Over a year after the conflict in their country began, some 80 displaced Ukrainians determined to get back on their feet in Ireland have completed a Start Your Own Business programme thanks to a collaborative effort between the Fingal Ukrainian Response Forum and the Irish Red Cross. The initiative encompasses a programme tailored to the requirements of Ukrainian nationals living across the country and is delivered as a hybrid course, both online and in-person. It covers a variety of modules including finance, business management, networking and legal requirements. Recognising an opportunity to do more at a local level, the Irish Red Cross approached Fingal County Council to do develop a course for Ukrainians who were interested in start their own business in Ireland. That led to the Fingal Local Enterprise Office (LEO) rolling out a customised Start Your Own Business programme that could be delivered bilingually. With strong links to the Ukrainian community through their hubs across Ireland, the Irish Red Cross were well positioned to identify interested candidates and set about the registration process that saw them recruit some 80 participants with varying backgrounds and business ideas. Congratulating the first tranche of those taking part in the programme, Fingal Ukrainian Response Forum Chairman and Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Howard Mahony said: “This is a fantastic initiative that gives budding entrepreneurs from Ukraine the right tools and business insights to enable them to be positive contributors to the economic growth of the country. “Those taking part see an opportunity to not only generate employment for themselves, but support the creation of small businesses. They are bringing their own ideas, expertise and varied backgrounds to really make a go of being here after fleeing the horrors back in their own country. I am delighted that Fingal continues to be a warm and welcoming hub for those coming to Ireland and hope that this type of business incubator concept can be replicated with success elsewhere.” Many of those taking part have signed up for the programme having had businesses in Ukraine and are looking to start their business in Ireland.

The Fingal Old IRA Commemorative Society is on the road again and heading to its next event which takes place on Sunday 7th of May 2023 at 12.00 midday. The Chairman of the society Paul O’ Brien explained it’s a two part event and the first part takes place in the Mendicity Institution Usher Island Dublin centre. This event is held every year by the Mendicity Garrison Relatives Association and since 2016 the Fingal old IRA Commemorative society have taken part. The event is to remember the men who were sent in to help from the Fingal 5th Battalion and the men who fought there in Easter week 1916 under the leadership of Commandant Sean Heuston who was executed on the 8th May 1916 . The second part of the event takes place at 1.00pm in Dr Steven’s Hospital Steven’s Lane, Saint James Dublin 8. The Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Caroline Conroy and the Deputy Mayor of Fingal Cllr Cathal Boland will also be attending. If anyone is interested in attending they can contact the Chairman of the Mendicity Institution Relatives Association Robin Bollard on his mobile 089 2107803 or Lar Daly vice Chairman of the Fingal old IRA Commemorative Society 086 17735. The Men who fought at Mendicity were Patrick J Kelly Lusk Company who died 28/3/1945 aged 48 ,Richard Kelly also Lusk Company who died 1/12/1973 aged 78 ,George Levin B Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 19/12/1957 aged 85 , James Marks Fingal 5thBattalion who died 16/12/1939 aged 45 ,Sean Mcloughlin D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 13/2/1960 aged 65, William Meehan Lusk Company who died 22/7/1975 aged 89 , William Murnane G Company 1 st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 27/8/1956 aged 71 , Joseph Norton Fingal 5th Battalion who died on the 21/11/1917 aged 42 ,William O Dee D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 10/3/1955 aged 67 , Thomas O Kelly D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 28/4/1937 aged 56 , Thomas Peppard Fingal 5th Battalion who died 16/12/1984 aged 90, Edward Roach D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 21/2/1963 aged 64, Liam Stanies D Company 1 st Battalion Dublin Brigade 2/11/1918 aged 20 , Patrick Stephenson D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 6/4/1960 , James Wilson Fingal 5 th Battalion who died 23/10/1967 aged 70 ,Peter Wilson Fingal 5 th Battalion who died 18/2/1973 , Richard Balfe D Company 1 st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 20/10 /1967 aged 74, James Brennan D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 6/4/1976 aged 85, Frederick Brooks C Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died on the 21/12/1954 aged 79 , John Byrne D Company 1 st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 2/7/1954 aged 59, John Clarke Lusk Company unfortunately no records on his death ,Captain Richard Coleman Fingal 5th Battalion who died 9/12/1918 aged 28 , James Crenigan Fingal 5th Battalion who died 13/8/1974 aged 74, John Cullen D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died 29/5/1918 aged 22, John Derrington D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died on the 15/11/1962 aged 90, Liam Derrington D Company 1st Battalion Dublin Brigade who died on the 18/2/1943 aged 44 and lastly Peter (Cooty ) Wilson Fingal 5th Battalion who was shot holding a white flag to surrender on 26/4/1916 aged 41, he is buried in Dr Steven’s Hospital.

