A Labour Party delegation consisting of Duncan Smith TD, Cllr James Humphreys and Corina Johnston Area Representative met with senior officials of the Gardai including Assistant Garda Commissioner Anne Marie Cagney, Superintendents Brian Woods and Ronan Barry to discuss the need for additional Garda resources on the peninsula. Corina Johnston said;“in their response the Garda informed us of their intention to provide two additional Gardai for foot patrol duties on the Donabate peninsula on each weekend commencing on Friday 30th April. This forms part of their good weather initiative which will continue during the summer period. “Johnston continued; “ While I welcome the much needed additional resources for Donabate, I stressed the need for community Gardai to be assigned to Donabate on a permanent basis given the projected growth in the population.”Johnston continued; “ Duncan Smith TD and I have been advocating for the introduction of the See Something Say Something Garda text initiative on the peninsula. Superintendent Barry gave his continued support to the introduction of this text alert initiative which has proved successful in a pilot scheme in Swords. The extension of this scheme will be decided in conjunction with Fingal County Council and the Chamber of Commerce in the near future.“ Johnston added; “the following issues were raised by our delegation:- the need for a community based policing forum- the need for a domestic abuse officer for the Swords and Donabate district- an online post primary school programme initiative in advance of the school summer recess.The Gardai committed to giving serious consideration to these proposals.”Johnston concluded;”Duncan Smith TD and I also raised the need for a permanent Garda station on the peninsula.We suggested that in the event of the Progressive Credit Union proceeding with their intention to sell the Credit Union building, as seems likely from responses received to date, that this could well be an ideal location for a Garda station. In their response the Gardai said that while they have no objection in principle to a Garda Station on the peninsula, this however would be a political decision“

Thanks to Fingal County Council for giving us nearly a full grant aid for two fantastic gazebos, and our particular thanks to Rafe Costigan Senior Community Officer for his assistance with this project, who took on board our vision of the best way to be outdoors in Ireland in our changeable weather! We are told to get outdoors, it is safer & healthier so that is what we intend doing, practicing our music & song in the wide open spaces. Erin McGahan our Gaeilge Officer & Fintan O Reilly our Youth Officer, came along recently for a mini work party to fill our sandbags to secure our gazebos when in use! You will hear us around the peninsula over the summer and as always feel free to contact us at leithinis@comhaltas.net. We are really looking forward to getting together again to play and enjoy our music once more as can be seen on our pictures .

In case you think that the selection of wild birds on the Donabate Portrane peninsula is limited to robins, starlings, crows and seagulls,have a look at this selection of photographs taken in Portrane by Swords man James (Chick) McNally. A much wider selection of photographs can be seen on The Bleeding Pig Cultural Festival’s facebook page bleedingpig.ie James (Chick) McNally has spent many wonderful hours capturing these images for us. He has a lifelong passionate interest in nature and conservation.Chick is a member of Bird Watch Ireland and is currently involved with the little tern project which is being conducted on Portrane Beach for the past twenty five years.This involves a team of volunteers who erect a fence and patrol the beach to protect the little ternsThe little terns lay their eggs in the sand and are vulnerable to predators – both animal and human – while they are sitting on their eggs waiting for them to hatch.There is great rejoicing when the babies are ready to fly back to Africa.

Our Senior team manager Adam Foley has regretfully stepped away from his position with the club with immediate effect. Adam has taken this decision as he cannot give the position his full attention as he is pursuing a very successful playing career in the LOI Premier Division. We are sad to see Adam go but Glebe North wish him every success as he continues to shine on the playing field. We thank Adam for his tireless work with the club and look forward to welcoming him back to the club in the future whether it is as a player or coach or in any capacity (His blood still flows green). The club have appointed Darius Kierans as the new manager of our senior team. Darius comes to the club as a highly recommended and experienced coach. We look forward to working with Darius and wish him the very best as he takes over the reigns from Adam.

