Europe Direct Blanchardstown has published a series of video interviews on the topic of the EU Digital Covid Certificate.The aim of the interview series is to inform the public as to the purpose of the certificate and how it can be used to facilitate travel within the European Union. The interviews were organised by Europe Direct Manager Siobhan Walshe and recorded by Assistant Coordinator Barry O’Carroll.There were three interviewees in total:Barbara Nolan– Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland.Barbara discussed the Digital Covid Certificate from an EU perspective including the purpose of the certificate and how it will facilitate travel within the EU. Ossian Smyth - Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Minister Smyth spoke about the practical aspects of the certificate: how to obtain one; who is entitled to one and the format of the certificate.Siobhan O’Donnell- Head of External Communications, Dublin Airport Siobhan discussed how the Digital Covid Certificate would work in practice at Dublin Airport as well as practical advice for those intending to travel by air in the coming weeks and months.The full series of interviews is available to watch on the Fingal Libraries YouTube Channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhLZ_o7ug6_9PXKZ-VxDG9S6lXiUTw0IO. Betty Boardman, County Librarian said: “We are very grateful to Minister Ossian Smyth, Barbara Nolan and Siobhan O’Donnell for taking part in this series of interviews.Now that travel abroad has opened again, it is very important that those travelling are aware that the Digital COVID Certificate will help them to travel safely and more easily within the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The interviews organised by staff at the Europe Direct Centre at Blanchardstown Library contain trustworthy, up to date information from reliable sources”

Projected changes to the Irish climate will have implications for archaeology and built heritage. Rising sea levels, flooding and coastal erosion along with wetter winters and drier summers can be expected to give rise to structural damage to monuments and historic properties. This will mean the loss of ground adjacent to structures, exposure and erosion of archaeological sites, and collapse of unstable masonry elements. Other slow-onset risks identified include the loss of historic landscape features and decay of building fabric.The aim of this project was to apply the assessment model developed by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to the Irish context, using Fingal as the pilot study area. This is the first assessment of its kind in Ireland.This GIS based project was led by a multidisciplinary steering group which provided input from the Geological Survey of Ireland, CHERISH, Dublin Metropolitan Climate Action Regional Office, Climate Ireland along with Fingal’s Heritage, Conservation and IT officers. Landuse Consultants were commissioned to assess the risk to Fingal’s cultural heritage based by analysing the likelihood and severity of risk from six categories of natural hazards: fluvial flooding, pluvial flooding, groundwater flooding, coastal flooding, coastal erosion and land instability on Fingal’s heritage assets.Mayor of Fingal Cllr. Seána O’Rodaigh said: ‘Climate Change poses risk to all sectors of society and Local Authorities can be at the front line of responding to these impacts. This report is an important first step in protecting heritage and archaeology for existing and future generations’.While all heritage assets are subject to some level of risk, the study has shown that over 280 sites in Fingal are at risk from multiple hazards’ said Fingal Heritage Officer Christine Baker ‘These assets include towers, bridges, houses, field systems, wells and geological sites and this project provides a baseline for us to monitor the effects of climate on our archaeological and built heritage sites’.Our pictures feature the Mayor of Fingal Cllr. Seána Ó Rodaigh, Christine Baker Fingal Heritage Officer and David Dodd Coordinator of the Dublin Metropolitan Climate Action Regional Office (CARO). Our Images were taken at the Martello Tower Balbriggan and also an image of coastal erosion at Balbriggan Beach.

Fingal County Council is delighted to welcome €115k funding under the #OurRuralFuture Connected Hubs Scheme which will help to facilitate remote working. Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, announced over €8.8 million in funding under the Connected Hubs Scheme – a key deliverable of Our Rural Future. The funding will enable existing hubs and broadband connection points to enhance and add capacity to remote working infrastructure in every region across Ireland. Grants will also fund measures to assist hubs to deal with COVID related challenges.The funding will enable existing hubs and broadband connection points to enhance and add capacity to remote working infrastructure in every region across Ireland. Grants will also fund measures to assist hubs to deal with COVID related challenges. Fingal’s remote working hubs look forward to participating in the new national connectedhubs.ie platform, where remote workers can book space and services in remote working hubs across the country. The grant of €75,000 secured by Base Enterprise Centre will compliment investment already being made in the centre to upgrade its facilities and make the space within the centre more accessible and suitable to remote workers, start-up businesses and established business in the Fingal area.The funding provided will enhance remote working infrastructure at the existing Broadband Connection Points in the Liam Rogers, Applewood, Tyrellstown and Luttrelstown Fingal Community Centres. These centres will provide a space for local businessmen and women, students and entrepreneurs to work remotely within their locality in a safe friendly welcoming environment. The funding will allow for the installation of workstations, screens and technology upgrades to enhance these facilities.

