Fine Gael Councillor Tom O’Leary said recently, “Extra measures agreed by Cabinet recently under the Housing for All plan will speed up home building and drive down building costs in Fingal, and these additional provisions are good news for home buyers, renters and builders.” He said, “There are three strands to these new measures, which is designed to and will make home ownership more affordable for many people again. The measures comprise of: 1. Reducing the cost of construction: by scrapping the development levies required to connect new homes with roads, water and other services, and subsidising development levies, saving up to the value of €12,650 per home on average. This will cut the cost of building a home and apply for a limited time only to act as an incentive. 2. Increasing the pace at which vacant and derelict properties are renovated for new housing by increasing grants to cut the cost of restoring empty homes and making it easier to apply. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant will be increased from €30,000 to €50,000 for vacant properties and from €50,000 to €70,000 for derelict properties, extended to cover houses built up to 2007, and will be available for properties intended for rental as well as owner-occupied. 3. Is the Government financing of the construction of affordable apartments under Cost Rental: The current Government has agreed to commit up to €750 million via the Land Development Agency and other providers as part of this initiative to complete 4,000 to 6,000 additional affordable apartments under the Cost Rental system.

On Tuesday the 25th April the Balbriggan/North County Dublin Branch of Guide Dogs were presented with a cheque for €681 from the Tesco Community Initiative fund and a lovely presentation took place outside Tesco in Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan at which a total of 7 dogs attended; 2 guide dogs Qeb with Tom and Winter with Jade, 3 Assistance Dogs; Kirby with Sarah, Quentin with Mark, Marco with Gemma and two puppies in training; Gina with Pat and Cosmo with Therese. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Lisa McEvoy, Community Champion and Tesco for their continued support.
We are happy to announce that the Tap to Donate machines continue to do well. From January to March 2023 a fantastic total of €654 was raised from the 6 machines assigned to the branch. In Ashbourne we have two locations; Chez Emily Boutique which raised €144 and Specsavers which raised €105. In Swords we have 1 location; Petstop Airside which raised €45. In Balbriggan we have 1 location; Specsavers in Millfield Shopping Centre which raised €111. In Dublin City Centre we have 2 machines in Specsavers GPO Arcade which raised €249.We are delighted with this and appreciate all your support. We also want to say a big thank you to everyone who supported us in May in the lead up to Guide Dog Day 2023 and to all those that came along and celebrated with us and donated to us on the 26th May in Tesco Millfield Shopping Centre, Balbriggan and SuperValu, Balbriggan on the 27th May.

If you are looking for ways to support us, we will be attending Balbriggan Summerfest this coming June between the 28th May – 4th June. Keep an eye on our social media accounts for a confirmed date and you can come meet our wonderful Guide Dogs and volunteers! If you are interested in volunteering with us, please feel free to contact us: Balbriggan/North County Dublin branch of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, you can phone or text us on 085 7663107, email us at GuideDogsBalbriggan@gmail.com or find us on Facebook at Balbriggan Branch of Guide Dogs.

Aer Lingus Bowling club is a well established lawn bowls club. We are located in the ALSAA sports complex on the Airport road. In March we enjoyed a wonderful day to celebrate “International Women’s Day”. We had an enjoyable day where women from the local surrounding area attended our trial sessions. We had a group from Swords Women’s shed, as well as a local active age group and members of the Alsaa badminton and tennis club join us. We were also joined by Caitriona Geraghty Fingal Sports Development Officer who was supportive and encouraging of our efforts.

On May 6th and 7th we held our Open Day. This was an initiative from the Development office of Irish Lawn Bowls. The day saw clubs across the country have people try the wonderful game of lawn bowls. A cohort across a wide variety attended on the day. We were encouraged to see children attend also. We had a very successful and enjoyable weekend. We are encouraged to see some new members join us. We will welcome a group with additional needs join us in using our facility going forward. We are a vibrant club with dedicated members. A strong emphasis is placed on social bowling. We also participate in league matches during the summer and winter leagues. In March 2023 the women’s and men’s sections merged. It is now know as The Irish Lawn Bowls Association (ILBA). Our club welcomes this forward thinking initiative. In recognition of this merger and to embrace the exciting initiative our club has recently acquired new club shirts. Previously the men and women had different shirts. We are extremely grateful to Challenge Insurance for their kind sponsorship of our new club shirts. What better way to move forward in this new era for lawn bowls in Ireland. We are always looking for new members to join is. Our “Introduction to Bowls” sessions will continue to run every Wednesday and Sunday from 11am – 1pm. Come along and try this wonderful sport. All equipment is supplied, just wear flat soled shoes on the day. We are happy to take any enquiries on the numbers listed. See our Facebook page Aer Lingus Bowling Club. Sandra 0863114540 or Des 0870678903

We were privileged to host the head of JKS Worldwide, Kagawa Shihan 9 th Dan JKS,recently for a training seminar. Over 10 hours, Kagawa Shihan gave masterful karate instruction in kihon, kata and kumite. Over 100 JKS members from across Ireland attended Applewood Community Centre to take part. The attendees ranged in age from 6 to over 60 years and Kagawa Shihan was mindful to cater to everyone who was training. We hope to have him visit next year again. It is great to offer our students the opportunity to train which such a high calibre karateka. Congratulations are in order for all the JKS Ireland students who completed their belt grading examination at the National Grading including those who took the Black Belt Dan grade under the watchful eye of Kagawa Shihan. All of these karateka were dedicated in their training to achieve their new grades through tough examinations. Regular training continues weekly in Applewood Community Centre. All classes are enjoying being back to a regular schedule after the long Easter break in April. The next event for members is the 3 rd JKS Inter Club Competition which will be held in Tyrrelstown in June. We hope to have some medal winners on the day. We take new members (Children, Young People & Adults) all through the year. Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join. Contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club