Open Squad training recently for all members of JKS Ireland. Over 2 hours, we covered Kihon (basics), Kata (forms) and Kumite (fighting). Everyone worked hard and trained diligently. The class was split up into groups by grade and the JKS Ireland Instructors taught each separate group. We hosted National Brown 7 Black belt training also. Students preparing to take the Black Belt examination in the near future were put through their syllabus and kata by Dermot O Keeffe Sensei, 7th Dan JKS. We welcome new members all the time. Our classes are as follows: Tigers (5yrs – 7yrs) Thursday 4pm & Saturday 10am. Juniors Tuesday 6pm and Thursday 5pm. Seniors Tuesday 7pm and Thursday 7pm. The first class to try out is free. Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club. Or do feel free to contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: jks_swords_karate_club

Congratulations and our very best wishes for the future to Andrey Pricop on recently becoming Dublin champion. We are delighted for Andrey who works hard day in and day out down the club. Brilliant work Andrey and congratulations once again from everyone at Swords Boxing Club.

Fine Gael’s Local Area Representative in Swords, Luke Corkery, has called on Fingal County Council to find a suitable site to build social and affordable homes in Swords, on a similar scale to the developments under construction in other towns across North County Dublin. Speaking following the announcement of 62 new social and affordable homes for Rush, Luke said: “The construction of this development in Rush is obviously really welcome given the urgent need for new homes – particularly social and affordable homes – in this region. However, there is no sign of anything like that in our county town of Swords; one of the fastest growing towns in Ireland. As a young person, living in the Dublin commuter belt, I am hugely conscious of the difficulty in finding affordable homes to rent or buy. The Council-led construction of purpose-built affordable housing would be a priority for me. House prices in the Lusk affordable housing development are expected to start at €166,000 for two-bed apartments, from €206,000 for three-bed duplexes, and from €258,000 for three-bed semi-detached homes. Fingal are now starting to build badly-needed social homes in Swords and that is very welcome; we need more social housing. But what if you want to buy a home in Swords at an affordable price? There is absolutely nothing at the moment, and at that, there have been no announcements of affordable housing developments either. There are a number of sites Fingal could use in Swords. Much of it is already Council-owned. For example, the Fingal County Council staff car park, facing onto the R132 at the end of Seatown Road, strikes me as a no-brainer. It is a large piece of land, which is already zoned. It’s in a central location, within walking distance of Main Street. It’s directly adjacent to the MetroLink route. The lack of affordable housing in Swords is dire. That’s why I’m calling on Fingal County Council to fill that gap in the Swords housing market and to prioritise the construction of affordable housing for our town”, Luke concluded.

Local Swords councillor, Joe Newman has slammed the DAA and demanded that a new airport be developed close to the capital to manage the huge increase in demand for airline travel. “Improved management of the Irish aviation sector is crucial”, he says.Newman describes the North Runway project at Dublin airport to be a catastrophic failure. Currently, the management of the new North runway has caused a huge discomfort and annoyance to the residents of the Fingal region, and he warns that potential health risks must be taken much more seriously. The local councillor has called on officials at Fingal County Council to insist that the DAA comply with the planning conditions as agreed by the authority. “The DAA are showing limited regard for people of Fingal and their very poor management of airport growth is becoming the norm” Newman said. Further, he questioned why ANCA (Airport Noise Competent Authority) were based at the offices of Fingal County Council. Newman insists that ANCA should be based in offices at arms distance from both the airport and the local authority. This is not simply a question of policing the DAA but matters in protecting the public. Councillor Newman says that the residents of Ridgewood and Boroimhe estates in Swords who live just one kilometre or so away from the new runway have had their privacy shattered with this huge noise disturbance invading their homes.He went on to point out the significant noise disturbance at St. Margaret’s, Kilsallaghan and Oldtown. These towns are under the flight path where planes make a sharp turn which is in contravention to the original flight path promoted by the DAA in previous consultations on the noise contours. And for the residents of some estates in the Rivervalley area in Swords, who have for years put up with a lot of noise from airplanes taking off from the South runway, they now must deal with an increased amount of noise from the north runway and the fact that planes are taking off at much lower altitudes. Councillor Newman is demanding that the DAA are instructed to return immediately to the original planning conditions as set out by Fingal County Council, and that the ANCA decision to allow the erosion of terms of night flying hours be reversed forthwith. “The ANCA decision to increase the night-time flying hours is simply the thin edge of the wedge to all night flying” he said. Newman concluded “We need another airport to limit the growing pressure on Dublin Airport”.

