< PreviousFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©10Council Update by Cllr Eimear Ferguson This my first opportunity to wish you all a happy and peaceful 2017Bettystown – Laytown Spine RoadHow welcome the latest news is! At long last we are making progress and are beginning to see a light at each end of the Spine Road. The Government have allocated €500,000 under the Specific Improvement Grant Scheme to progress to the next stage for delivery of this project. There are approx 2,000 school going children attending the school campus in Laytown on a daily ba-sis and they have had to travel the R150 (or through the fields) and this road was never suitable to cater for such high vol-umes of traffic.While I welcome this news and progress, this road should have been delivered a long time ago. As I said before I was ever elected to council, the necessary sustain-able infrastructure should be built either before or in conjunction with any major development. If this had been done we would not have had to endure the deplor-able situation we have found ourselves in on the Meath Coast since the Celtic Mad-ness. So, onward and upward to the new road being built.Digital Skills for Citizens Grant Scheme. The Dept of Communications is invit-ing established community voluntary and not-for-profit organisations to apply for grant assistance to learn the basic digital needs and encourage them to move on-line. ‘Non-liners (Irish citizens who have not actively engaged with the internet) are encouraged to apply for the grant assis-tance.Applications form can be obtained by calling the Dept’s office 01 6782078, or emailing a request to gettingciti-zensonline@dccae.gov.ie (an oxy-moron) or downloading a copy from Getting Citizens Online (another oxymoron!)Library Services Dept in-formed us that, although Bettystown Town Centre has been identified as the most suitable site for a local Library, no further progress can be made on this until the developer progresses plans for the Town CentreFootpaths in Alverno Heights. Phase 1 has been completed. I expressed my disappointment with the fact that not all the footpaths within the estate have been resurfaced before the path leading to the Health Centre progressed. I have been promised that phase 2 (completion of all the estate) will progress by end of first quarter 2017. I will be watching this spaceLAWCO We were introduced to Aoife McGrath, Local Authorities Water Communities Office (LAWCO). Aoife is looking for interested groups to contact her at Meath CoCo if interested in taking part in help-ing to keep our water sources up to Water Framework Directive standards. Full in-formation will be given on contactBeach Management Committee. Ap-plication date for interested parties closed on Dec 16th. Successful applicants will be notified by the council in due course.Indaver Community Fund Committee. After some shaky weeks both myself and Cllr Tolan have taken our seats on the Indaver Community Fund Committee. It looked for a while that deals which were made at the beginning of our Council February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©11February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©12term were going to be reneged on by the outgoing Councillors. But luckily, at the last minute, they realised the mistake they could have made if they had ploughed on.Town Twinning for Laytown/Bettystown. The prospect of twinning our area with another European area was discussed and a decision will be finalised at a later date.The litter and dog fouling was once again up for discussion. Could I, once again, ask people to use the litter bins pro-vided nearest them and for dog owners to clean up after their pets. Pedestrians, cy-clists, wheelchair users, prams and bug-gies do not find it very pleasant to have to go around or have to wash and clean shoes and wheels.Nuacht eileIt would be remiss of me if I did not give a Comhgairdeas mor to St Colmcilles CLG. Their achievements in 2016 sur-passed all our expectations at the start of the year. The men’s adult team are not finished with their endeavours yet. They start their 2017 year with a well earned and hard fought place in the All Ireland Intermediate Semi Final against Tyrone champions, Pomeroy, and just as this goes to print we know the brilliant result of that match. Following on from the Ladies winning the Meath Jnr final, Grainne Rice won Play-er of the year at the Meath Ladies GAA awards. James Conlon won Young Player of the year having captained the Minors to victory and playing a pivotal role on the Intermediate (now Senior) team. The U13 boys’ team will be representing Meath at the 2017 Feile competition dur-ing the summer having won the Final on the same morning as the adult team won the Leinster title. I could go on with the achievements of the club but print space won’t allow me. Suffice to say – a great year for the parish. ‘Hon the CillesEuropean Sandyachting Champion-shipsIn Sept 2017. We look forward to this