Two new housing developments have been officially opened in Fingal, as Mayor of Fingal, Cllr. Brian McDonagh welcomed Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien TD to Lusk to celebrate the delivery of new homes in the area.

Kilhedge Gardens is an age-friendly scheme providing 31 new single-story homes. The development – delivered through direct build by Tuath on land owned by Fingal County Council – consists of 18 two-bedroom and 13 one-bedroom homes, with an additional communal facility area for residents. The new homes were funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage via the Capital Assistance Scheme, a funding mechanism for the delivery of homes for priority groups such as older persons. The architects for the project were Walsh Associates and the main contractor was M.L Quinn Construction.

In 2010, Tuath delivered its first homes in partnership with Fingal County Council at Garristown, Northwest Fingal and has since delivered over 1000 homes in the County.

Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Brian McDonagh said: “It gives me great pleasure to see this top-notch development from Tuath being opened to help deliver much needed age-appropriate homes for older people in our community. This is a superb new build in the heart of Lusk and I wish the residents all the very best in their new homes.”

Minister for Housing, Local Government & Heritage Darragh O’Brien, who turned the sod on the development in February 2023 commented: ‘’Today’s launch of 31 safe and secure homes for older persons is most welcome here in Fingal. Kilhedge Gardens includes both a communal facility for residents and close proximity to Lusk town centre – this scheme lives up to the ambition of Housing for All by successfully delivering high-quality, well-located homes that prioritise not only the safety and comfort of older persons but also economic, social, and environmental sustainability.’’

Alongside the Kilhedge Gardens opening, the ribbon was also cut on a new social housing development in Monastery Court. This comprises five high-quality apartments with a communal landscaped courtyard and close to all local amenities. As part of its commitment to encourage sustainable construction and minimise environmental impact, this is Fingal’s first Passive House development. Passive House standards ensure these homes are low-energy, leading to reduced energy bills for residents whilst providing significant environmental advantages.

Michelle Lacey of Fingal Physiotherapy was delighted when she was told the clinic had been nominated for an Irish Enterprise Award.

Michelle tells us that following this she had to provide some lengthy paper work. Following assessment from a panel of judges it was announced that Fingal Physiotherapy won Physiotherapy Clinic of the year 2024 – County Dublin.

The Irish Enterprise Awards reported there were several factors that led to this achievement, including exceptional commitment to the highest standards in patient care by providing a huge selection of treatment and assessment serices and fast onward referral and links with local GPs or consultants when needed.

Michelle Lacey, the clinic’s founder has extensive experience and is highly-qualified, having studied a postgraduate professional diploma in Clinical Leadership, a MSc in Sports Medicine, BSc in Physiotherapy, BSc in Sports Science and she is awaiting her certification as a National Strength and Conditioning Coach. Her publications and presentation at the Faculty of Sports Medicine Conference demonstrates the clinic’s dedication to evidenced based practice. Of particular note, Fingal Physiotherapy has shown community commitment by supporting and sponsoring local sports teams and clubs and providing support at local charity events.

Fingal Physiotherapy was first established with Michelle Lacey offering services in the Fingal area in peoples’ homes while she continued to work in the Beacon Hospital Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine department in Sandyford. In September 2022 this grew to having a stable base inside Fingal Medical Centre, two days a week. Fingal Physiotherapy now operates full time and continues to grow.

“It’s so great to be here as part of Lusk s growing facilities base. We can’t wait for the next few years and what lies ahead,” Michelle said.

While the evenings are starting to become cold, dark and wet, at Junsa Taekwondo the classes are warm, bright and welcoming . Our full classes have now returned and are welcoming new members. If you want to learn a new skill, get fit or want to reach your full potential in the world of Olympic Taekwondo then we can help you get there. We are members of Taekwondo Ireland the national governing body of WT in Ireland and have direct pathways to help our students fulfill their future either as an Olympic athlete, a poomsae world champion, or as an international referee. OR if you just want to have fun at a local level, we can help you get there.

The Dublin City Marathon is almost upon us and as usual there will be a big contingent of Lusk athletes taking part. The hard miles have been run so it’s almost time to enjoy the taper and reap the rewards of your hard work. Enjoy the day and best of luck to everyone. Welcome to all recent new members and well done to all who have joined our latest Fit4Life or Fit4Youth groups. Thanks as ever to all club coaches and other volunteers who’s continued commitment and hard work enable our club to go from strength to strength.

On the 30th August all the Lusk ladies got together and organized a wonderful Garden Party, in Maria Bairds enchanting back Garden. We danced all evening to the boogie-woogie sounds of the Donabate Portrane Men’s Shed music group Gerry and The Plonkers.

How thrilled everyone was to support our President Rosanna Darby representing Lusk ICA in the recent Fingal Pride of Place competition displaying photos of all the activities of our members, and the beautiful Pride Of Place flower arrangement by Jacinta Connolly.

We had a gorgeous night in NCH listening to the The Sound of Hollywood - The Best of MGM.
The Lusk Guild will now meet on the 1st Thursday every month after the Scouts Beavers at 8.15pm. And we would be delighted for new members to come along.

