FREE MAGAZINE BLANCHARDSTOWN CASTLEKNOCK Little CLONSILLA HARTSTOWN HUNSTOWN ASHTOWN Village CLONEE & ONGAR DUBLIN 15’s FREE COMPREHENSIVE NEWS ISSUE 04 HUB FOR ALL LOCAL & BUSINESS MATTERS JUNE/JULY 2017 • SHACKLETON’S GARDENS COMES INTO PUBLIC OWNERSHIP • RENTS CONTINUE TO SOAR DAVE GALLIGAN • OUTRAGE AT PLANNED ROAD THROUGH CATHERINE’S PARK D15 GAS CONTACT DAVE AT: • MARTIN SAVAGE AND THE BATTLE OF ASHTOWN 083 813 3400 • NEW GAELCOLAISTE FOR DUBLIN 15 [email protected] • FEARS OVER TRANSFER OF ADDICTION SERVICES WIN!!! B&B AT THE GALWAY BAY HOTEL TO ENTER LIKE, SHARE & TAG 01. LIKE our Facebook Page: @littlevillagemagazine 02. SHARE the competition 03. TAG the person you want to bring with you! AMAZING OFFER TRIPLE GLAZING FOR THE PRICE OF DOUBLE!!! SEE OUR ADVERT ON THE BACK PAGE VLittleillage DUBLIN 15’s COMPREHENSIVE NEWS HUB FOR ALL LOCAL & BUSINESS MATTERS SERVING: BLANCHARDSTOWN, CASTLEKNOCK, CLONSILLA, HARTSTOWN, HUNSTOWN, ASHTOWN, CLONEE & ONGAR EDITORIAL Keith Bellew reetings Dublin 15. My name concerns and opinions known, about is Keith Bellew and I am the things that are happening in Dublin 15. Contributing Editor of this Along with this I also hope to provide new publication. them with information about what is G We here at Little Village going on in the area which they may not feel that there is a void in exclusively be aware of; from decisions affecting local news which needs to be filled. We them within local politics to services aim to fill this void with local news of available to them through the various interest to, and concerning local people. community centres and organisations We hope to achieve this through a around. balanced mix of light and hard news. I invite all local schools, clubs Having been born and raised in community organisations, sports teams Huntstown I am acutely aware of many and residents to contact me with any of the issues affecting local people, and undertakings or achievements they the interests and stake they have in their would like to promote, or any issues communities. It is my aim to provide a they would like to raise. platform and a voice for people within Regards, the community can make their feelings, Keith LITTLE VILLAGE MAGAZINE All correspondence should be addressed to: Little Village Magazine 4 Castleknock Mews Old Navan Road Castleknock Dublin 15 Creative Top Publishing Ltd. publishes Little Village Magazine. Company registration No. 534480 No part of Little Village Magazine may be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher. 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CALL RONAN TODAY ON 085 199 8321 June / July 2017 Little Village 03 CONCERN OVER CLOSURE OF DRUG REHAB SERVICE The HSE has sought to allay fears over Drugs Task Force and ADAPT and with many other community activists fought long and hard to ensure the community had a say the transfer of the ADAPT community in the provision of services in our community, this is a very serious step away from that concept,” said Cllr Donnelly. drugs project currently run by Coolmine He also said that many of the services provided by ADAPT Therapeutic Community to the HSE run have only gotten the go-ahead because the community trusts the activists involved, but many do not have the same esteem for the Community Healthcare of Dublin North HSE. City and County (DNCC). “I can assure the community, we will not take this lying down and By Keith Bellew are already mobilising for a public meeting in the coming weeks to ensure the community’s voice is heard. I will also be asking other communities throughout Dublin to also mobilise behind us as this could be the beginning of the end for community involvement in addiction services in the community,” he said. his comes as Cllr Paul Donnelly (SF) expressed fears However the HSE has responded saying the Board of ADAPT over possible funding shortages and a reduction in themselves has advised the (DNCC) that they have taken the needle exchange services. decision to wind down ADAPT. The programme is due to close on July 7 and there are A spokesperson for the HSE said the HSE fully supports the concerns within the community that this will seriously decision of the Board and will work closely with them to ensure that impact the quality of drug rehabilitation services in Dublin 15. all service users who were accessing services from ADAPT are T Cllr Donnelly said “At the Blanchardstown Local Drugs linked in and supported by other organisations/service providers in Task Force meeting, I was shocked to hear that a task group of the area