to construct 239 homes in 2021 and 2022 while continuing to progress plans for the development of landbanks at Church Fields in Dublin 15, Ballymastone in Donabate and Hayestown in Rush. A total of €20m has been set aside for Community and Sports programmes. Almost 20% of Capital Plan expenditure is earmarked for Planning and Strategic Infrastructure projects with the Church Fields Link Road and Cycle Scheme due to go to construction soon while the Donabate Pedestrian Bridge, which will be constructed over the main Dublin-Belfast rail line, is due to commence construction next year. A sum of €12m has been set aside for the development of a new Regional Park at the former Baldoyle Racecourse, which will be co-funded by the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF), while €2.2m has been allocated for the Porterstown Park Recreational Hub. Projects by the Economic, Enterprise Tourism and Cultural Development Department will account for 15% of expenditure with €23.1m being set aside for the Civic and Cultural Centre element of the Swords Cultural Quarter project which is due to go to planning in 2022. Works on the Carnegie Library in Swords is expected to begin in early 2022 following public consultation with €1.2m allocated to this project. A total provision of €23.5m has been made for a number of projects under the Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation Scheme with extensive works planned to commence during the three-year lifespan of the new Capital Programme. A further €58m has been allocated to Environment Climate Action and Active Travel projects which will include Protected Cycle Lanes, Road Safety and Active Travel Mobility.

Fifteen Fingal County Council projects have been short-listed for prestigious national awards.A total of ten Fingal projects and initiatives have been nominated in nine categories for this year’s LAMA Awards. The All Ireland Community and Council Awards, presented by LAMA and sponsored by IPB Insurance, are an opportunity to highlight and promote the work carried out in our communities. Now in their 15th year, the awards have consistently showcased the successful collaborations between communities and councils over the years and have provided a platform for recognising and acknowledging unsung heroes.In 2020, ten Fingal County Council led projects were also nominated in eight categories in the Commuunity Awards with ‘Community Car’ Age Friendly Sustainable Transport Service in Fingal winning for ‘Best Community Based Initiative’.The nominations for this year’s awards are:Whitestown Estate Management – Community Environmental Initiatives in Best Environmental or Ecological Project or Initiative, Contactless Bottle Filling Station and Fingal County Council Public Wi-Fi Roadmap in Best Business Working with the Community. Re Clean Up! In Best Waste Management Programme, Free Outdoor Wi-Fi in Best Connected Council, Millennium Park in Best Public Park, Weather Station for Schools in Climate Change and in Best Education/Training Initiative, Weather Station for Schools in Climate Change in Best CSR Community Programme, Swords Castle Conservation Project in Best Heritage Project, Fingal Festival of History in Arts/Culture (inc. festivals & events.The awards ceremony, which will be hosted by RTÉ presenter Marty Morrissey, will take place on 27 November at the Crown Plaza Hotel, Dublin Airport.

Fingal County Council projects have also been nominated in five of the 16 categories in the Chambers Ireland 2021 Excellence in Local Government Awards.Only 90 projects from 20 councils have been short-listed. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 18 November. Last year Fingal County Council won the Supporting Sustainable Communities Award for the Shop Local Website.

The Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Daniel Whooley, launched the second part of The Weather Stations for Schools project yesterday at the Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School when he presented Third Class with the first of the automatic weather stations that are being rolled out to primary schools across Fingal.Primary Schools in Fingal had the opportunity to apply for an automatic weather station which produce real time information about rainfall, temperature, wind speed and wind direction. There were 42 applications from which 16 were chosen. Cllr Whooley said: “It was fantastic to officially launch the second phase of the Weather Stations for Schools project and present the class with the automatic weather station today. This initiative is being supported by the Chief Executive’s Innovation Fund, set up January this year by the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council AnnMarie Farrelly. Ms Farrelly said: “This is the first of four projects to be launched from the Innovation Fund this year. The Innovation fund was launched to facilitate staff submitting original ideas that can bring greater value to the Council. The Weather Stations for Schools project is a great initiative that will not only provide valuable information, but it will also help to promote an appreciation of the water cycle and climate change challenges faced by the community.” Sarah Gallagher, Head of Observations at Met Éireann, said: “Met Éireann are very supportive of the Weather Stations for Schools project. Schools can easily enter rainfall measurement and other weather information collected from their weather stations onto Met Éireann’s Weather Observations Website, WOW-IE.” The Champion Schools in our catchment are:Balbriggan Local Electoral Are- St Patrick’s SNS, Skerries and St Oliver Plunkett’s, Balrothery, Rush-Lusk Local Electoral Area - Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School and Naul National School,Howth-Malahide Local Electoral Area - Oliver Plunkett’s Primary School, Malahide, and in Swords Local Electoral Area - St Colmcille’s BNS, Swords,Holy Family SNS, River Valley, and Thornleigh Educate Together National School, Applewood.

