Recently Junsa Taekwondo held their first grading of 2022 in their new training venue, the Lusk Scout Hall. The new hall is a fantastic venue for our sport and we were made feel very welcome by everyone in the 153rd scout group.The club grading was a fantastic success with all students passing and attaining their grade with some double grade’s on the day. Our photos show some of our students on the day. Junsa Taekwondo would like to thank all their members and friends for the support during the last two years. We train at the Lusk Scout hall and are always accepting new members.

Lusk Athletic Club are looking forward to an exciting 2022 with all our adult and juvenile members with plenty of new PBs and more “Real events” to take part in. 2021 ended with a charity run on St Stephens Day where the club raised €700 for the local Lusk Community Unit. We then had two club races on the 28thDecember, the Holly Berry 10K won by Daniel O’Brien and the Turkey Trot 5K won by Sheila Bourke. Thanks to all who turned up to run or volunteer, we had a great turnout including a large group of friends from Balbriggan Runners who took part. On the 9th January 2022 the Dublin Master cross country championship races took place in St Annes Park, Raheny and Lusk Athletic Club were well represented in both the men’s and ladies’ races. Great running by all our athletes against the best master’s athletes from all the other Dublin athletics clubs. Lusk Athletic Club started another Fit4Life and Fit4Youth training programme on Tuesday 18th January. Our friendly coaches will continue help you to complete a Parkrun 5K after just 8 weeks training in a fun, relaxed environment. New members always welcome to the Hub, Rathmore Road any Tuesday or Thursday 6.45 PMregistration is now open at luskathleticclub.ie and on the Myrunresults website. We hope yo enoy or and photos highlights from 2021

The second phase of the Fingal County Council development plan is open and we encourage the community to engage with this. The document is very comprehensive so we will bring attention to areas of interest to Lusk on Facebook to make it easier to understand. This is a very important phase, and one of only a couple of opportunities to effect important change for Lusk. Very disappointingly, our plans for a biodiversity garden have had to come to an end for now. Unfortunately the access was deemed not suitable by Fingal County Council and to rectify this would have entailed using capital which, at the moment, is destined for other priorities in the town, as Lusk aims towards delivering the 2030 plan. Monday the 7th March will be our AGM. At the moment, it seems likely that this will have to be online. Please email us at luskactiongroup@gmail.com or call us on 0863017842 if you wish to attend. We also welcome new members at our AGM so if you are interested in joining our Lusk Action Group committee, get in touch

Pat Kelly LTTA

Lusk Tidy Towns Committee are delighted that our markings in the National Tidy Towns Competition went up by 5 points despite all the building works in Lusk. Thank you to everyone who supported our Christmas Card Launch and to those who purchased the card and calendar. It is now 30 years of producing cards, and a book will be produced of the cards and verses written by local residents and photographers. Wishing everyone a very happy healthy new year..
Also this month Lusk Tidy Towns are very proud of the work they carry out on behalf of this community. However In order to appreciate the extent of change in our environment, snap-shots of old and new can be very helpful. The photo of the square in Lusk was taken in 1980.

As we crystal ball gaze over coming months, we must also start planning for what we know. St. Patrick’s Festival will provide an opportunity for the community to celebrate our National Holi-day and while we don’t yet know what that will look like, we are starting to plan for the day, in the hope that Lusk will be able to have its traditional parade. Come what may, the Community Coun-cil will look to brighten up the town with banners and bunting. We will have the Round Tower il-luminated again for the festival and all going well, we will have a real life parade on the streets of Lusk.We are encouraging every household to play their part by flying flags and bunting across the town for St. Patrick’s Festival. If everyone makes an little effort, it will lift the spirits of the town and in the light of the last two Covid years, this will be much needed. Lusk Community Clean-Up, organized by Willie McGee, is one such example of a bunch of volunteers making a big difference with the appearance of the town. Willie particularly wants to give a shout out to Lusk Community College students for taking part in the Clean-Up.The Fingal Development Plan Review is ongoing with motions being proposed by Councillors in recent weeks. The Draft Fingal Development Plan will be on public display for a period of 10 weeks from February 2022 to May 2022. This will be your opportunity to comment on the plan and to review what is being proposed. In the context of the Development Plan Review we have delayed the first meeting of the Lusk Vision 2030 Imple-mentation Group to February. 2022 is looking good so far. Let’s hope it continues.

At the January Area meeting Cllr Rob O’Donoghue tabled a motion regarding improved walking a cycling infrastructure to service within the town boundary of Lusk and also facilitate connectivity to the Rush & Lusk Train Station in line with the concept of a 15-minute city or town centre first approach.In response the Council stated that plans have been identified on their programme of works under the Lusk Station Road East West Route and their Lusk Village Scheme, works that are currently planned to commence with feasibility and development in the first quarter of 2023. Cllr O’Donoghue stated that the identified works are much needed in the town with peak hour traffic between Lusk and the train station growing apace. He continued that ‘the town centre first approach would facilitate better mobility links for the people of Lusk within the town and the cycle link to the train station would provide much needed access to the train station that can offer cyclists and pedestrians an alternative route to the train station which would circumvent the usage of the busy main Lusk to Rush road. I look forward to these plans being brought to fruition in the future.’