and that there is a smooth transition of services. exclusively HSE employees has been put together to plan for the Donal Cassidy of DNCC said “we fully support the Board of winding up of services in ADAPT and the transfer of service users ADAPT and we are very grateful for the work they have done. Our to HSE and other unknown services with no attempt to include any priority now is to ensure that service users are linked in with other community representatives in this strategy.” services in the area and that these services are enhanced and He went on to say that having spoken with staff at Coolmine sustainable.” Therapeutic Community, along with members of the local In relation to the concerns over needle exchange provision, the community and service users, he has perceived a consensus of spokesperson said: “One of the services previously provided by concern that drugs services for the communities of Huntstown, ADAPT was the needle exchange service, The HSE have reviewed Hartstown, Blakestown and Mountview will be subsumed into the the provision of the needle exchange programmes in Dublin 15 HSE addiction services that is methadone based and does not and we can confi rm that there is suffi cient capacity for needle provide the range of holistic services provided for by ADAPT. exchange in the remaining existing needle exchange programmes “The only other community based service is in Corduff and in the Dublin 15 area to meet demand.” Mulhuddart and they will not be able to take on the range of services Addressing the funding concerns, the spokesperson pointed out available at ADAPT including the fi ve day week needle exchange that the HSE supports ADAPT with funding through Section 39 of service. I am a founding member of the Blanchardstown Local the Health Act. 04 Little Village June / July 2017 Sod Finally Turned at St Mochtas By Keith Bellew The long and arduous wait for parents, students and faculty at St Mochta’s National School will soon be over as the sod has been turned and the new school building is under construction. It is estimated that construction will take about 28 months and it is hoped that the handover of the school can happen in August 2019. he school had sought funding for a new school department of education reneged on a promise to grant funding building since 2006 as much of the current campus in 2016. The protest which lasted about an hour was attended is made up of prefabs which the school says are not by 500 -600 parents and children who sang pre-prepared songs, fi t for purpose. According to the school, the prefabs held banners and handed a school report in to the Department of T are so damp that mould has developed and it is not Education. The protest received national media coverage, and it acceptable that students and teachers should have to learn and was the consensus of some protestors that the Government was teach under such conditions. embarrassed into releasing the funding. The design for the new building is ultra-modern while still The project proceeded to tender on March 16, and the contract retaining the historic white school house which has remained a was awarded to Glasgiven Contracts Ltd. Now the sod has fi nally part of the school since it was built in 1963 to replace the original been turned and Chairman of the Board of Management at the school building which was built on the banks of the royal canal in school, Tony Rock described the long campaign as a long and 1853. The new building will comprise 32 classrooms as well as a diffi cult journey for everyone at the school. brand new library and PE hall. Cllr Roderic O’Gorman (GP) has welcomed the long awaited The school was so long waiting for funding from the Department sod turning has expressed his delight at the progress. of Education that the St Mochta’s School Build Action Group was “I’m absolutely delighted that the St Mochta’s NS community set up to bring pressure to bear on the Department to release have been able to ‘turn the sod’ on their new school and see funding. works commence on site. The omission of the school from the The frustration of those involved in the campaign was palpable Building List in 2016 was, at the time, a huge blow to everyone,” as evidenced by the comments of one mother in September of he said. last year who said: He went on to pay tribute to everyone involved in the campaign “Promised funding has just been reneged again #10yrslater saying: and in the meantime, little children are being crowded into porta- “A combined campaign between parents, students, local cabins.