As part of Fingal County Council’s Commemorations programme 2018-2023 Fingal County Council’s Arts Office in association with The Irish Writers Centre recently presented – A Burning Tide – A New Commissioned Writing & Film Commission as part of Culture Night 2021, held on 17th of September 2021 at Loughshinny Boathouse. The Film is based on the writers interpretation of this historical fact. At the stroke of midnight on 18th June 1921, six Coast Guard stations on the North Dublin coast were silently approached by groups of IRA Men ready to undertake a simultaneous attack. The reason for these attacks was to secure a landing place for a shipment of arms which were being smuggled from the U.S. aboard the freighter East Side. It had been meticulously planned – the raiding parties lay in wait having cut the telephone wires to ensure no one could raise the alarm. When zero hour arrived, they rushed into stations up and down the coast, taking the Coast Guards by surprise. The Guards and their families, who lived onsite, were told to leave immediately and the stations were set alight. As dawn broke the following morning, flames were still licking what was left of the stations at Skerries, Loughshinny, Rush, Rogerstown, Portrane and Robswall. The film weaves the narratives from each new piece of writing into a series of vignettes where we see the stories unfold to create visible characters who bring us back to the events leading to the night and its aftermath in Ireland. Rory O’Byrne County Arts Officer, said “There is something about the visible qualities of the largely unchanged Fingal Coastline, where the events of the night of the 18th of June 1921, took place. The eyewitness reports prompt the imagination to fill in the gaps of the story, a small boat containing guns rowing into Loughshinny, the visual of two men saving a piano from the fire and the agreements made to start it so that nobody was harmed could only be satisfied by a writer’s mind.”.

The event programme and online registration have launched for Dublin’s first Climate Action Week (DCAW21), taking place from Monday 13th to Sunday 19th September 2021. A range of online and in-person climate action events are now open for registration at www.dublinclimateactionweek.ie. The broad range of events address the theme areas of Energy & Buildings, Transport, Flood Resilience, Nature Based Solutions, Resource Management and Citizen Engagement.The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Change 2021 Report, categorically underlines the need for urgent action on climate change by all sectors of society. One of the highlights of the DCAW21 Programme includes a Climate Action Panel Discussion with the Chief Executives of the four Dublin local authorities, taking place online on Tuesday 14th September 2021 at 10am. A number of online film screenings are planned, and outdoor climate film screenings will take place at venues across Dublin. There are also a range of family events, including workshops for children and guided walks in public parks. The Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, the Mayors of South Dublin County Council and Fingal County Council, and the Lord Mayor of Dublin City Council, have jointly stated in the online Programme Promotional Video: ‘The Dublin Region is acting on climate change causes and impacts, and we are making positive changes. We’ve organised Dublin’s first ever Climate Action Week, to showcase our climate action progress to the people of Dublin and elsewhere. We’ve launched an exciting programme of events across a range of themes. There is something for everyone. You can register for these events on our Dublin Climate Action Week website www.dublinclimateactionweek.ie.(Nb: Not accessible through this medium). We invite you to join us. Discover more about acting on climate change so we are all Taking Action, Together’.

In our digital world it can be difficult for a person with low vision or blindness to use social media. ‘Jaws’ is a screen reader used by many including Guide Dog owner Tom O’Neill from Balbriggan, Co Dublin. In their video, Guide Dogs Australia highlight 3 important tips we should be familiar with.

Tip 1: Good Punctuation. Use a full stop at the end of a sentence or phrase to indicate to ascreen reader the end of the text. Example: Irish Guide Dogs. When using a symbol such as @ in an email address, each separate word should be capitalised. Example: GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com otherwise the screen reader sees a jumble of letters guidedogsbalbriggan@gmail.com.

Tip 2: High Contrast. Some eye conditions distort a person’s view of things, so colours used are important. A yellow line on a white background can be very difficult to see but a yellow line on a black background is easier to see. Use geometric shapes on advertisements.Example: A large black arrow on a white background could be used to point out important information. In Australia they use large black and white arrows to indicate where the door on a tram is. We could do something similar in Ireland on buses, Luas, DART and trains.

Tip 3: Be open and flexible. If approached by someone with low vision or blindness for help, listen to them and work out a solution to the problem together. Be open to new ideas. For any further information Contact us by phone/text: 085 7663107. Email :: GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or. Facebook uus on ouur facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Balbriggan.Branch.of.Guide.Dogs.