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.

The first Dublin Climate Action Week (#DCAW21), will take place from Monday, September 13 to Sunday, September 19, and is being planned to demonstrate the ongoing efforts, ambitions and the collaborative approach of the four Dublin local authorities, in addressing climate action.The week is being organised and delivered by the partnership of Fingal County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dublin City Council, Codema – Dublin’s Energy Agency and the Dublin Climate Action Regional Office (CARO). Dublin Climate Action Week 2021 will comprise of a range of online and in-person events, in compliance with COVID-19 measures in place at that time. In August 2021, the full programme of events will be available for registration on the DCAW21 website, at www.dublinclimateactionweek.ie. (NB: not available through this medium). The overall vision of Dublin Climate Action Week 2021 is: “To showcase Dublin’s Climate Action progress to its citizens and demonstrate the leadership role of the four local authorities in conjunction with other partners.” The agreed shared objectives of the initiative are: to Demonstrate progress on the implementation of the four Dublin local authority Climate Change Action Plans, and a regional approach to climate action; to Engage with a full range of partners to share knowledge on efforts and innovation across sectors; to Make Climate Action a ‘reality’ allowing citizens to see what Climate Action looks like; to Promote this initiative so as to fully engage with EU and international cities and our climate peers; and to Create a legacy so that this initiative can carry forward to subsequent years in a variety of ways.

Fingal County Council is delighted to announce the expansion of its popular bike sharing scheme to five coastal towns in the north of the county. Bleeper bikes are now available in Balbriggan, Rush, Donabate, Portrane and Skerries.The scheme allows cyclists to ‘grab & go’ on a Bleeper bike. These GPS enabled bikes are easy to use with no need for complicated docking procedures. Users simply download an app and register for the service. They can then pick up any available Bleeper bike across Fingal by scanning the QR code on the bike to unlock it. Once cyclists arrive in an area where Bleeper operates (see app for full location map), they can park at any cycle parking stand near their destination and lock the bike manually using the provided bike lock. With no need for special docking stations the scheme offers maximum flexibility to cyclists with the freedom to park their bike where they need it.Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Annmarie Farrelly, says that cycling schemes like Bleeper are key to Fingal’s transport strategy. “Offering sustainable and healthy modes of ‘Active Travel’ to Fingal residents and visitors is vitally important. We live in a rapidly growing county and that can provide challenges for busy town centres. Bike sharing, and cycling in general, facilitates people visiting towns while also reducing traffic congestion. It is just one element of an overall approach to travel that gives priority to cyclists, pedestrians and public transport with an aim to make Active Travel the mode of choice for all journeys under 5km.”At the roll-out of the extended bike sharing scheme on Wednesday, David Storey, Director of Services for Environment, Climate Action and Active Travel said: “The scheme has been hugely successful since its initial launch in 2018.Hugh Cooney, CEO of Bleeper, hailed the expansion as a sign of the growing demand for cycling in Fingal: “We’ve worked closely with Fingal County Council to grow Bleeper’s coverage within the county over the past few years and we’re delighted to bring our service to a new set of communities.”Bleeper bikes are now available across Fingal in Swords, Malahide, Howth, Blanchardstown, Skerries, Balbriggan, Donabate, Portrane, Rush, Portmarnock, Sutton, Baldoyle, Castleknock, Ongar, Clonsilla and throughout the Dublin 15 area. A full list of operational locations can be found in the Bleeper app. For further information on how the scheme operates, visit bleeperactive.com (NB: not accessible through this medium)

