Significant investment has been secured for Fingal projects at the most recent Dublin Rural LEADER Approvals Meeting. The Dublin Rural LEADER Local Action Group, which oversees the Programme in Dublin, approved €230,748.76 in funding for 5 new projects in Rural Dublin at its November Online Meeting. This brings the total number of projects approved during the LEADER Transition Programme to 15 since it began on April 1st, 2021, with a total value of €543,984.52. The approved projects are in the areas of Economic Development, Rural Environment and Social Inclusion. Fingal LEADER Partnership CEO, Eilish Harrington, welcomed the approval of the 5 projects. “All were excellent projects enhancing services in the rural towns and villages of Fingal. It’s great to see communities benefiting from LEADER funding to help develop and grow their amenities, especially during the difficult times we are all currently in. I would encourage more rural communities and businesses to contact LEADER to avail of the remaining funds during the next 14 months.” Amongst the projects approved for funding are: Balbriggan Meals on Wheels which is approved for €24,063.75 for an outdoor dining area which will be of enormous help to facilitate the provision of meals to their clients in a safe outdoor setting. Donabate Portrane Community Centre CLG which is approved for €24,354.00 for a feasibility study to capture the needs of existing groups that use the facilities to assist and guide them in expanding in line with community needs.Also St Maur’s GAA Club Rush which is approved for €89,154.58 to install rainwater harvesting and irrigation in St Maur’s GAA Club premises and for use on the pitches. The Project will reduce the demand on the public water supply and reduce the volume of water going into the public drainage system. Welcoming the latest funding announcement, the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. Seána Ó Rodaigh said “I would like to thank the Local Action Group for its support of these Fingal Projects which will enable the continued development of sustainable communities in our rural areas’’.

The Lusk Mens walk and talk group meet at the Hub car park at 7:00pm every Monday for their weekly walk. This is open to all men and it’s an opportunity just get out of the house, have a nice walk, clear the head and have a chat if you wish. You can do it as a once off or every week, no joining necessary, just turn up. This group is organised by Ciaran Russell, so if you want to introduce yourself to him and before long you will find you have made new friends. So why not let any friends or neighbours know about it as new members are alaways welcome

Happy New year! We look back at Lusk’s progress and look forward to changes in the coming year. In LAG’s 2020 online community survey, and in the comprehensive Lusk Vision 2030 survey, it was abundantly clear that there is a huge need for facilities and activities for our young people. We conducted a Youth survey in 2021, from which we gained a clear picture of the needs of our young people. We will use this information to help us to bring to life plans for our youth. This will be in line with the Lusk Vision 2030 plan. LAG have had ongoing engagement with Fingal Co Co regarding the programme of works. During the year, we saw road and path improvements, new fencing on the tennis courts, bandstand renovation, new traffic lights and new benches on the ring road among others. It was the largest amount ever spent on Lusk in the programme. We have listened to the community’s feedback on required improvements, and we have requested the majority of these for next year. The support of our committee member, Cllr Rob O’Donoghue makes this happen with far more ease. We have been busy planning a pilot Lusk Summer Festival, so watch this space! We have been planning our biodiversity garden through the year and had a great bunch of volunteers clearing the site in early Autumn. We met with delays due to access issues, however we are hoping to move on with this project quickly. We submitted a comprehensive document to the Fingal Development Plan and we raised almost €3000 for our Christmas lights, thanks to your generosity, and we have enjoyed them throughout the festive season! We are delighted to be part of the Lusk Vision 2030 Implementation Group and we look forward to working with other groups in the community to bring the vision to life. Foroige Youth Club is back up and running in the Carnegie Library on Friday nights from 7 till 9. It is fantastically run, and it really needs to be supported. Get in touch with us on 0863017842.

Lusk ICA held their Christmas Market last month. There was a great selection of stalls both inside and outside the Scout Den. We had some lovely food and craft stalls and everyone had a great time. Thanks to everyone who supported the market, it was a wonderful way to start the Christmas festivities. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

Now that we have our new premises and can train in our pods indoors we have begun to concentrate on our sparring skills and preparing for our Christmas grading. Due to all the restrictions this year we were unable to have our summer graduation so hopefully we can have one this coming December. Junsa would like to wish all their members and friends a very Happy Christmas and a safe new year.We are always looking for new members young and old to take part in our wonderful Martial Art and sport. Merry Christmas everyone.

The club were delighted to reach the milestone of over 700 members recently. Thanks to all the coaches, volunteers and members for the continued support you give to make our club what it is. We are really proud to be practising all athletic disciplines; within a fully inclusive club. A bike stand has been constructed at The Hub so we encourage all members to cycle, walk or run to training where possible. Tickets for the Lusk AC Christmas Raffle are now on sale with details on our facebook page. We have some fantastic prizes and all proceeds will help to raise funds for the club for the year ahead. We are excited to announce that the date for the Lusk 4 mile will be Sunday 6th March. Registration is now open through our website Luskathleticclub.ie. Editors Note: We at Locals magazines wish to thank on our own and on your behalf Sean Greensit as PRO with Lusk AC for the wonderful work done by him as he retires from that post and we wish him all the best for the future . We also wish his successor Matt Wade well in the post and look forward to working with him.

