We recently held our 2 nd AGM and wish to thank everyone who attended. LAG is proud to be a voice for the people of Lusk and will continue to do our best to help shape how Lusk develops for the benefit of us all. After two years of being the main driving force behind the LAG we wish to thank Lynne Barker, who is stepping down as Chair of the group in keeping with our constitution, for all that she has done and the selfless dedication that she has demonstrated for the benefit of our town. Lusk appreciates you and all that you have done on our behalf Lynne. Our new Chairperson will be Colin Browne and Lynne will remain on our committee and continue to be an active part of the group. With our proposed Summer Festival having received approval from Fingal Co Co, we now need help from the community to make it happen. We will need musicians, entertainers, people to help with the multicultural section, people to give a few hours to help marshal the event and financial support (keep an eye on our FB page for further details). Please get in touch if you can help out in any way. Lusk Community Clean-Up Group will be holding their annual Spring Clean week from the 2 nd – 9 th April. All help is always welcome and greatly appreciated. Meeting at The Square at 12:30pm on Saturday 2 nd April. Contact Willie McGee for further information at willie.mcgee73@hotmail.com. As always, we are on the look out for new members of Lusk Action Group. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us on luskactiongroup@gmail.com.
At the Area Operations Meeting Councillor Rob O’Donoghue warmly welcomed the inclusion of funding to be spent on road and active travel infrastructure in the coming calendar year in the Lusk area. He commented, ‘I am delighted with that the works that have been included and will be pushing for other areas in the town that need attention to be considered for upgrade through other funding streams.’ Works listed under the 2022 Programme of Works include footpath upgrades at Treen Hill and Dun Emer, road resurfacing of Hannah’s Avenue, drainage works on Ministers Road/Hands Lane, lighting on Hands Lane and the installation of additional footpaths through the Orlynn Park Green Space. In addition, over €500k has been earmarked through the Capital Roads Programme for the upgrading of the R132 and as part of the NTA’s Allocation for Active Travel Projects, Ministers Road to Blakes Cross and Kilhedge Lane have had funding allocated for the construction of new protected cycle lanes and Safe Routes to School at Corduff National School. Cllr O’Donoghue stated that ‘detailed design has been carried out on this stretch of cycleway and this design is currently under review by our Active Travel Engineering Team in FCC. I am pleased to see that this project is included on our works programme for delivery later this year.’
Now that the restrictions are relaxing Junsa Taekwondo is in preparation for the return to competitions . In the coming months our national governing body , Taekwondo Ireland, are organising small tournaments for beginners and intermediate students, for our more advanced students we are beginning to make preparations to travel to the UK and Europe for competitions.
We train in Lusk Scouts Den please contact Master Stuart Russell or follow us on Facebook. Unfortunately both our beginner classes are full at the moment( but there is a waiting list ) and our intermediate and advanced class’s have limited availability, so please don’t delay if you are interested in getting fit, building confidence, and learning new life skills. Our pictures show Junsa’s students in training for their upcoming competitions.
Lusk Athletic Club were awarded the ‘National Development Club of the Year’at the recent Athletics Ireland National awards ceremony on Saturday 4th February. Considering the hundreds of athletic clubs around the country, this is a great accolade for the club and everyone involved with Lusk Athletic Club, adult and juvenile members, coaches, committee, parents, supporters and those that took the decision to reform Lusk Athletic Club back in 2009 and have overseen phenomenal growth since then with club membership reaching an amazing 700 in 2021. Lusk Athletic Club is a club for all – ages – abilities - and events. Well done to our coaches, mentors, volunteers, parents and athletes - this is your award.The first two months of the year have been very successful for the club with both our master’s athletes and our Juvenile athletes competing and winning medals at the National and Dublin Indoor championships at the National Indoor Arena, Abbotstown. We also had a great turnout for the recent Raheny Shamrock 5-Mile race and the Dublin Masters Cross-county races in January. Lusk Athletic Club also rolled out our Fit4Life and Fit4Youth groups in January which are both going very well. Sunday 6th March will see the LUSK 4 Mile race take place at 3pm preceded by Juvenile races from 1.30pm. All are welcome to run, jog or walk the Lusk 4 Mile and you can register at Luskathleticclub.ie or on the My run results website.
