COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

QUESTION NO. 14

QUESTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

To ask the Manager for a report on the number of Council Community Workers assigned to the Lucan EA and a summary of the organisations and groups with which the Community Workers are working/providing support? 

REPLY:

There are a total of three Community Workers assigned to look after the Clondalkin / Lucan/ Newcastle/ Palmerston Area. They are involved in working with the local communities at grass-roots level and are very active indeed across a diverse range of events and activities. The following list gives an indication of the range and type of these activities. The area covered by these Community Workers includes newly- developing communities such as Adamstown, as well as established communities such as those in Lucan and Palmerston.      

Clondalkin/ Lucan/ Newcastle/ Palmerston Area Team Events

• Clondalkin & Palmerston Profiles – Presentation on the profile of Clondalkin

These presentations have been delivered to local schools, residents and older       groups. These presentations have developed great interest among the general public, schools and Libraries Department.

• Annual Adamstown Christmas Party – Adamstown party was attended by over 300 children and families.

• Adamstown Film Club – On the Block by RTE 2. This programme showcased young Adamstown people, having a voice by expressing their own feelings and attitudes about living in the area.

• Griffeen Community Development Group – the Parent and Toddler Group has over 100 families registered. They provide a welcoming environment for Toddlers & Parents to meet other families. GCDG have carried out programmes with the parents such as “Healthy Eating” and “First Aid”.

• Adamstown Parent and Toddler Group is currently up and running in the Adamstown Area. This group is slow to start as many parents are reluctant to get involved in the organising and running of the group. The community team are working with parents to encourage and support them to take ownership.

• Griffeen Women’s Group – a new women’s group supported by the GCDG and SDCC is in the process of starting up in the Griffeen area of Lucan. First meeting took place in November. 17 local women have currently shown interest in getting involved in the group.

• Palmerston Walking Route was established in February. 67 older people turned up for the 1^st walk of the route. Since the great success of the augural walk, the community team developed a committee to organise a walking group and since then they meet on a weekly basis and the group is growing in numbers each week.

• Adamstown Walking Groups – in the past year there has been two walking groups set up in the Adamstown area. One in the Castlegate Area and one in the Paddocks Area.

• Palmerston, Adamstown, Deansrath and Newscastle Lyons have all hosted coffee mornings. These mornings provide a platform for community groups/ organisations to highlight and promote their positive contribution to the locality while providing individuals with information.

• Adamstown Summer Project and Adamstown Community Games public meetings took place throughout the year to engage residents to volunteer and participate.

• Smarter travel Adamstown – SDCC was commissioned by the DTO to develop and implement a personalised travel planning pilot in Adamstown. This we hoped would help imbed sustainable behaviour into new residential developments in Ireland. This study was carried out by going door to door and engaging residents. Much information was given out to residents and a report was compiled and presented to the DTO.

• Palmerston Youth Club is been supported by the Community Team. Some of the supports offered  are as follows:

-          organising events and competitions within the club

-          Organising youth club committee to meet with other youth groups to see how they are organised.

• Neilstown Boxing Club - many meetings took place with the community team on the new extension of the Neilstown Community Centre. Boxing club was completed and official opened in October.

• Older and Active in Palmerston took place in May. This event was run in conjunction with the Sports Officer. 60 older people attended and it was a great success.

• Older and Active seminars took place on the 27^th of April, 4^th of May, and the 18^th of May. 50 older people attended. An example of issues that rose at meetings included, information board, drop - in – centre, safety, transport and communication and networking. One of the responses to these seminars by SDCC was to develop an Active Retirement Association in the Clondalkin Area. This Association currently has over 300 members spread out over 15 active groups.

• Unemployment information day took place on the 19^th of April in Lucan. This event brought many local agencies together and gave them a platform to get information out to the local unemployed people. This event was well attended.

• Palmerston Community Festival took place the 20^th – 27^th of June. This event included activities such as bands, face painting, bouncy castles, and 5k race. This festival was a success and a very positive initiative which is lead by the community and supported by SDCC. This initiative boosts community spirit and participation in Palmerston.

• Lucan Community Festival took place for its second year from the 20^th – 26^th of September. This event was a huge success with over 5000 people turning up to the family day alone. This event included activities such as cinema mobile, historical walk, cricket tournament, and multi cultural event on the Sunday. This festival is a very positive initiative for the local people of Lucan. A committee has been set up by the community team with the majority of members been local residents to organise and run the festival.

• Lucan Community Festival Fundraising events took place on the 22^nd July and the 2^nd of September to raise money for the festival. These events were organised by the festival committee and showcased local community groups.

• Balgaddy clean up days have taken place in the Balgaddy area. These days were organised by the Balgaddy working together group and supported by SDCC

• Balgaddy Summer Family Day was a huge success with many residents turning out to enjoy the day. This was an initiative by the local residents, SDCC and CPLN.

• Balgaddy Gardening Workshop organised by SDCC and An Taisce took place in March.

• Palmerston Artist in the Community Project – this is an innovative project with SDCC taking the lead as the first local authority in the research and development of Sap navigation technology. SDCC’s major road networks, particularly the M50 toll bridge will be linked with the natural environmental sounds of the Waterstown Park, to provide drivers with a more relaxing and pleasurable driving experience.

• Arts and disability conferring ceremony took place on the 24^th of June. The pilot training programme is the first council project for graduates to be awarded a 3^rd level certificate.

• Older and Active in Clondalkin Summer Project ran from the 23^rd – 29^th of August. This event was run by Knockmitten Youth and Community Centre and supported by SDCC. The programme had many activities of an interest to older people. This project was very successful and can be used as a blueprint for future older person’s projects throughout the county.

• The Phoenix Clubhouse BBQ and Art Exhibition took place on the 13^th of July. This event was supported by the Community team and the purpose of the event was to celebrate the successful completion of the clubhouse improvement works to the appearance of the premises.

• Palmerston Family Cycle took place on the 20^th of June. This event was run by SDCC and was successful with 40 local people of all ages taking part in the event.

• Adamstown Family Cycle Event took place on the 19^th of June. This event was run by SDCC and was a very successful event with over 250 residents participating in the family cycle and the activities on offer by SDCC and the Community Gardai.

• Griffeen Community Teddy bears picnic took place in Corkagh Park in June. Over 32 adults and 50 Children turned up to enjoy the picnic. This event was a joint initiative by Community Team and Griffeen Community Development Group.

• Adamstown 10k Road Race took part on the 11^th of September. This is an initiative of the Adamstown Community Partnership. 300 Residents took part in the race.

• Newscastle Retirement Active Men’s Social was established in September by the Community Team. The purpose of the men only group is to provide services, activities and social access to the high number of older men living in this semi – rural area. There are currently 48 members and is growing each week.

• An Art and Disability Seminar took place on the 15^th of September. Approximately 50 artists and local services providers attended.

• Summer projects – the community team are working on a committee to develop new ways to engage communities and  volunteers to develop and deliver local area Summer Projects. A series of local community summer projects meetings will take place across the South Dublin County to encourage local volunteerism and community assets building.

• South Dublin Dragons event took place on November.

• Comhairle Na Nog AGM took place on the 3^rd of November. Over 75 young people attended.   There has been a recent hand over to the Youth Service to be the lead agency of Comhairle Na Nog.