While we are really enjoying getting back to training we are very excited about resuming our indoor training sometime very soon. In the meantime we will keep our training going in the Round Towers GAA Astro pitch. Over the last few weeks we have had great support from all our members new and old. We have also had a number of past students returning for a bit of training and pad kicking.

The inaugural Lusk AC ‘Naked Challenge’ took place on Sunday 13th June. Participants had to predict their finish time over a 5k or 10k route from the Sports Hub and then run without the aid of a watch. Hence they may have felt ‘Naked’ without the aid of their watches to keep an eye on their times. The challenge being to get as close to your predicted time based on your own internal pace clock rather than technology. It was a fun event for all and nice to take part in an actual event without the pressure of running flat out. Winners (closest to their estimated times) were Greg Robins and Alex Bell for the 10k, Conor Doyle and Orla Brennan for the 5k.

We are back! Finally we are back. Pitches which were silent and empty are now full of cheers and activity. It has been so long we truly wondered would we ever get back to normal…but we have… and it feels great. So many teams full to capacity and operating waiting lists to join is a testament to the central role Lusk United has in the community. Children as young as 4 join us on a Friday evening and Saturday morning for our ever growing academies…this enthusiasm continues all the way to our senior teams. This past few months we have rolled out our Clubzap app, which allows our managers and coaches to communicate directly with teams as well as make covid procedures manageable. It is only now, when we have been away from matches and training for so long and now are back, we appreciate just how much time and effort our volunteers put in. To all our managers, coaches and parents who help out we say a huge thank you! We look forward to continue in the coming days to put to practise our club ethos #workhard #havefun.

The Lusk Vision 2030 project will deliver its final report in July or August and we will see what recommendations the consultants will present to make the town a better place over the next decade. It has already delivered an important submission for the Fingal County Development Plan 2023-2029 and we hope that Fingal County Council will take on board the many issues raised. However Lusk Community Council has already brought the Lusk Community Cultural Centre project to construction phase and huge progress has been made during May and June.This project is important for a number of reasons. It is redeveloping what was a derelict site on Church Road. In doing so, the Community Council is conserving the façade and gable walls of an important vernacular cottage in the heart of medieval Lusk. It is creating a new cultural centre for the town and this project will significantly add to the ranking of Lusk in the “Tidy Towns Awards”. The Cultural Centre will in turn become a springboard for new ideas and engagements for the community of Lusk as well as for visitors to our town. When Fingal County Council redevelops the adjoining property as five residential units for independent living by 2022, Church Road will have two exceptional improvement projects in the heart of medieval Lusk. Pride in our town is very important for everyone. Willie McGee, a director of Lusk Community Council, has been working tirelessly to clean up the town with your help. He has organised a number of “spring clean” days with great community engagement. This is a simple idea, everyone can play their part, it just involves giving your time to help out. Willie (Tel. 087 6379199) and Fingal County Council (www.fingal.ie) are now promoting the “Adopt A Patch” idea. If everyone plays a small part, then the sum of the parts becomes a game-changer. You too can help build a better Lusk.

The latest milestone in the development of Rathmore Park as a major Active Recreational Hub for Lusk was recently reached with the official opening of the Play Trail.The Rathmore Park Play Trail is a new type of “Play Along The Way” facility which encourages children to move around the half-kilometre trail and visit a range of play equipment that offer a wide variety of challenges and play experiences. Adults accompanying children also benefit from the fully accessible looped walk linking the play facilities around the perimeter of the park.The play equipment provided along the Rathmore Play Trail features a high proportion of “natural“ materials such as wood and stone which are visually sympathetic to the setting of play facilities.About half of the land required for the development of Rathmore Park and the associated recreational hub has now been taken in charge by the Council and a sports pitch, floodlit jogging track and sprint track have been developed in response to the high demand for evening athletics training.Kevin Halpenny, Senior Parks Superintendent with Fingal County Council, said: “The Play Trail has been designed in line with the principles of Fingal’s new “Space for Play” play policy which will be the subject of a public consultation process later this year. It is another important addition to Rathmore Park and we have plans in place for the further development of the Park as soon as the rest of the land is available.” The official opening as depicted in our picture was performed by the outgoing Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue and was attended by Cllr Cathal Boland, Cllr Brian Dennehy and the Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, as well as Senior Parks Superintendent, Kevin Halpenny and members of the project team..“The Rathmore Play Trail is a great addition to Rathmore Park which is well used by the local community and will provide many hours of enjoyment for children and their parents,” said Cllr O’Donoghue.