By Ken Duffy

Swords Tidy Towns hard-working volunteers were out on the Well Road pruning and chopping the overhanging branches and hedging, they also trimmed back the ground vegetation. The area was very overgrown and the low hanging branches and hedging were a hindrance to pedestrians using the footpath. This urgent work needed to be completed before March 1st as this date is the national deadline for this type of work to be completed pre nesting season. Swords Tidy Towns once again took part in the Swords St Patrick’s Day Parade, the theme for the parade this year, was “Going Green”. Once again we held our fund-raising Bucket Collection at the end of the parade and we thank you for your generosity. All donations are ploughed back into the town of Swords to the benefit of its community. We had a sell-out night at our Table Quiz in Peacock’s Bar Rivervalley on Thurs Feb 9th. A big thank you to the management and staff for setting out the room so well and for taking such great care of us on the night. The craic was mighty, our Quiz Master and STT volunteer Noel Cosgrave gave an outstanding performance, and not forgetting our hard working Quiz Night committee, Georgy Hughes, Teresa Cosgrave, Isobel McClean, Billy McClean and Ken Duffy. There were raffle prizes galore thanks to the generosity of local businesses and individuals for which we are very grateful. We would also like to thank all those who came out on the night to support us, we hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did. The total for our fund-raising quiz was 2,015 euro, a fantastic result. Once again, a big thank you to everyone for your support, all monies raised will benefit our future projects for Swords. The Table Quiz winners on the night were - 1st place (who were very appropriately named) “And In First Place”, the 2ndplace competitors were “The Last Of Us”, and in 3rd place were “Go Leir” meaning – All. Many congratulations to the winners and hard luck to those who didn’t win, and thank you all for supporting us on the night.

The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Howard Mahony, has opened three public amenities in Swords which represent an investment of €6million in the county capital. They were the first phase of Swords Regional Park in Oldtown, Swords Archaeological Park in Miller’s Glen and Ward River Recreational Hub in Rivervalley. The Mayor was accompanied by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD, and the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, at the first two openings and they were then joined by Minister for State at the Department of Transport, Jack Chambers TD, and the Chief Executive of Dublin Airport, Vincent Harrison, at the opening of the Ward River Recreational Hub which was funded by the Council and the Dublin Airport Authority. Speaking afterwards the Mayor said: “The parks and outdoor sports and play facilities we opened today clearly demonstrate Fingal’s continuing commitment to the provision of high-quality open space amenities.” The 20 acre park at Oldtown represents phase one of the Swords Regional Park which will eventually develop into a major new park extending to more than 250 acres along the banks of the Broadmeadow River between Miller’s Glen and Lissenhall and linking to the Estuary stop on the proposed MetroLink. The nine acre Rathbeal Archaeological Park in Miller’s Glen brings to 40% the amount of public open space in Fingal that is located in designated heritage landscapes. Evidence of human activity in the park goes back as far as the early Neolithic period, almost 4,000 years BC. The Ward River Regional Park Recreational Hub is part of the 200 acre Ward River Regional Park and features newly developed grass pitches as well as a Third Generation all-weather sports pitch with innovative LED floodlighting. The new car parking provided as part of the Hub will also benefit general park users and provides a foretaste of the improvements to the park which will be included in the Ward River Regional Park Development Masterplan which will be the subject of public consultation and a planning application later this year. The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, said: “The opening of these three amenities, in different parts of the town, represents a six million euro investment and shows Fingal County Council’s commitment to ensuring Swords grows sustainably and develops into a well-designed county capital.

Aer Lingus Bowls club is an inclusive club. We welcome all abilities, ages, and genders. Are you interested in trying lawn bowls this Spring/Summer? Do you know someone who might be interested? Would your club, Men’s/Women’s shed, Active Age group, organisations for individuals with additional needs, or school be interested in trying Lawn Bowls? All equipment will be provided for taster sessions. Please contact Des Walsh on 087 0678903/ Sandra McCarthy 0863114540 for further information or send a message on Facebook messenger Aer Lingus Bowls Club. We look forward to welcoming you. You will be assured of a warm welcome.

Our U8 girls had an experience to remember at Parnell Park when they played at half time during the Dublin Camogie v Kilkenny game. Congratulations to the 2015 girls, fresh out of the Academy this year, who took to the field during the half time break at Parnell Park during the Dublin Camogie v Kilkenny match today! Thanks too to their sponsors The View Malahide for their windbreakers & hats keeping them warm! The girls were buzzing after playing Fingallians GAA Club and then meeting their camogie heroes. The Dublin ladies were phenomenal, chatting with the the girls and signing hurls afterwards.