By Ken Duffy

It’s that time of the year again when Swords Tidy Towns are very busy putting together their 2023 submission for the National Tidy Towns competition. The submission team which is led by our Sectary Teresa Cosgrave are in the process of putting their different sections together, this is by no means an easy task. When each member of the team completes their section, they forward it on to Teresa for final proofing. It is Teresa’s job to put what she has been sent into an acceptable winning submission which we hope will produce a Gold Medal this year, or at least another Silver Medal. I would like to extend a massive thank you to our hard-working submission team who do so much are: Teresa Cosgrave, Grace Dunne, Rose Brennan, Ramune Kuzminiene, Melanie Van Der Linde, Noel Cosgrave, George Mongey and Billy Mc Clean.We would ask the public to be very vigilant litter wise especially during the months of June, July and August as this is when the judging takes place, no specific dates are given as to when they will visit our town so we must be constantly be on our toes. Swords has been under attack of late by indiscriminate tagging, one individual appears to have no respect for anyone’s work, who goes by the tag name ASTA, if anyone knows who this individual is, please ask them to stop what they are doing. Swords Tidy Towns volunteers give up their free time each week to make Swords a better place for us all to live, while some individuals give up their free time to make Swords a worse place for us all to live. Any help with the resolving this matter would be sincerely and gratefully appreciated by our hard-working tidy towns volunteers. If you would like to get involved with the Tidy Towns team just turn up on the day and introduce yourself, we meet each Saturday in the Colourtrend car park opposite the Garda Station, look forward to seeing you there. You can also make contact by email at swordstidytowns@gmail.com or by calling Ken on 0866008313.

Swords Meals on Wheels were recently delighted to receive an extremely generous donation of €1000.00 from Swords Lions. We do have a long and excellent relationship with Swords Lions and appreciate this help. This will go a long way to cover our ongoing day to day expenses and allow us to concentrate on our core activity to meet increasing demand for our services in the greater Swords area. We remain fully committed to ensuring that no one has to pay for our services, donations like this allow us to maintain this commitment.

Malahide United were very pleased to become involved in hosting a recent round of Special Olympics Eastern Region league matches on Sat 15th April between 2pm and 5pm. The club hosted 20 teams (200 players) from Division 1, 2,3,4 and 5 including our own Malahide United Football For All team. It was a great day out for the players who really enjoyed competitive football. A good sized crowd dropped along to support the event. Remember if you know anyone who may be interested in joining our team please contact on Steve 087 1950892.

Well done to the 2014 girls who finally had their first under-9 football matches against Skerries and Binn Eadair recently.. A massive thanks to Syl’s players Kate Sullivan, Sinead Aherne, Niamh McEvoy, Clodagh Fox, Danielle Lawless, Mia Roche, Sarah O’Donnell and Kate O’Toole who gave the girls some fantastic training sessions in the run-up to the games.

Syls Cycling Club Malahide is delighted to conclude the third year of the immensely popular Couch to 50k programme with close to twenty new members. The cyclists significantly improved their confidence on the bike and also learned about topics such as bike maintenance, nutrition, safety, gearing and group cycling techniques over the six weeks.Participant feedback was excellent, with some examples included here. One person said, “The couch to 50k is a brilliant way to get into cycling. I wish I had joined something like this years ago! There is a great social aspect to group cycling and everyone is really supportive no matter what your level. I would have never had the confidence to take on much of a road cycle, but the programme and club have helped me gain that through the mix of group cycles around north county Dublin and the very informative classes”. Another said, “I joined Syls Cycling Club after persuading a friend to join the year before, and she raved about it. I joined the 6-week course -couch to 50k. Well, all I can say is it is brilliant. The leaders made sure everyone was kept together and a steady speed - no one ever got left behind”. “It really makes cycling longer distances so much more achievable for all, and it is amazing how far you can go when you have company. One of the highlights was stopping at the many lovely coffee shops in North County Dublin that I never knew existed!” Another added, “A friend recommended The ‘Couch to 50km’ program offered by Syls Cycling Club, and I thought that this was the perfect place to rekindle my interest in cycling. From Day 1, I knew that I had made a great choice.” The class of 2023, have now merged into regular club spins and many are setting new goals. The Club offers spins on Wednesday evenings, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Some of the Couch to 50 class of 2023 are also targeting participation in various sportives around Ireland. Syls CC membership is open for cyclists of all levels, and the club will run a fourth version of the programme in Spring 2024.

A great occasion was held recently with the official opening of our refurbished local history museum at the Steward’s House, Malahide Castle. Over 100 members and friends of Malahide Historical Society turned out to see Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and local lad, Darragh O’Brien, T.D. unveil a plaque in the presence of the Mayor of Fingal Howard Mahoby and the CEO of Fingal County Council Anne-Marie Farrelly. In a speech, Malahide Historical Society President Paddy Ryan thanked the committee and Minister O’Brien and Councillor Eoghan O’Brien for their support for the project and the management and staff in Fingal County Council without whose unstinting support the project would never have got across the line. The museum is now open on weekend afternoons and will soon open from Tuesday through to Sunday and admission is free. Our Pictures show the event as well as the Steward’s House in the 1960s with members of the Raeburn and O’Neill families who lived there when the estate was still owned by Lord Milo Talbot.