Recently, the new Donabate Town Team launched the Donabate Town Centre First Health Check Plan in Donabate Parish Hall. The Town Team, along with FCC, aims to make Donabate’s town centre a more viable, vibrant, and attractive place to live, work, socialise, and do business.

In September 2024, local residents, community groups, business owners and other stakeholders in Donabate worked with Fingal County Council’s Town Regeneration Office to create a 15-point Action Plan to help guide the future development of the town centre. The actions covered public realm improvements, tourism, better use of existing infrastructure, future strategic planning, placemaking, and arts, heritage and culture. Earlier in March 2024, the Donabate Portrane Liaison Group produced the Donabate Framework Plan in consultation with the local Community which had ideas for the centre of the village. The new Town Team, building upon these ideas, has taken on the challenge of working with the community to deliver a rejuvenated town centre. We wish them the very best.

The launch event was organised by the Town Team committee, led by their Chairperson, Dr. Louis Gunnigan. Members of the original group and current group members attended. The Active Age for All Photography Group and friends put on a great display of photographs of Donabate Village - Town Centre then and now.

Present on the day also was the Lord Mayor, Tom O’Leary, and FCC officials John Quinlivan and Declan Ryan along with our Community Officer Rafe Costigan. Local Councillors Corina Johnson and Eoghan Dockrell and Fr. Pat Reilly PP were also present at the event.

A very different event took place recently in the Parish Hall. Indie-folk band ‘Djouce’ has been hard at work on a new project called “Change & Continuity”, supported by Fingal Arts Office. Over the past few months, the band has been writing and recording right here in Donabate and Portrane, creating four new songs on the topics of folklore, change, community and the future of the peninsula.

They recently gave the community a sneak peek with a performance in The Brook Pub, and followed it up with a recording session in The Parish Hall. Each of the songs will be released over the coming months, and the full film of the project is planned for Spring 2026.

Again, we wish our local musician Denis Cahill and his group the very best. djouceband@gmail.com
Our community is expanding and the Parish Hall is working hard to meet some of their needs as best as possible, with additional Daily Activities and Block Events. In the first few weekends in November, Through the Lens Photography Group will have a photography exhibition and Donabate Portrane Dramatic Society will perform a play, neither to be missed.

If you have any queries please contact the Parish Office on 01 8434574