A variety of challenges have faced the hotel sector over the past fifteen months, but the CityNorth team took it in their stride and throughout all phases of restrictions.
Looking forward to opening again, Suzanne Mulvey, Director of Sales and Marketing at CityNorth said, “We are delighted to open our doors to the public once again on June 2nd. We have been working behind the scenes to make improvements on our outside Delvin Terrace and we expanded our gym for residents”. Currently recruiting for food and beverage, accommodation, chefs de partie and kitchen porters, CItyNorth Hotel was recently awarded the Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice Award 2021 for outstanding reviews over the last 12 months which is a testament to the dedication and customer service shown by the staff during this difficult year.“We are delighted with the award which places us amongst Trip Advisors’ top 10% of hospitality providers worldwide.” said Ms Mulvey. “To celebrate we have launched a number of new overnight packages such as our Dine, Drink, Stay Package which includes Dinner, Bed and Breakfast, a welcome glass of prosecco and a pre-dinner cocktail for two people from only €159. Many couples and families, work colleagues and friends are booking in on this great value deal to reunite in the spacious surroundings of our hotel.” The hotel is unusually busy with early bookings for family summer staycations. CityNorth has been in the family market for many years, and offers overnight deals including dinner for a family of four from only €159. Last year in anticipation of limited international travel, CityNorth Hotel promoted Family Seaside Breaks which include picnics to take away to our great local beaches.“We are encouraging families to get outside and enjoy all the amenities our coastal beaches and Boyne Valley heritage sites have to offer” commented Ms Mulvey. ”We have a new appreciation this year of our local area, and this will become a long term strategy for foreign tourists once they return”.To apply to join the CityNorth Team email CVs to jodie@citynorthhotel.com and for all other information and bookings email info@citynorthhotel.com or see www.citynorthhotel.com (NB: Neither the webste nor the emails are accessible through this medium.)

The following Zoom activities were delivered over the past two months and continue to be delivered by Nora and Paul who have kept the Remember Us participants entertained throughout the lockdown.Amongst the activities which took place over the past 43 days were:
a Disco, the wonderful Paul & Nora show ( make a video ) x 8 times, A Quiz x 5 times, Yoga x 2 times, Bingo x 8 times, 2 x Dance sessions, a Virtual trip to the Zoo, Crafts: DIY Key Wind Chimes, Play Your Cards Right/Mini disco, Lantern making, 2 x Exercise sessions,Crafts: Stress Ball making,Night at the movies, a Virtual tour of Ripley’s Aquarium,Body Percussion, a Cookery session, a Treasure Hunt,an Art n Crafts session,a Magic Show, and a Treasure Hunt. Nora Roban said , “I open the zooms at about 6.45 so members can come in and have a chat with us and activity starts at 7.30. when it finishes we have another chat. Weekly Webt exts to all members & their families /volunteers to see how they are getting on and to say we are at end of phone if they want to call for a chat etc.,Daily posts on Facebook/Instagram since we broke up of photos sent to me via e-mail from our members. Each day if there is a member’s birthday, we post it on Facebook.- Emails/phone manned everyday /weekend.” She added.“ Regarding the Paul n Nora show many of our members and their families say it’s the highlight of the week for them as we dress up and act a little silly!! We also announce the theme for the following weeks Facebook photos. Zoom activities for our younger members before they went back to school some were one to one sessions and others were small group sessions.Tuesday afternoons - Chat exercise or music time Thursday morning afternoon - Chat Puppets and story time-And whatever else will work for them. - Approximately. 7 members took it up, two one to ones and a small group.” This has poven highly successful so well done to Nora and Paul on their hard work.

Foróige is so excited to announce our 2021 summer programmes will be launching on the 15th of June until the 20th of August! Our summer programmes are packed with fun and engaging activities for young people of all ages throughout the entire summer. Activities will include sports like basketball, football, outdoor obstacle courses and if you don’t enjoy sports, don’t worry. We will also be hosting a safe space to practice your graffiti skills, painting and artistic abilities. Want to sit back and just enjoy an outdoors movie? We have that too, amongst fishing trips and a nice picnic under the scorching sun. There is a specific focus this year on promoting health and wellbeing and this will be incorporated into all programmes on offer. Our summer programmes are inclusive to all of our projects and each week is dedicated to activities tailored specifically for everyone’s interests.

These free summer programmes will give young people the opportunity to express their creativity and their talents in a natural environment with the support of professional youth workers and hardworking volunteers. Young people will experience competitive games that will help them develop skills like teamwork and communication skills. The summer programme will be open to all the young people who are in a Foróige project or club. There is limited availability for those who are not currently involved with Foróige. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, we must restrict the amount of young people in each programme so we ask that if you are interested in registering interest you do it as soon as possible. You can contact us through our Instagram or Facebook page and we will forward on an expression of interest.For more information, contact Áine McGuinness on 086-7710790 or email aine.mcguinness@foroige.ie

A National SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Wastewater Surveillance Programme, that has been developed by a specialist team, with input from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), HSE, HIU, the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL), UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, and Irish Water,began work in early May.This wastewater surveillance programme will be an important part of the work being undertaken to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 in communities across Ireland. The programme will measure the level of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater within 68 wastewater catchment areas across the country and will effectively operate as an early warning system for future possible waves of COVID-19 infection.