Fingal County Council received more than 1,000 submissions and surveys from members of the public in relation to the proposed route for the Royal Canal Urban Greenway. The most recent six week-long phase of consultation ended on Wednesday, July 7.This non-statutory consultation invited the public to share their views on the proposed route. Submissions were accepted through Fingal County Council’s Consultation Portal website, via survey or written submission, and written submissions were also accepted by post.The Royal Canal Urban Greenway is a proposed pedestrian and cycle route along the Royal Canal tow path. Throughout the course of the consultation Fingal County Council provided the public with access to user friendly images and videos of the proposed Greenway as well as a large number of technical drawings and reports relating to the project. These items remain online, along with recordings of two public information webinars delivered during the consultation period.The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Seána Ó Rodaigh, said: “It is important that citizens engage in the public consultation process and let their views be known. The response to the Royal Canal Urban Greenway consultation shows the level of interest in the project and it is great that so many took the opportunity to participate.”Fingal County Council is now engaged in reviewing, moderating and publishing all submissions on their consultation portal. Moderation involves the redaction of a submitter’s personal details prior to publication. Due to the high level of public engagement this process is expected to take a number of weeks. Fingal County Council staff have already begun this work with 375 submissions now live on the consultation portal.The design team will consider all submissions received and assess how to best address the various issues raised. This process will include discussions with other stakeholders, which may include local residents, landowners, the National Transport Authority, Waterways Ireland and Irish Rail.

Fingal County Council has launched the public consultation stage of the proposed policy on play provision for the young people of Fingal. Titled, “Space for Play – A Play Policy for Fingal”, the policy developed by the Council’s Parks & Green Infrastructure Division aims to provide a framework for the provision of safe, accessible, inclusive, natural and engaging play spaces for all children & adolescents up to the age of 17. The purpose of the consultation process is to provide an opportunity, to all interested parties, to examine the proposed guiding principles of play provision, how play sits within the planning framework and the objectives of the policy and to make comments or suggest changes as appropriate. Providing excellent play facilities for all the children of Fingal and visitors to the County, is a priority for the Council. Fingal County Council currently manages a network of play spaces on Council managed land ranging from playgrounds of various scales in local and regional parks, to Multi Use Games Areas and skate parks. The Play Policy will provide the basis on which the current and future play provision throughout the County will be developed to the highest quality in line with international best practice.The draft Play Policy document has been prepared in the context of the Council’s Open Space Strategy, “Keeping it Green”; the Fingal Development Plan, 2017-2023; the UN Convention on Human Rights; the National Play Policy – Ready Steady Play and the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, 2007-2016. The council values submissions and feedback on the proposed Policy to ensure the document best reflects the needs of the community it is intended to serve. The draft Policy is available to view and make submissions on through the Council’s Online Consultation Portal from 15th July until the 6th August 2021.