Fingal Libraries annual Summer Stars Reading programme was launched by Mayor of Fingal David Healy & County Librarian Betty Boardman recently in Malahide Library. Summer Stars is an exciting, reading-based programme available free of charge to all children across the country. It will run in all Fingal libraries until 31st of August with the ultimate goal of encouraging reading during the summer holidays. All children are invited to register for the summer reading challenge with rewards and incentives along the way and a grand finale event at the end for all participants.As part of the programme, a range of children’s events will be held online during the summer to suit all interests – including author visits, technology workshops, creative writing, arts and crafts, storytelling, gardening workshops & biodiversity videos.Mayor of Fingal Cllr David Healy praised the Programme saying: “I am delighted to launch the Fingal Libraries Summer Stars Reading Programme which, as well as encouraging reading, has a wonderful and varied list of events to entertain and inspire children throughout the county this summer.” County Librarian, Betty Boardman, commented: “The Summer Stars Reading Programme is a fun way to keep children reading over the school holidays. Library staff have organised a great selection of events to tie in with the Programme which will keep children occupied whatever the weather.” For details of activities and events, please pick up a copy of Fingal Libraries’ summer brochure at your local library or view it online at Fingal Libraries’ website. You can also keep up to date with summer stars’ events by following Fingal Libraries on Facebook and Twitter.

Guide Dog Day and the 100K challenge for the month of May raised a total of €207,127. Students from Loreto in Balbriggan raised €210, students from Skerries Community College did a sponsored dog walk which raised €725. Georgina, Luke & Assistance Dog Milo’s Team raised an incredible €4,470. Luke’s teacher explains ‘Luke is in our ASD Class in Scoil Chormaic CNS, Balbriggan. We have seen the amazing impact that having Milo has had on Luke and his whole family’. The class of six boys were joined by Guide Dog ‘Qeb’ with Tom O’Neill, puppy raisers Adele Halpin with Lola and Anne Mulligan with Adel on their final walk. These 6 inspiring boys raised €1,755. Adele and Lola raised €423. Volunteer Dana Kelly raised €350. Thank you all for your support.

Our ‘Tap to Donate’ machine, is located at the door of Specsavers, Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan. Just tap to donate €3. Simple to use it has raised €650 since February. For cash there are large collecting dogs located at the escalator near Tesco and one in Cuddles Pet Store while others are located in Balbriggan, Skerries, Lusk and Rush. Other technology helping raise funds are our new posters with a QR code on them. QR stands for Quick Response. Just scan the code with the camera on your mobile phone. A payment app will open which shows ‘Make a payment to Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind’. Key in the amount you wish to donate and select your bank, then follow the on screen prompts. Options are AIB business and personal, Bank of Ireland, business and personal, Revolut, Ulster Bank business and personal and Fire. The amount you donate is sent direct to Irish Guide Dogs in Cork. New volunteers are always welcome. We can be contacted by phone or text: 085 7663107 or email us at GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook at Balbriggan.Branch.of.Guide.Dogs

Foróige is so excited to announce our 2021 summer programmes will be launching on the 15th of June until the 20th of August! Our summer programmes are packed with fun and engaging activities for young people of all ages throughout the entire summer. Activities will include sports like basketball, football, outdoor obstacle courses and if you don’t enjoy sports, don’t worry. We will also be hosting a safe space to practice your graffiti skills, painting and artistic abilities. Want to sit back and just enjoy an outdoors movie? We have that too, amongst fishing trips and a nice picnic under the scorching sun. There is a specific focus this year on promoting health and wellbeing and this will be incorporated into all programmes on offer. Our summer programmes are inclusive to all of our projects and each week is dedicated to activities tailored specifically for everyone’s interests.

These free summer programmes will give young people the opportunity to express their creativity and their talents in a natural environment with the support of professional youth workers and hardworking volunteers. Young people will experience competitive games that will help them develop skills like teamwork and communication skills. The summer programme will be open to all the young people who are in a Foróige project or club. There is limited availability for those who are not currently involved with Foróige. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, we must restrict the amount of young people in each programme so we ask that if you are interested in registering interest you do it as soon as possible. You can contact us through our Instagram or Facebook page and we will forward on an expression of interest.For more information, contact Áine McGuinness on 086-7710790 or email aine.mcguinness@foroige.ie