Congratulations to Lusk farmer Shane Halpin who won “Other Enterprises” category (Horticulture) at the FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards 2021 in association with Macra na Feirme in partnership with the IFA. The competition was first launched in 1999 and and has been successful in raising the profile of young farmers within their community by recognising their achievements and contribution to farming.. Shane graduated from Technological University Dublin with a degree in Horticulture. He always had an interest in farming from a very young age, he gained this interest from his grandad and his uncles at their farm in Lusk, he spent all his school holidays working with them. Shane also spent some time working on farms in New Zealand and the USA to gain further experience.Shane started Welgro Produce which is located in Rush, Co. Dublin along with Sean and Gary Weldon in 2020.Welgro is one of only two commerical cucumber growers in Ireland. The company employs up to 15 people at peak times in the areas of grading/picking/packing and distribution. Their company recently won “The Irish Newbie new entrant competition” in association with Teagasc. They were also featured on RTE’s “Ear To The Ground” program recently. Shane is also a member of The North County Dublin Macra na Feirme. Shane made it into the final five of the Young Farmer of the Year Award 2021 by winning his category. The awards were announced on December 17th at an event which was streamed live on Macra Na Feirme’s Facebook page and zoom. After receiving the award Shane said he was extremely proud of his achievement for his company and for the horticulture industry.

Fingal County Council has announced that Robert Burns has taken up the role of Director for Housing and Community Development from 24 January. Robert joins the council’s executive team at a time when Fingal has committed over €390 million to deliver a significant housing programme under the Government’s Housing for All initiative. He is taking over the role from Liam Burke who has been the Acting Director of Fingal’s Housing and Community Development team following the departure of Margaret Geraghty last May to the Housing Delivery Co-ordination Office at the Local Government Management Agency. Welcoming the appointment, Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly said: “We are delighted to be able to bring someone of Robert’s calibre to Fingal. Having his extensive experience and expertise on board will be invaluable to help drive the county to reach its ambitions around housing provision as well as developing the many community assets that benefit everyone who lives, works or visits here. On starting his new role, Mr Burns said: “This is an exciting time to be at the helm of one of the key departments within Fingal and I’m looking forward to playing a leading role in helping to build upon the excellent work already underway.“I will be particularly keen to work with local communities and stakeholder groups to help ensure there is not only good quality housing built across the county, but that we can also deliver a strong regeneration and development programme which can transform and improve neighbourhoods for residents and visitors alike.” Currently Fingal manages and maintains a stock of around 6,000 homes and is working on the development of landbanks at Church Fields in Dublin 15, Ballymastone in Donabate and Hayestown in Rush. A graduate of Queens University Belfast, Robert has extensive experience as an engineering consultant and also worked at Irish Rail where he specialised in the project management of infrastructure projects. Robert has a keen interest in the fields of housing, sustainable development, transportation, community development, town and village renewal and climate action.

Peninsula Pacers have planned a few walks for the Springtime so hope the weather will be kind to us all! So get out your walking shoes & let’s get going!

Skerries: On Thurs 17th Feb we hope to go on a medium walk in Skerries. We can go on the train, walk down to the town via the mill if open, go on a beach walk around by Red Island and coffee! Returning by train to Donabate. All weather permitting.

Boyne: On Thurs 10th March we hope to do some of the Boyne Rampart Canal Walk. It is a flat walk with some lovely attractions on the way and a view of the Boyne for the entire length. They will require cars but we can hopefully pool by then! All weather permitting.The April walk to be decided but will probably be before the Easter Holidays and maybe the Bray to Greystones Coastal Walk - if it is reopened. If you are interested in joining please contact us we would be delighted to hear from you. Further information & queries to Carolyn Smith 087 9284307 and also on email: carolyns@live.ie

In the 2021 Town and Village Streetscape Enhancement scheme, an initiative funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) & administered by FCC Development Section, the Parish Hall Committee were part funded for outdoor works at the Parish Hall & Church. The tree lined boundary facing the graveyard and backing on to the railway has been pruned back, the trees trimmed and the undergrowth cleared out. New pots and miniature trees have been put in front of the hall. In the Springtime the railings, gates and doors of the church will be restored and painted as part of this programme. Some works have already started by clearing at the railings in preparation for painting as the weather improves. As regards what is happening inside the Parish Hall - there has been some curtailment of daily activities and classes and very few events taking place, but hopefully with covid restrictions easing there will be more activities and events taking off. It is not still clear whether it will be possible to run the Cultural 3 Week Activity Block for in Spring during February/ March and it may have to be moved to a later time in the summer; all will depend on public health restrictions. It is envisaged that the situation will improve as regards public health and as there are only certain times still available to rent in the Parish Hall and a rapidly expanding population it might be a good idea to contact Bernie at stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com or any queries to 01 8434574 to see if there is availability to suit your needs. We wish you all a good Spring and welcome back all our regular users and new user to the Parish Hall.