The official opening of the recently upgraded Park Road in Rush has taken place with the Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue, unveiling a commemorative plaque to mark the occasion.Among those in attendance were local councillors, Cllr Brian Dennehy and Cllr Cathal Boland; Fingal County Council Chief Executive, AnnMarie Farrelly; Senior Engineer Paul Carroll; members of the Council’s Project Team and representatives of the main contractor Total Highway Maintenance Ltd, engineering consultant O’Connor Sutton Cronin Associates, St Maur’s GAA Club and Gaelscoil Ros Eo. The €1.7m project, which was completed earlier this year after 11 months of construction, involved approximately 470 metres of full road widening and reconstruction with fully segregated cycling and pedestrian infrastructure with toucan crossing. It also facilitated the upgrading of watermain, storm and foul sewer infrastructure. The Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Robert O’Donoghue, said: “The upgrading of the Park Road was a major objective for councillors in the Rush-Lusk Local Electoral Area because of the need to improve access to St Maur’s GAA Club and Gaelscoil Ros Eo and it has made a big difference since it was opened to traffic.” Senior Engineer Paul Carroll said: “The upgrading of the Park Road forms an integral part of the Kenure Local Area Plan and will enable continued delivery of the LAP including improved access to adjacent housing and school development lands.”

The Lusk Heritage Group investigates the Boundary stones of the Remount Farm. They have located the majority of these stones, some were found in ditches and gardens in the locality of the Remount Farm. The stones have the War Department WD inscribed in the early 1900’s and were placed there in the absence of fences to accommodate the free movement of horses during their training for use in the first world war.

We in Lusk Action Group feel very strongly about the protection of nature, biodiversity and environment and we are engaging with Fingal County Council and other community groups to find ways of encouraging this. We saw recently how poor the hedgerow legislation really is and have been in contact with Minister Joe O’Brien regarding this. The Green Party have secured a commitment to fully review and reform the legislation so that it does actually protect our precious hedgerows, and that this protection is not subject to the morals of individual builders or developers. The builders of Fingal’s affordable housing scheme on Kilhedge Lane have agreed to postpone the removal of the hedgerow until after August. We have begun engagement with FCC regarding the building of an enclosed Multi-Use Games Area for our young people, including basketball court. Realistically, this will take a couple of years to deliver as funding for this will not become available until next January. We would like to sincerely thank John Fitzgerald of Foroige, who recently moved post to Blanchardstown, for all his amazing work with young people in Lusk over the last number of years and for his support and help since our forming. John has been a huge asset to our area and his energy and dedication never wavered. We wish him every success. Our loss is Blanchardstown’s gain. It is great to see work on Katie Hunt’s cottage, “Lusk Community Cultural Centre” well underway! This will be a wonderful amenity for Lusk in the future. Congratulations to Lusk Community Council for delivering this. We are enjoying the lovely flower tubs filled recently by Lusk Tidy Towns and the large flower tubs in the square which were done by FCC. Thank You! And the monthly community litter picks seem to be making a huge difference. Thanks to Willie McGee for all his hard work. We are encouraging everyone to “Adopt a Patch”, keeping an area near where you live tidy and clean. Email balswooparea@fingal.ie or environment@fingal.ie to get your litter picking pack. Enjoy your Summer! All in LAG .

As the first public consultation on the Fingal Development Plan 2023 – 2029 has now come to a conclusion, I would like to highlight some issues that I will be asking for the community of Lusk support in the coming months.Having reviewed the submissions pertaining to Lusk, I am disappointed to have read a number of submissions that are advocating for the expansion of the town boundaries to facilitate the rampant development of our town.We face submissions which seek to extend the boundary in the direction of Rush, which would whittle away the green belt between our towns and see a surge of additional traffic on our roads. Twinned with this we have a further submission for a large swathe of land adjacent to Chapel Farm. I will state again, that there are currently sufficient lands zoned to met the needs for sustainable development for the next ten years. The focus for this Development Plan for Lusk needs to be having the town settle and to have infrastructure and amenities brought into the town to service our young and growing community, not focussed on additional residential zonings. I will be calling on the people of Lusk to support me in this endeavour and asking the whole community to make submissions to this end when the second public consultation on the Development Plan opens in Spring 2022.

While still we are still training online and keeping our skills up to date, we are looking forward to the restrictions easing and beginning to train safely outside.It will be the first time since Christmas that we have trained together face to face.Here is just a few photos of our guys training online and one or two from the past. We hope everyone is keeping safe and hope to see you all soon.