A Fingal Skills Strategy Implementation Group has been set-up to deliver the objectives of the Fingal Skills Strategy, which was published in 2019.The Group is chaired by Siobhan Kinsella, former President of both Chambers Ireland and Fingal Chamber and a director at the Noel Recruitment Group. Ms Kinsella was also Chairperson of the Fingal Skills Strategy Advisory Group which originally produced the Fingal Skills Strategy, the first of its kind in Ireland.The Implementation Group brings together representatives from education and training providers, employers and industry, government agencies and Fingal County Council to ensure that Fingal has the right skills for the future.The Implementation Group is starting to implement the recommendations of the Fingal Skills Strategy, taking a fresh approach in light of the post-Covid-19 environment, and will support and actively promote on-going engagement between enterprise and industry and education and training providers, as well as Fingal County Council.The Group will seek to ensure education and training provision aligns with industry needs and that there is a pathway to skills acquisition so that skills are offered in a complementary manner with minimal duplication. Its mandate includes regularly reviewing emerging and future skills needs within the county.The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Seána Ó Rodaigh, said: “As we start to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to be aware of the skills needed within our Labour force has never been greater and it’s great to see the Implementation Group up and running and actively looking at aligning the provision of courses by educational institutions with the demands of industry.” The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, said: “As the local authority with the youngest population in Ireland, Fingal is looking to embed our Skills Strategy amongst industry and academia because the report showed a skills gap across all sectors which we need to close to ensure Fingal remains a primary location to invest, or grow a business, in.” The group is meeting quarterly and at its second meeting, which was held recently, there were presentations from Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Educational Training Board, Fingal Chamber Skillnet and LinkedIn on the services they offer.

Momentum 2021 is a one-off, outdoor, community arts and heritage festival in the two towns of Rush and Lusk over one wonderful August weekend: Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th. At the heart of the festival is a series of outdoor dramatic performances, written and performed by local writers on The Green Belt Arts Project, which was set up by theatre artist Declan Gorman in August 2020, as part of Fingal County Council’s “Infrastructure II” Public Art: Co-Productions programme. The Green Belt involved 14 people meeting at weekly Zoom workshops, exploring the heritage of the area, and experimenting with creative writing and drama online, all during the various Lockdowns. Highlights of the festival include the Green Belt trilogy “Home, Land and Sea” which takes place at sites from Kenure Demesne to Drumanagh promontory; guided “walkabouts” in both towns, where audiences will meet characters from past and present Fingal; an exhibition of photos and videos of Lusk in times gone by; a play to be staged on a football pitch featuring the story of the great Rush sporting hero, Con Martin; an Early Years Arts enclosure in Lusk, hosted by Acting Up; as well as workshops for older children. In the evenings, there will be informal music and chat in the local outdoor dining and hospitality settings.Most of the events are free or for very modest ticket costs and most are family friendly. Booking will be essential as numbers will be restricted in line with Covid best practice standards. But there will be something for everyone.Momentum 2021 is a voluntary initiative intended to support, entertain and engage the communities of Lusk and Rush with marvellous small-scale but big-vision arts activity, as we get familiar with our streets and our neighbours old and new after a year of seclusion and difficult challenges. It is a celebration of the complex heritage of this unique region of North County Dublin.

Momentum 2021 is supported by Fingal County Council under the Infrastructure 2 Co-Productions and Creative Fingal programmes and is undertaken in partnership with a range of community and voluntary groups in Lusk and Rush, Co. Dublin, including Rush Dramatic Society; Lusk Heritage Group; Power Drama School; Acting Up Early Years Arts and Declan Gorman Arts & Events. We are grateful to Lusk Athletic Club, Lusk Action Group, Rush Tourism and many volunteer individuals for support as the big weekend approaches!

For further updates please follow us on Facebook: Momentum2021fingal/Facebook Or email Declan on declangorman@yahoo.co.uk

Mayor of Fingal Councillor Seána Ó Rodaigh joined Fingal arts office at Newbridge House for a special evening to celebrate new contemporary arts programme Guest New Considerations of Familiar Settings curated by Marysia Wieckiewicz-Carroll.The programme invites contemporary curators to engage with the historic collections at the house as cared for by collections curator Cathal Dowd Smith.The curator of the first Guest exhibition Marysia Wieckiewicz-Carroll spoke of her inspiration to join women of the past to the present having been inspired by the interiors biggest influence Lady Betty Cobbe. Lady Cobbe, in her role as the woman of the house in the 18th Century, concentrated on collecting and commissioning mainly Irish artisans and makers while the tastes of the time were largely international.The exhibition New Considerations of Familiar Settings features 11 women & gender minority artists whose work is located throughout the house all telling deeply personal stories about place,memory,myth, monument and materiality. Eamonn Maxwell collections advisor to the Arts Council spoke at the event on the importance of supporting artist through collections and reminded us that as the old & new choices are juxtaposed by the Guest programme - All Art was once Contemporary.Mayor of Fingal Councillor Seána Ó Rodaigh said “I commend the Guest programme which has the potential to animate the collections for our generation through the introduction of contemporary artists and Historic houses such as Newbridge provide a wonderful setting and visitor experience and are a valuable asset to the county.” Guests on the special event evening included artists Barbara,Niamh O’Malley, Niamh McCann, Eithne Jordan, Liliane Puthod, Louise Meade all welcomed the opportunity to meet again in person and see their work situated in this beautiful and historic location.The public art co-ordinator with Fingal County Council’s Arts office Caroline Cowley reiterated to the attendees that the exhibition can be visited as part of the tours of Newbridge House and will continue daily until the 19th of September and will open to the public again free of charge for Culture Night 2021

