Fingal County Council’s Affordable Housing Scheme at Dun Emer in Lusk took a major step forward today when the first sod was turned on the construction site by the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David Healy; the Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue; and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, TD.The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, and the Chief Executive of Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, Hugh Brennan, were also present at the ceremony which signals the next phase of the 51 home project. Construction on 39 affordable homes and 12 social homes will commence in a couple of weeks. Prices will start from €166,000 for the two-bedroom apartments; from €206,000 for the three-bedroom duplexes; from €250,000 for the three-bedroom terraced; and from €258,000 for the three-bedroom semi-detached homes.The Application Portal opened on May 4 and there has been a steady stream of applications for the affordable homes. The allocation process will be based on the Scheme of Priority with each application being processed on the basis of its eligibility.Applications for the Dun Emer Affordable Home Purchase Scheme can be made via https://affordablehousing.fingal.ie and an explanatory video outlining the application process is available at http://www.fingal.ie/affordablehousing (NB: websites not accessible through this medium)The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr David Healy, said: “Affordable housing is an important element in Fingal’s efforts to tackle the housing crisis and ensure that the housing needs of our communities are met. The application figures show clearly there is a demand for affordable housing.”The Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue, who is also Chair of the Housing Strategic Policy Committee, said: “The scheme contributes to Fingal County Council’s aim to create and sustain communities with a healthy mix of tenure and housing types gives people a realistic opportunity to own their own home.”Hugh Brennan, CEO Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, said: “Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance welcomes the opportunity to work with Fingal County Council on this important scheme and we do not underestimate the challenges of delivering 39 top quality affordable homes and 12 social homes for the people of Fingal during a pandemic. We are confident that with the continued support from Fingal County Council and all the stakeholders we will do just that, and, in under two years, there will be a thriving community in Dun Emer, Lusk, County Dublin.

The 4th May saw the opening up of construction again and after months of delay, enabled our con-tractor Pat Fitzgerald Construction to commence work on the Lusk Community Cultural Centre. Step one was to secure the site and start clearing it up. After many years of dereliction, cleaning up was a major task however for residents near by, this was very welcome. Nearby residents have lived with anti social behavior on the site for decades, so the removal of the old out buildings meant that this anti social opportunity was also being removed. Today we are back to the original front wall and gable walls that we are to preserve. The Cottage frontage is a key feature on Church Road and bringing it back to its former glory is the key objective.Over recent months, Lusk Com-munity Council has been working on new brand ideas for the Cultural Centre. In line with the branding of the Cottage Community Centre, Nicole Kearney, designed the new Cultural Centre branding. On the 14th May, we were delighted to welcome Minister Darragh O’Brien and AnnMa-rie Farrelly, CEO of Fingal County Council to launch the new branding in the company of Coun-cillors Boland, O’Donoghue and Dennehy.

“Lusk Tidy Town Committee have been busy over the past few weeks, tidying up banks, cutting back hedging, digging flower beds and planting shrubs and wildflowers. Over the years it has been my good fortune to have worked with people of energy and enthusiasm who have helped make our village of Lusk an attractive place in which to live. Thank you Pat Kelly”

May 12th saw the completion of the submissions for the Fingal Development Plan 2023-2029. Thank you to everyone who made a submission. Some were some very strong, not least the Lusk Vision 2030 document from consultants AP&E, which is worth a read on the Fingal County Council consultation portal consult.fingal.ie.

The Love Lusk website was launched last month by Lusk Community Network. We would like to congratulate them on a fantastic job and a great initiative for Lusk. If you are a business owner, get in touch with them to be included on the website as they would like to ensure all groups, clubs and businesses are given a presence, making it a one stop shop for all things Lusk! Check out the website lovelusk.ie.There has been great An Taisce community litter picking activity arranged by Willie McGee over the last number of weeks. Have a look out for the next spring clean date on our Facebook page and join us! We would like to thank Willie for all his efforts.Fingal County Council have agreed to provide funding for extra Christmas lights; however, we need to raise €2400 of our own before we receive the €2000 from FCC. We plan to start a fundraiser in September so keep a lookout.We are very pleased to see that the berm (soil subsidence) on Station Road has been cut back, making the pathway much safer for pedestrians. Many thanks to Cllr Rob O’Donoghue for his representations.Planning permission has been granted for 84 houses on Rathmore Road, with 30 conditions that must be met.We await the lowering of the footpath opposite Butterflies Montessori, which has been delayed due to Covid restrictions. As extra funding has been made available nationally for the provision of bins, we have requested an onsite meeting with FCC to discuss problem litter areas and receive commitment to increase bin numbers. Enjoy the Summer fro all of us in Lusk Action Group.