competition being held on our fabulous beach – 10th-15th Sept (promotional video is well worth a look on Youtube). This in-ternational event is being well supported by Meath County Council and we are re-ally looking forward to the event. Both myself and Cllr Tolan have met with rep-resentatives from participating countries while they were in Laytown for a meeting. They are looking forward to being here in September and to competing on our coast-line. Volunteers to help out with this will be needed and are encouraged to get in touch with myself or Cllr Tolan and we will put you in touch with the organisers.Beach Volleyball. I have been in contact with Volleyball Ire-land to bring beach volleyball to our area. We hope to establish regular games for those wishing to play. We might even get to have a competition or two during the summer and at the Sandyachting Cham-pionships. Watch this space for further in-formation or please contact me if you are interested in partaking, even if it is only for the craicAldi. There have been appeals sent to An Bord Pleannala objecting to the development going ahead on the Creavalea Nursing Home site in Laytown. These have been well structured and are very professional so here’s hoping for a beneficial decision.Stay safe out there and don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything (not ironing, as I’ve said before!) 086 4068270 eimear.ferguson@members.meathcoco.ie §February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©13Louth & East Meath T.D. Imelda MunsterWorking with Cllr Eimear FergusonFor an appointment please contact me atSinn Féin Constituency Office84 West St., DroghedaHours: Monday -Friday 9.30 - 5pmTel: 041 987 3823Email: sfdrogheda@eircom.netLOCAL CLINIC TIMEAlverno House, Laytown.2nd & 4th Monday, 3.30pm - 4.30pmPhone 041 987 3823 for appointmentNAUL CLINICDr Ursula O’Brien-Counihan & Dr John ConnollyGrange Mount, The Naul, Co. DublinTel: 01 841 2259• FREE Hearing Tests Other Services include• Hearing Protection, • Tinnitus Help• Assistive Listening Devices (ALD’s) • Industrial Hearing Tests We are passionate about hearing and hearing health care and we provide a uniquely comprehensive service using the latest technologies to identify and analyse hearing issues. From Otoscopy, Audiometry through to more advanced Tympanometry, our consultants have the skills, experience and tools to assist you. Naturally we also provide Hearing Solutions for typical problems from World Class Manufacturers of Hearing Aids and Assistive Listening Devices (ALD’s).The Hearing Consultancy Because Hearing MattersTHE HEARING CONSULTANCYFreephone 1800 80 43 22Email: info@thehearingconsultancy.iewww.thehearingconsultancy.ieFind us on Facebook at www.face-book.com/thehearingconsultancyMartyn MulryPeter BurkeFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©14Scoil an Spioraid NaoimhScoil an Spioraid Naoimh have had a very busy month with lots of excit-ing extra-curricular activities for all the pupils. This month the focus has been on getting fit with swimming, Spike ball, gymnastics and GAA. We have applied for another Active Flag and are very ex-cited about this. We hope to enlist the support of all the parents and have our very own Fittest Family competition! The school are competing at GAA blitzes and have entered a Spike ball tournament also. There is something for everyone in our school!6th classes are busy preparing for the four Confirmation Masses on February 5th, 12th , March 5th and 12th in Sacred Heart Church at the 12 noon Masses. The children are preparing the Liturgy, artwork and music for all the Masses. The choir meet every Friday and are building up a repertoire of beautiful hymns and songs.The Literacy Team are working on new reading initiatives with a facilitator from the Professional Development Team ( PDST ). We are hoping to further expand on purchasing different genres of reading materials for the classes and library. Infact some classes are hoping to set up a book club in their classrooms to further enhance the high standards of literacy in SSN. We have 2800 to invest in Literacy as a result of our very successful Book Fair initiative in December.We have a fantastic Parents Association who are presently busy organising a Quiz Fundraiser on the 9th February in Red-dans at 8pm. We would like to invite you all to come along and join in the fun!Erasmus + KA2 Project Update - January 2017We are having lots of fun with this project. We had great fun singing Spanish and German Christmas songs at our annual Christmas Carol Service and we received lovely Christmas cards from our partner countries.Pen pal letters are still going back and forth. Mrs Doak’s 6th class are preparing for the class of German pen pals who will visit us here in Laytown during the month of June. We are also preparing for our European interschool song contest. A song has been specially commissioned for this compe-tition and some of the senior classes are currently writing song lyrics. The