We are happy to see more bins in problem litter areas around the town. This came from our continued engagement with Fingal County Council and Cllr Robert O’ Donoghue’s representations on our behalf. Monthly litter picks continue to be organised by Wille McGee, so keep an eye out on our Facebook page and other community Facebook pages for details on how to get involved. We are also asking everyoneto Adopt a Patch. You can choose an area close to where you live to keep tidy and litter free. Litter picking packs are available from FCC. Email them at BalSwoOpArea@fingal.ie (nb: not accessible through this medium). Power cuts continue to be a big issue for households and especially for local businesses. LAG are engaging with our public representatives regarding this. We continue to receive a similar response from ESB Networks to that of a year ago, which we do not feel is adequate. We will continue to drive this as an issue of concern, on behalf of the community.We are very pleased that LAG has secured funding from Fingal County Council for a community “St. McCullin’s Bee Garden;. We hope to begin this project in September.The delays in the handover of the sports field and common areas of The Forge to Fingal County Council continue. Our public representatives are assisting in expediting this process. In the meantime, the developers have agreed to properly maintain the sports field until the handover process is complete. We have raised concerns regarding the dangerous state of the playground which remains locked and unmaintained and which encourages anti-social behaviour. Enjoy the rest of the Summer days! All in LAG
At a recent Area Committee Meeting Cllr O’Donoghue inquired on plans for the future use of 6.4 hectare of Council owned Lusk Bypass. The lands which were acquired by Dublin City Council in 1975 were at one stage proposed to house the Fingal Sports Complex to host a number of sporting events and groups, including the now defunct soccer club Sporting Fingal. However, as of 2012 there have been no plans to progress the project.In their response to O’Donoghue’s motion Fingal County Council while asserting they have no proposals for the land currently, the future use of the lands could be considered in the context of the new Development Plan.O’Donoghue stated: ‘It is important that with the high volumes of residential development that have taken place in Lusk, indeed Lusk between the censes in 2002 and 2016, has increased its population by 217%, the largest percentage growth in all large towns in the North County in this time, that a balance is found to provide enhanced public spaces and community infrastructure to improve the quality of life for all residents of Lusk.’ He continued: ‘With this in mind any future use of this land needs to be kept for Community Infrastructure, to provide much needed recreational facilities for current residents. My fear is that with pressure coming from the Department to build housing at all costs, that pressure may come to target this site which should be for community facilities. It’s my intention to submit a motion to the Development Plan, to have this land earmarked for Community Infrastructure.’
For 5 mornings during July, we had registration times for our new term of classes. There was glorious weather and we were well equipped with the new seating outside the café at DPCC. This allowed plenty of social distancing and a time to catch up with our friends. Thanks to all the DPCC staff who have helped to make this happen.This is not the first time since March ’20 where we have prepared to commence classes and we really hope that we will not be in lockdown again and that by the time you are reading this, we will be seeing each other regularly. For those who have already registered, you will know that we cannot return immediately to any classes where we share equipment. However, that leave us with enough of a choice to keep our brains and bodies exercised! At the moment we have Art, Croquet, French, Spanish, Photography, Pilates, Sit & Get Fit, Stronger for Longer, Tai Chi, and Yoga classes. As soon as we can move to the others like Singing & Music, Bowls, Pickleball, Table tennis, Bridge and Cards, we will let you know. As soon as activities begin.
We owe you money… we still have quite a few members who have not renewed their membership during the July dates for doing this. We have many members who were with us in 2020 when we had to shut down classes. Many members are carrying a small credit balance with us and we would encourage you to make contact and renew your membership card by just using some of your balance to cover it. If you want to do this, please email us on activeageforall@gmail.com or text the AAfA mobile 086 8806808 and let us know. We will be able to leave your new card for you to collect at the desk of DPCC. Don’t forget that your new card will give you discounts in the usual suppliers.
Are you new to the area or new to retirement – you just need to be 55+? You can call in to DPCC and collect an AAfA New Member form and fill it out and leave it for us. We can make contact and we will do our best to include you in classes as soon as possible.
As reported last month, Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed received a generous grant from Fingal County Council’s Community Activities Funding Scheme for the materials to install a decking area at our plot at Turvey Allotments, for which we are extremely grateful.