Professor Wim Meijer, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, Lead Investigator said, “The pilot study, funded by SFI and the Ireland Wales Programme 2014 – 2020 through the European Regional Development Fund, involving three wastewater treatment plants showed a very close correlation between the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 genetic material and the daily number of new COVID-19 cases. This demonstrates the usefulness of wastewater surveillance as a Covid 19 early warning system.”Ireland has over 1,100 public wastewater catchment areas where wastewater is collected and conveyed for treatment, so it would not be practical nor feasible to undertake surveillance in each of these.Consequently, to address this issue, and to ensure the programme captures as broadly as possible the position across the country, 68 wastewater catchment areas, covering each county in Ireland, were identified and selected.In this area they are in Balbriggan , Malahide, Portrane Donabate, and Swords.This will ensure the largest population centres are captured, and a comprehensive national environmental early warning surveillance system will be established.

Adel, a 3½ month old female Golden Labrador guide dog puppy in training, was welcomed into Anne Mulligan’s home on Thursday 6th May. Adel, part of the first litter of 2021, was born on the 29th January. Both her parents are French. Her mother is ‘Never’ and her father is ‘Pacha du Cesecah’. ‘Never’ gave birth to 9 pups, 6 female and 3 male.Sadly 1 male didn’t survive. Adel’s siblings are, Alice, Aska, Anya, April, Andrew, Alfie, and Anna. We will follow Adel’s progress over the next 12 months with interest. When you see Anne and Adel out and about, please be aware that when Adel is wearing her ‘Puppy in Training’ jacket, she should not be distracted or approached. If you have a dog with you, please give them both room to pass without interference. Adel’s daily training with Anne is a vital part of her journey towards becoming a Guide or Assistance Dog. Adel’s first visit to Balbriggan beach with Anne was exciting as she raced around freely enjoying all the new sounds and smells.Anne says, ‘Adel has settled in well and is a happy and an intelligent puppy’.We wish them well together.Yarrow update – Yarrow has progressed onto Advanced Training earlier than expected.He will be with 5 other dogs during his training until August/September. Looking back. In 1984 there was an article entitled ‘Robot Guide Dog’.Called ‘Meldog’, it had wheels instead of legs, sensors instead of eyes and its memory was a map reading computer. Meldog’s inventors were forced to admit ‘A dog has excellent abilities which we cannot imitate by a machine’. That’s why ‘Meldog’ is no more, and why we cherish real dogs like Adel and Yarrow who are selected and trained to become a Guide or Assistance Dog.Would you like to join our volunteers? Contact us by phone/text: 085 7663107 or Follow us on Facebook on guidedogsbalbriggan.

Fingal County Council is delighted to announce an exciting and varied programme for Cruinniú na nÓg which takes place on June 12, 2021. Cruinniú na nÓg, Creative Ireland’s annual day of free creative activity for children and young adults, has gone from strength to strength since its launch in 2018. It is an event that is unique to Ireland and is the flagship initiative of the Creative Ireland’s programme Creative Youth which aims to“give every child practical access to tuition, experience and participation in art, music, drama and coding by 2022”.Working In partnership with the 31 Local Authorities and supported by RTÉ, Creative Ireland works tirelessly to create a day where families and young people can participate in a wide range of fun creative activities that are all free. Fingal County Council’s Cruinniú na nÓg programme has been collaboratively developed by the Creative & Cultural team which is made up of cross departmental representatives with skills in many different areas of expertise. The result of the teams’ hard work is a programme full of events that is guaranteed to arouse curiosity, spark interest and ignite the imagination and most of all encourage the young people across the county to tap in to their creative side and have fun.The programme which has a combination of outdoor, live and recorded virtual events features a Dublin Zoo Webinar, Coding and Podcast Classes, Make and Do workshops, a Bespoke Interactive Radio Piece, a Story Trail set in the beautiful demesne of Ardgillan castle, Hip Hop and Dance classes, Music Tutorials, and young adult interest stories to name but a few, will ensure that Cruinniú na nÓg 2021 is a day filled with happy memories for all of the families, children and young people that get involved.For further information contact Fingal County Council