Cllr Rob O’Donoghue has warmly welcomed the intention for provision of night classes in Lusk Community College. O’Donoghue stated, ‘Following inquiries regarding the proposal for night class at Lusk Community College, I was delighted to receive the news that the secondary school is to run night classes at the school in the future.’The question of night classes was discussed at length by the Board of Management. The Board was of the opinion that the introduction of such a programme would be of great benefit to the school and the local community.The idea fits well with the Boards wish that the school be a centre for learning for the entire community.It is the Boards intention that planning for adult classes at the college will commence shortly, with the hope of developing a programme in place for the 2021/2022 school year with support from the Dublin & Dún Laoghaire Education & Training Board. O’Donoghue continued, ‘night classes are a great initiative from a from a school that is continuously hitting high standards, they will enrich the whole community and I would like to commend the strong and dedicated leadership of the Board and the Principal.’

May brought us at Donabate Portrane Special Olympics Club the best news ever; with an ease in Covid restrictions and thanks to hard work by our safety committee we have returned to ‘live’ sessions on Saturdays.I don’t know who was more excited, our volunteers, the parents or the athletes!Despite the rain, and thanks to the covered yard area in DPETNS, we welcomed our young athletes and parents back in pods of fifteen, and it was a privilege to see the smiles as they saw their friends face to face for the first time in so long.We are all sure they could all tell we adults were smiling under our masks as we marvel at how much they have all grown up over the last 15 months.We thought it might be difficult to run our sessions within the restrictions, but as always our superstars adapted to the challenge and were soon running, hopping, skipping, balancing.Playground games are a great hit; with the children enjoying their turn at being “it” and calling the shots in Red Rover and What’s the time Mister Wolf. While activities were under way in Donabate, one of our parent volunteers, Maedhbh, took on her first marathon to raise funds for Down Syndrome Dublin and our club. Our club followed her progress with some of our families going along to support Maedhbh on her route. We are all very proud and grateful to Maedhbh who raised over €3500. Local Athletics Club, LSA are great supporters of our club and will help us with the launch of our athletics programme as soon as we are able.We are delighted that they have chosen us as their charity partner for their first official event this summer to celebrate their 10th anniversary.Thank you LSA.

LSA (Lambay Sports & Athletics), is an athletic club in North County Dublin with juvenile and adult members, founded in 2011.This is our first club race and we would love if you could join us in our celebrations.Unfortunately due to restrictions this year we can only be with you in spirit and hope from next year to continue with an annual road race around the beautiful coastline of Donabate and Portrane.For now we are celebrating everything 10 with a 10k and 10 mile. We’ve also added a 5k and juvenile races so everyone has a race to suit them. So get the family out and run, jog, walk or roll your distance between 12th to 18th July 2021. We will have spot prizes which will be announced over the next couple of weeks too for winning club teams (it doesn’t have to be an athletic club) and age category. Our nominated charity is Donabate & Portrane Special Olympics Club, a new club with a big heart, catering for kids with disabilities from all over North Dublin and beyond. If you would like to train for this event, join the club and share in the celebrations, please email Heather on lambaysportsathletics@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook - Search “LSA”.

Active Age for All recently acquired two sets of croquet equipment and asked Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed to assist by assembling the two flat-packed trolleys included with the sets. So, with engineering know-how and carpentry skills, not to mention a code-cracker’s ability to decipher the unintelligible assembly directions, a few of our members proved themselves up to the task. We managed to produce two fully functioning trolleys in time for Active Age for All’s socially distanced return to croquet. With the easing of Covid-19 restrictions to permit outdoor gatherings of 15, the Men’s Shed has arranged a few outdoor get-togethers over the coming weeks. Work at our allotments also continues. If you wish to join us, please contact Jim on 086-3694316.

Councillor Adrian Henchy has welcomed news of a Skate park for the area. He said I was very pleased at a recent area committee meeting to receive confirmation that as part of the Ballymastone Sporting and recreational campus, Fingal County Council have agreed to install a skate park as part of this project. This has been one of my key objectives since my election in 2014 from my visits to our local primary schools and engagement with students of our local secondary school as well as many youth organisations and indeed local residents calling for the installation of a skate park local to Donabate given the nearest one is currently in Swords. The first step was getting this stitched in as a local objective for Donabate within the Fingal Development Plan and its very positive to now see Fingal County Council follow through on its commitment. Donabate is a growing community with a very young population and its critically important that we provide a wide range of facilities and amenities to appeal to as many young people as possible. I am also very pleased to see this amenity co- existing with the proposed eight lane Olympic standard athletics facility and the full size flood lite all weather facilities to accommodate Gaelic Games and Soccer.

On Monday 10th May, the croquet players were all ready to celebrate the start of the 2021 season using their new equipment. This was purchased, at the end of last summer, using a grant from Fingal County Council Community, Culture and Sports Division. Prior to this we had a loan from Croquet Ireland, and we thank them very much for that.
Thanks too to some of the Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed, Jim O’Donohoe, Gerry Kirwan and Oliver McDonald, who volunteered to put together the trolleys that arrived in kit form. (see photos). The existing AAfA members who play croquet regularly were really pleased to see this arrival. At the time of writing, we have more members wishing to join and we will be at trying to extend our playing time, or additional time, to try to accommodate this.

We will continue to monitor the changes in opening-up from Covid and how it might impact on our activities. Keep checking on our weekly emails to see what else may be happening from time to time. All we need now is a summer of glorious weather.