As 2021 comes to a close Lusk Community Council is looking to January 2022 for the establish-ment of a new Implementation Team for the Lusk Vision 2030 Plan. The first Face2Face briefings on the plan took place on the 7th and 14th November for our public representatives, community organisation representatives and the general public. It was very heartening to hear nothing but pos-itive messages of support from our Councillors and T.D.s as well as from the wider community, for Lusk Vision 2030. (See Lusk Vision 2030 on Facebook) This Plan has the potential to help shape the many suggestions that were put forward by the community. Uniquely for Lusk, it is the first Town Centre First plan in Ireland, a policy being promoted in the Programme for Govern-ment. Lusk Community Council is looking for very broad engagement across the community of Lusk so that we can turn the many recommended initiatives in Lusk Vision 2030 Plan into reality. We can all make positive contributions to the town and your help is needed.

Lusk Tidy Town Committee have been busy planting up flower tubs, watering and generally keeping Lusk Tidy despite all the building development.Thank you for your support. “Keep Lusk Tidy. Lusk Tidy Towns Committee have been producing Christmas Cards, Calendars and St Patricks Day cards of our village of Lusk for over 30 years.This year is no different and cards are selling locally at €1 each. These cards have been very popular with our friends and relatives near and far, a lovely reminder of home to many who have left our shores.Thank You to the 2nd year students of Lusk Community College and the students from Loreto School Balbriggan and to everyone who has been involved in litter picking over the years. Thank you all, not forgetting our sponsors and supporters. Please support our cards and have a Happy Healthy Christmas and New Year. Lusk Tidy Towns.

Welgro Produce located in Rush Co Dublin has been selected as the winner of the third Irish Newbie new entrant competition. Welgro established by Shane Halpin, Sean Weldon and Gary Weldon is one of only two commercial cucumber growers in Ireland. Shane Halpin is a local Lusk guy with a farming background, Sean Weldons mother is from Lusk and he attended Lusk National school, Gary Weldon is a Rush local.Shane who has a background in horticulture and mechanics, Sean with an accounting and processing background and Gary who has an agricultural degree share the management responsibilities. The company employing up to 15 people at peak times in the areas of grading/picking, packing and distribution. As with many new entrants across the EU access to land was a major hurdle for these three friends to become established in a strong horticultural area. Leasing the disused glasshouses was the most viable option to get established while maintaining sustainable set-up costs.Welgro has developed relationships with a number of well-known retailers which is instrumental in ensuring a route to market for the cucumbers produced. Speaking following the announcement Shane Halpin said: “We at Welgro are very proud to have won the Newbie award. We as a team have worked very hard over the last year and it is great to get the recognition of Teagasc.” Gordon Peppard Teagasc noted; “it is very exciting to see three young enthusiastic new entrants to agriculture, recognise a gap in the market, devise a business plan and seek out the necessary facilities to make their plan a reality.” The Newbie Network is an EU Horizon 2020 funded project with 10 European partners. Newbie offers a unique platform by bringing together new entrants, successors, advisors, researchers, important regional and national actors and relevant stakeholders in national networks, with the aim of enabling new entrants to successfully establish a sustainable farm business in Europe.

The Christmas lights are up again, thanks to our hard-working LAG team, your generous donations and, most importantly, our three dedicated local electrical contractors, Eamonn from Eamonn Walsh Building and Electrical, Gary from SAGAR Electrical and Mark from TMA Electrical. All of their time was given for free for the benefit of the community and we are, yet again, very grateful. Preparations for our Biodiversity garden continue after meeting some unexpected delays. October and November saw a flurry of Fingal County Council activity around the town, delivering the programme of works. The majority of these were due to our engagement with FCC, and Cllr Robert O’Donoghue’s representations on our behalf. Particularly welcome were the road improvements on Treen Hill, the renovation of the bandstand and the new fencing around the tennis courts in Orlynn Park. We have requested resurfacing of this for inclusion in the next programme of works. We have asked the community for feedback regarding improvements that need to be made around the town. You can get in touch with us at any time at luskactiongroup@gmail.com or 0863017842. Foroige Youth Club will be soon up and running again on Friday evenings! They cannot run this really important service without the help of committed and enthusiastic volunteers. So please consider helping. The more volunteers, the better the service. The better the service, the more users of it, leading to the delivery of badly needed facilities for our youth. Get involved! Contact us at the above email address and we can put you in touch with the organisers. Finally, we would like to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas from All in Lusk Action Group.