At present we have two teams looking for new recruits. Our U13 Boys are looking for new players and we are also delighted to announce that our new U9 Girls are also looking for new players. If you have a child in either of these age categories who wants to play football or Camogie then give us a call, both the young person and all your family will be made most welcome at the club.
By Pat Kelly.
Spring is in the air!. Daffodils are appearing, the birds are tweeting and covid pandemic is almost at bay. This signals the start of The Tidy Towns committee work programme for 2022 with our dedicated team of volunteers cleaning, tidying up, planting shrubs and litter picking. Your support in our many endeavors in Keeping Lusk Tidy is very much appreciated. Lusk is ever changing and growing at a rapid pace due to the various housing developments and expanding population. Lusk Tidy Town Committee has produced many cards and verses by local residents over 30 years and with the popularity of these cards we are producing a book for the Tidy Towns Archives reflecting on a changing Lusk. Thanking you for your continued support and Happy St Patricks Day from Lusk Tidy Towns Committee.
The second phase of meetings for the Fingal Development Plan has took place this January/February for the new Plan 2023 – 2029. Councillors signed off on the new Draft Plan and had the opportunity to submit motions to change the future growth of the towns in Fingal. In the Lusk context Cllr O’Donoghue says he was able to resist attempts by Councillors from outside of the Rush-Lusk Electoral Area who proposed a motion which sought to develop the usage of the lands around the Rush-Lusk train station. Speaking at the meeting Councillor O’Donoghue railed against the whittling away of the green space between Rush and Lusk, ensuing traffic chaos and the potential delivery of unsustainable development proposed by Councillors from outside the area at the location and that passing the motion would be tantamount ‘to changing Rush and Lusk forever and a hell of a legacy to bequeath the towns of Rush and Lusk.’He continued, ‘the Draft Plan will be out for public consultation from the end February until May 2022. This will be the final public consultation and the last chance that people from Lusk will have to get their voices heard. I would urge anyone who has an interest in the future development of the town to make a submission on the new Draft Plan.” In other Council news, the annual Programme of Works will be announced later this month with Cllr O’Donoghue looking for improvements in drainage in Ministers Road area, resurfacing of roads in Lusk, including the R132 and the fixing of footpath infrastructure in the Treen Hill area among other works.
We look forward to our 2nd AGM on Monday 7th March. This will be open to the community as we are looking for new LAG committee members. If you have drive, enthusiasm, care about the future of our town and have some time to spare, please consider joining us. You can email us on luskactiongroup@gmail.com or contact us on 0863017842 for details. There is currently a public consultation open for the Fingal County Council draft development plan. We urge the community to engage with this process. We cannot stress the importance of this enough. These are the plans that shape the future of our town until 2029, and this is our opportunity to ensure that it looks how we would like it to look, especially considering housing development and land zoning. See consult.fingal.ie or get in touch with FCC on 01 8905000. In February, we had the first of the Lusk Vision 2030 Implementation meetings. We look forward to our continued involvement with the committee and to beginning to bring to fruition the comprehensive 2030 plan. This is reliant on the time, enthusiasm and talent of many people involved in many different clubs and committees in Lusk. It is also reliant on the support and involvement of our local councillors, TD’s and senator. And we would like to thank them for their support to date. Siobhan O’Connor is looking for volunteers for Junior Park Run weekly event in the Hub on Sunday mornings at 9.30am. Event is a free 2k walk/run for children ages 4-14. Volunteers will assist with set up and running of the event which should take approx. 1 hour from start to finish. Please contact Siobhan at 0868405952 if you are interested. We very much look forward to our Lusk St Patrick’s Day parade and festivities this year! We would like to thank Lusk Community Council for organising this. Wishing you all a very happy St Patrick’s Day! Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Daoibh go Léir!
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