The materials have now been purchased – blocks and gravel for the base, pedestals and treated timber joists to support the composite decking, all the trims and fixings to complete the work and, most importantly, a new wheelbarrow to replace our old one which had given up the ghost. The on-site work has started and is progressing well, as can be seen in the accompanying photos. Next month, we hope to have some photos of the completed work, with members taking a break from their strenuous work tending the allotment – a brief break, we hope! Anyone wishing to join the Men’s Shed should call Jim on 086-3694316.
FleadhFest 2021 is a project by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann to substitute for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, which has been cancelled this year due to Covid-19. Through a series of videos, it tells the story of Comhaltas from the point of view of each County and Province - the story of the people, community and culture. The videos, which can be viewed at youtube.com/comhaltas/videos, are a treasure trove for anyone interested in traditional Irish music. Leithinis Donabate Portrane CCÉ recorded our contribution to this project at two local heritage sites, Newbridge House and Park, facilitated by Duncan Henderson and Cathal Dowd Smith (of Fingal County Council), and the Martello Tower at Tower Bay thanks to Terry Prone and Bryan Greene. Part of our video is included in FleadhFest Ath Cliath Episode 2, starting at 37:35. It features Bren Farley and Sinéad Cahill on whistles, Erin McGahon on fiddle, Evin Cuniffee on banjo and Michael Durkan on guitar recorded at the Martello Tower playing the jig, Sliabh Russell, over the background shots of Newbridge House. This is followed by a set played by Denis Stack on button accordion, Sinéad Cahill on whistle and Clíona O’Reilly on fiddle. Well done to all our musicians; they did us proud. A special thanks to Ian Butler who did a thoroughly professional job on ensuring perfect sound quality and on editing the video and to John Treanor for the drone footage.Thanks to a grant from Fingal County Council’s Community Activities Funding, Leithinis has purchased three concertinas to add to our expanding instrument bank. We wish to acknowledge the guidance and support offered by Rafe Costigan, Fingal County Council Senior Community Officer, in our preparation of this and previous grant applications. These concertinas will be available on loan to students registering for our classes next semester, starting in late September. The concertina classes will be taught by Rory Thornburg, who also teaches button accordion. Anyone of any age from seven up interested in joining our classes in traditional Irish music on banjo, bodhrán, button accordion, concertina, flute or tin whistle, check out our website, www.leithinis.com, and email us at leithinis@comhaltas.net.
Donabate Parish Hall Committee has been busy over these COVID times with restoring and refurbishing the Parish Hall and fitting it out with new furnishings. About half of the total cost of these works was generously grant-aided by Fingal County Council, the Department of Rural & Community Development and the Fingal Local Community and Development Committee (LCDC) under the Community Enhancement Programme 2020, the Community Facilities Remedial Works Scheme (Non FCC owned), the Covid-19 Emergency Funding Round 2 and the Community Activities Funding Scheme. These grants enabled the hall to be repainted, new floors to be put down, the old floor in the main hall to be restored, a new storage container to be bought and new tables and black out blinds. The Parish Hall Committee has put up the other 50% towards the cost of the works, which has been a considerable outlay during these difficult Covid times.All these improvements to our local Parish Hall are to the benefit of the entire community on our Peninsula, as it offers an upgraded space for mainly community, cultural and civic activities to take place in a warm welcoming environment. In order to satisfy a wide range of needs and activities from community to commercial, the Parish Hall Committee has produced a template for a Yearly Programme. This will have Weekly Activities (e.g., dance, cards, music) and will also have Blocked Activities whereby weeks will be set aside a few times in the year when weekly activities will be suspended to cater for other cultural and community activitie (e.g.exhibitions, dramas, films, craft fairs and cultural camps). Current users have been contacted with regard to their needs and wishes within this new framework. There will be a number of times available for new users; so if you wish to express interest in using the facility please contact Bernie and Fr. Pat Reilly ASAP email Parish Office: stpatricksrcdonabate@gmail.com with the name of your organisation or group, what activity or event you are involved in, what days and times you are interested in or blocks of time for an event. (Requests can only be taken in writing). If you want any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact the Parish Office on 01 8434574. We look forward to better times when we can return to “normal”!
By Maria Corcoran
My husband Niall and I have been volunteering for the past 3 years in our estate The Links, Donabate creating flowerbeds. We have planted flowers at the entrance and further down the road too plus we started to use the graveyard for water for the shrubs and flower bulbs we planted. So then we kept adding to the area we worked on and as they say the rest is history! Fingal County Council are aware of our creations over the years and have supported us in any way they can help so that is fab.However Niall and myself love living in this area and feel this work in any spare time we get is a way of giving back to our estate. We love our community and the amazing compliments we get off the people is just powerful! I do post from time to time on Donabate village facebook page so if you look for me maria fitzgerald corcoran you can see our dedicated team work put into everything. We plant our own flowers or buy online or even from the garden centres near and far! Everything like tools are our own we even bought a new petrol lawnmower at Woodies in June. I would love just to show our Seniors out there that don’t have Internet access or are even housebound what our flowerbeds in the cemetery and The Links look like!