finalist for the big event will be se-lected at our very own school song contest before Easter and will then represent us at ‘A Song For Europe – 12 Points’, the Final on May 17th 2017.Just this week, we opened the Spanish music box which has travelled through all our partner countries (Iceland, Germany, Mrs Doak’s 6th Class open the music box from San Ciugat, Spain Our Irish music box has finally arrives home!!February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©15Me and my Ukele – by Katie Tancock, 6th ClassI got a ukele last month and I have been teaching myself how to play it ever since. Later on this year I am hoping to teach Mrs Doak’s class how to play so that we can all play songs together by the end of the term. §Poland, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Roma-nia) before arriving here. Spanish music and stories are so different to our music!! Our Irish music box has now completed its travels and is finally home again – in-tact!!! We are looking forward to reading the messages written by our European friends in the music box diary. 041 98 444 98 041 98 111 98086 838 4444www.eastcoastcabs.comEAST COAST CABSCABS - 4, 6 & 8 SEATERSMINIBUSES AND COACHES - 16, 24, 36 & 54 SEATERS AVAILABLESCHOOL SERVICES 2016/2017Email: info@eastcoasttravel.ie www.eastcoasttravel.iePhone John 087 2303068, Sarah 086 6006443, Gerry 086 7954646East Coast Travel are the sole transport provider for primary schools in Laytown and Bettystown, Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa and Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh. We also serve Coláiste na hInse, Loreto Convent in Balbriggan,Gormanston College and St Mary’s and Sacred Heart Drogheda Places are restricted – Please phone well in advance to book a place!BUS PICK-UP POINTSColáiste na hInse - Stamullen, Julianstown, Drogheda, Bryanstown, Five Oaks ,Stameen, Grange Rath, Donacarney, Mornington, BettystownScoil Oilibhéir Naofa, Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh - Donacarney, Mornington, Bettystown, Laytown Loreto, Gormanston College - Grange Rath, Donacarney, Mornington, Bettystown, Laytown, Julianstown, Stamullen, GormanstonSt Mary’s, Sacred Heart - Laytown, Bettystown, Mornington St. Vincent de Paul - Thank YouOn behalf of Star of the Sea Confer-ence, St. Vincent de Paul, a very sincere thank-you to all those who sup-ported our Christmas Appeal and our monthly collections throughout 2016. We acknowledge, with gratitude the generosity of all. We have been very blessed by the kindness and generosity of the public in Laytown, Bettystown, Mornington & DonacarneyFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©16News from JulianstownTidy TownsWe have started off the year with a cleanup of the kerbs going up through the village and as you can see what a difference it makes! Many thanks to Lennie, Clare, Ais-ling, Dolores, Jackie, Pat, Stephen, Colm (wheelbar-row), and Niamh for all their Trojan work. If you would like to come along and join us any Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday morning with getting our village ship shape for the spring, the Tidy Towns Vol-unteer Group would love to see you. Spring CleanWe will be holding our An Taisce Annual Spring Clean on Saturday April 15th and also entering Meath County Council’s Anti Litter League which will start in March and finish end of April. We will also be entering the National Tidy Towns Competition and judging for this takes place in June. We had a meet-ing with Christy Clarke, Area Engineer for council and we have asked him to cut back the briars and remove dead trees go-ing up through the village. That rather large mound of tarmac will be removed next week. It’s also great to see that we now have a weekly road sweep and have asked the council to extend grass cutting to include the Duleek Road. We also spoke about the vegetation growing on the Moorechurch Road Bridge, weeds along the kerbs, dirty road signs etc. for the council’s attention. The issue of the bad bend on the Laytown Road was discussed at length and perhaps our Councillors’ could look for emergen-cy funding to straighten this extremely dangerous spot. (that can’t be impossible and urgently needed) Did you happen to see the Daffodils on the Laytown Road where we have planted the line of Rowan Trees? They must the first to bloom in the village! Meath County Development Plan 2019-2025You can make a difference! The Meath County Development plan is now up for review and we the people of Meath can make submissions to the council as to what we would like to have in the plan. It could be improving the roads through Julianstown, installing a playground in the village, swimming pool, house, foot-paths etc. There will be an information night in the civic offices in Duleek on Wednesday, lst February from 5 to 7 pm and it is up to us to make every effort to be there and see February 2017 The Meath Coaster ©17what will affect our lives in the future. You may say why bother? Why