We are delighted to hear that Puppy in Training ‘Yarrow’ is doing very well on his Advanced Training as an Assistance Dog. His trainer expects he will be matched shortly to begin training with one of the parents of the child he will be assisting late August or early September. A week later ‘Yarrow’ will go to his new home where his trainer will assist the family in adapting to life with ‘Yarrow’. Good boy ‘Yarrow’. ‘Zabbie’ is a canine blood donor. Sometimes dogs need a blood transfusion, same as humans. To become a canine blood donor a dog must be in general good health, have up to date vaccinations, be aged between 1 and 9 years old and weigh between sixteen to twenty-seven kilos or more, without being overweight. ‘Zabbie’, puppy raised by volunteer Anne Mulligan, is also part of the breeding programme. She became a canine blood donor for Gilabbey Veterinary Hospital in Cork, the official veterinary surgery for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Well done, ‘Zabbie’.Congratulations to our two new Ambassador Dogs, ‘Maisie’ and ‘Casper’, from Skerries who qualified recently. Owners Nessa and Padraic will bring them to local fundraising events to meet you, so please keep an eye out for them. They will wear an Irish Guide Dogs Ambassador Dog jacket or a reflective lead sleeve so you can easily identify them. ‘Adel’, puppy in training, is 6 months old now. She continues to grow in confidence every day. Good girl ‘Adel’. Following on from the success of our Tap to Donate machine in Specsavers, Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan, and with assistance from Brian Brodigan, Manager, we are delighted that Specsavers are rolling out our Tap to Donate machines in their branches both in Dublin and nationwide. This is wonderful news as Specsavers have 22 branches in Dublin and over 50 nationwide. On 10th July Specsavers in Ashbourne and Navan launched their machines. Now there are more Specsavers locations where you can Tap to Donate €3. Contact us by phone/text: 085 7663107. Email guidedogsbalbriggan@gmail.com. Or on our Facebook page at Balbriggan.Branch.of.Guide.Dogs

Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue, launched the initiative today at the Rusk and Lusk Educate Together National School when he presented Third Class with the first rain gauge. The Council plans to distribute rain gauges to 100 primary schools across the county in time for the start of the new school year in September. For the second phase of the project, the Council are seeking champion schools across the seven Local Electoral Areas to host an automatic weather station, which will be visible on Met Éireann’s website and will provide real-time weather data. Schools interested in having an automatic weather station installed should send an email Kevin.Vallely@fingal.ie before Friday, September 10. The launch was also attended by representatives from Met Éireann, the Office of Public Works (OPW), the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, and Fingal County Council Executive Engineer Kevin Vallely who is leading the project. Cllr O’Donoghue said: “This is a great initiative as the information gathered will be used to provide a more accurate understanding of river response to different rainfall depths and can be used by the OPW, Met Éireann and Fingal’s flood sections. Most importantly the project will help to further students’ knowledge of the key challenges faced by society including climate change and flooding.” The Weather Stations for Schools project is being supported by the Chief Executive’s Innovation Fund which was set up earlier this year by the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly.“ The Innovation Fund facilitates staff submitting innovative ideas that can bring greater value to the Council, support new ways of working and create a positive impact for public services. It was launched in January and there were 14 applications from which four projects were subsequently chosen to be funded this year. This is the first of the four projects to be launched and, as well as providing valuable information, the data collection process by teachers and pupils will help to promote an appreciate of the water cycle and climate change challenges faced by the community,” said Ms Farrelly.