Last month, Lusk took part in the national Pride of Place awards, where we were given the opportunity to showcase the best of our community. It was a privilege to be part of this and gave us an opportunity to look back at all that we have achieved as individual groups and as a community over the last few years. Lusk is in a unique position in Ireland as the only town to have a town centre first plan already in place and in the early stages of being implemented, with cooperation between our town centre first committee and Fingal County Council.

On the day, we presented a strategic overview of what has already been achieved in Lusk and our plans for the future. We presented how volunteerism shapes our community, and the strong influence of heritage that exists here. We presented our local growers, and the judges even had an opportunity to taste locally produced wine, Lusca Wines!

We showcased our plans for the sports hub, visited Lusk National School and the amazing new autism unit in Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School. Our community groups represented themselves and our town so well and they should all be proud of what they have achieved individually. We have an amazing community, that is hugely and selflessly committed, and deeply rooted in volunteerism and we now look forward to the awards ceremony in November. Watch this space!

In advance of a meeting with An Garda Siochána and Foroige, we invite you to email us at luskactiongroup@gmail.com with any current issues of concern.

LAG have engaged with public representatives and authorities over concerns regarding the effect of new train timetables and noise issues from low flying planes on a flight pathway from Dublin Airport that is in breach of its planning permission. We will update on our Facebook page as information becomes available.

We will be submitting a road safety document to Fingal County Council soon. If you have any particular concerns, please get in touch with us at the above email address.

The success of the Pride of Place on 3rd September was about how every community group came together to explain how each group was making a special contribution to our growing town. The Lusk For Life Town Centre First plan was central to our Pride of Place presentation to the judges. Lusk For Life provides the roadmap to address the community and sports infrastructural challenges that the town will face over the coming decade.

We can all see the current explosion in housing in our town and this is the forerunner to significant increased population, so the pressure is on to get new and additional facilities to serve our town. Minister Joe O’Brien recently announced €77,000 expenditure towards designing a skatepark project and undertaking a feasibility study for farmer’s market project for the town. While these are welcome Town Plan project steps, we need to maintain the pressure to deliver more community facilities, faster and in line with best practice sustainable principles. If we do not, we will not stay on target for what our increasingly diverse and expanding community needs.

The lesson of Pride of Place was how the power of working together can deliver a coherent brand for Lusk. Lusk For Life involved coming together to create a Town Centre First Plan. Implementing the plan is a bigger challenge that requires working together to deliver our infrastructure. We need to use our Town Team as well as our Community and Business Pillars to channel our priorities to bring about positive change for Lusk.

Junsa Taekwondo recently attended a Taekwondo event and training session run by Taekwondo Ireland to congratulate and send on his way to Paris, Jack Woolley - our two time Olympian.

This time Jack had the opportunity to meet the young and upcoming taekwondo talent in Ireland as the last time he attended the games it was during Covid. It was a fantastic day and very inspiring for the students and coaches alike, as Jack displayed some of his kicking skills his coach Robert Taaffe explained how they got to such a level in Taekwondo.

Meanwhile on the Poomsae front Junsa’s Ellen attended the national Poomsae squad training with the intention of competing in October’s Korean ambassador cup here in Dublin.

We are looking forward to welcoming all juveniles back to training on Tuesday 3rd September after the summer break. New members are welcome and our latest Fit4Life and Fit4Youth groups will commence on Tuesday 17th September. The autumn marathons are almost upon us so the long runs are getting longer for those who have signed up for one. Good luck to all our athletes who have races coming up and well done to all who have competed in the Race Series, Graded meetings or any other events over the summer. We held the Man O War Round 7k race in mid August. Thanks to all who took part and to everyone who helped to make it another successful event.

Lusk local Katie Seaver may be only 16, but the budding novelist has already stepped into the literary world after publishing her first ever book: The Melancholia of the Grotesque.

The book is a gothic horror short story collection centred around women killing people, eating people, and losing sense of reality. These stories are atmospheric, woefully written pieces on solitude, girlhood, existentialism, derealisation and misery. They detail the journeys of different women, all isolated and miserable in their own ways as they navigate the utter horrors that occur both in their bodies and in their minds.

Described on www.goodreads.com, as ‘The Melancholia of the Grotesque explores philosophical ideas about identity and women’s place in the world, while detailing gruesome scenes of body horror and excruciating feelings of solitude. This collection contains 20 short stories written by Irish author Katie Seaver, with influences such as Bram Stoker, Franz Kafka, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, Albert Camus, Julia Armfield, Sayaka Murata, Mieko Kawakami, Vladimir Nabokov, Simone de Beauvoir, Junji Ito, Clarice Lispector and Oscar Wilde.

“I feel my soul slipping away from the only vessel I possess that connects me to this world. I am living in a hell of my own making, forced to relive my own lonesome life forever.”

The Melancholia of the Grotesque is available for download on amazon.com and on goodreads.com.