Editors note: Maria just wrote into us and attached the pics (jpegs) and we are more than happy to publcise the tremendous work her and Niall and friends are undertaking at The Links. If you or someone you know is giving up their time to improve your area or volunteer in the community and you feel they should be recognised for it, please drop us a line with details and we will be happy to give them the recognition they deserve also.
The months of May and June were busy for our group. lots of work was undertaken throughout the Donabate village and the roads leading to it, with footpath and roadside clearance works to the fore. Flower beds required plenty of attention and there is an overload of yellow roses from planting in earlier years. The flower beds at the roundabout beside the hotel were overhauled with some new planting and the grasses cut there. We hope to plant a few trees close by in November at this location. Plants were installed at the welcome stone to Fairways/Spires/Donabate Village . We asked the Council for the two tree trunks cut on the New Road to be given as a feature here, but it never happened, sadly. Littering has been a major problem at week ends and we have gone out late at night to try and tidy up, but Herring Gulls are out early in the morning opening bags. Pizza boxes are a big problem. In Portrane we observed the lettering was worn at the anchor. We mentioned this to the Council last February and the lettering was redone in early June. We also asked for the leakage to be fixed from the anchor, but still remains to be sorted. The display stone at Tower Bay still requires the lettering to be redone and we asked the Council last February to have this matter attended to. Tidy up works took place in Seaview Park and Tower Bay carpark is regularly visited for cleaning up of litter. The roadside flowers at the entrance give a pleasant feel to this location. We have been active in lobbying for the removal of invasive Sea Buckthorn from the Burrow sand dunes. This plant has the potential to wipe out the rich flora and the supporting pollinators and butterflies , including the vulnerable listed Small Blue butterfly. The flowering plants here include Kidney Vetch and Birds-foot Trefoil which are critical for the bees and Small Blues, with Kidney Vetch the only food plant for Small Blue. Despite the beach being narrowed at the Burrow, the Little Terns so far have had a successful breeding season
In 2011 the Dublin Community Games came to visit Donabate to recruit volunteers to form a local group. The Donabate Community Games was formed and the athletics group was where Dara Carr and Jennifer Tanner met for the first time. Two people with a love of sport and a background in athletics.In June 2011, 270 juveniles turned up to the trial, and athletes and volunteers proudly lined up behind the Donabate Portrane Community Games Flag in our royal blue and white.Soon afterwards, and with the help of Gerry Ronan we set up Lambay Sports Academy (which changed to LSA very quickly).Initially we were a juvenile club. Over the years our Juveniles participated in Dublin and National Championships and the Community Games. Several of our young athletes made it onto the podium over the years, and our first National medal was won by Glory Uzomefuna in the Under 12 600m National Indoor Championship in 2017.In April 2019 we added the Adult Running Group. We started with a womens Couch to 5k. Quickly it became apparent that more people were interested in longer distances and interval training. Fast forward 2 years and we now have a growing vibrant adult group catering from Couch to 5k, half and full marathon and interval groups. Our adult Track and Field group is growing in momentum with recent participation in the Dublin Graded Meets and Leinster Championships. As we mark our ten year anniversary it is fitting that some of our original Juvenile athletes are now competing as Seniors and assisting with coaching our next generation of young athletes and that the club now has a National Senior medal winner.Our vision is of a club for all generations bringing athletics to the peninsula. We’ve been around 10 years but we are only getting started and with the athletics track in Ballymastone coming closer to reality it looks like the next ten years will be even more exciting than the first! Follow us on Instagram and Facebook - Search “LSA”.
Fingal County Council will immediately begin the process of procuring a new operator for its successful attractions at Malahide Castle, Newbridge House and the Casino Model Railway Museum following the decision of Shannon Heritage to withdraw from their contract. The Council was disappointed to learn of Shannon Heritage’s decision and will continue to work with them as we move into a six-month transitionary period.The properties in Malahide and Donabate, which include Malahide Castle, the Butterfly House, Newbridge House and Farm and the Casino Model Railway Museum, are open to the public and continue to attract large numbers of visitors.