Indeed? Well poor Julianstown and East Meath are being left behind when it comes to invest-ment in this area. So, please, make the ef-fort to make a difference for you and your family. Julianstown Summer Festival We are looking forward to Julianstown Summer Festival in June which will, not only be for our younger folk, but for all! A bit of Oom Pah Pah agus beidh An Féile seo as Gaeilge agus i mBéarla (Fes-tival will be in Irish and English). Lots of entertainment being arranged, so watch this space. You can contact us on Facebook: Julins-town Tidy Towns Group or www.julian-stowncommunity.com Thanks Irish Blood ServiceThe Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) would like to thank all 64 Donors who attended the Blood Donation clinic in Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa. Thank you to Mary Gallagher and friends for their help on the clinic and Ms. Maria White, Principal of Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa.A breakdown of the total figures show that 10 first time Donors and 3 former Donors attended the clinic. It is essential that we maintain and in-crease the level of support on our next visit to East Meath. A total of 2,030 units alone were required in Our Lady of Lour-des Hospital, Drogheda during 2015. Finally on behalf of all the patients who benefit from your generosity and a heart-felt thank you to all who attended or helped with our Bettystown Clinic in any way. §Enrolment 2017 to Donacarney Schools.Junior Infants New Admissions Evening: Parents/Guardians (adults only) are invited to a meeting in relation to Junior Infants starting school in September 2017. These meetings will be held on:Tuesday 28th February – Girls’ School at 7.30p.m Wednesday 1st March – Boys’ School at 7.30p.m. Enquiries about all enrolments for the 2017-2018 school year, please contact :Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara at 041 9827045 Réalt na Mara Cailliní at 041 9887684 Welcome to Donacarney SchoolsFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©18Drogheda Grammar News2nd Year Art Students Reach Semi-Final of Doodle for Google CompetitionSusan Olamiju and Roisin McCarthy (2nd year) were both shortlisted to the last 300, from thousands of applicants all around Ireland. They designed a new logo for Google based on the theme ‘If I could create anything it would be..’. The next stage of the competition involves further shortlisting were the final 75 designs are displayed online. Congratulations to the girls and good luck with the next stage of the competition!Health promotion weekIt was all go in the final week of January as the school celebrated Health promo-tion week. With talks on nutrition and diet, mental health and exercise we were all reminded of the importance of looking after ourselves. With exercise classes in the morning and a range of activities and challenges each day it brought great en-ergy and focus to the school as we shake off the winter.Grammar School Careers FairThe school kept the focus on 3rd level pro-gression by hosting a university and 3rd level careers fair recently. With exhibi-tions and talks from universities and col-leges from Europe, the UK and closer to home students, parents and friends from not only the Grammar school but other secondary schools in the area had the op-portunity to come along and find out about the application process, get financial ad-vice and discuss university courses with the range of 3rd level institutions present. Theatre and film and languageSenior English students attended a per-formance of Hamlet in Dublin recently as part of their Leaving cert while German students had a trip to the cinema. Mean-Cheque presentation NE CancerBT Young Scientists Ebun Lawal and Oba William FunmilayoFebruary 2017 The Meath Coaster ©19while 6th year Irish students had a workshop as part of their preparation for the upcom-ing Irish orals. Finally the French students were treated to a performance from a trav-elling French theatre group in the school. CharityThe school recently presented a cheque for €600 to Ciaran Briscoe from The Northeast Cancer Research & Education Trust. This was the money raised at the school’s Christmas Concert.HockeyThe Junior girls celebrated a 3-0 victory over Clontarf recently as their league campaign continues. Unfortunately the top of the table clash against Muckross did not go as well with a defeat. How-ever they recorded another victory in their most recent league match- well done.The boys’ teams had two difficult cup matches against far more experienced teams from Dublin recently. Despite the losses they can be proud as both teams ( u13 and u14) put up strong performances and showed a great improvement. BT Young ScientistWell done to our Transition year students Ebun Lawal and Oba William Funmilayo whose entry to the BT Young Scientist competition “To investigate the effect of Bisphenol A on Plants” made it through to the final RDS exhibition in January.RugbyThe rugby season continues with the 1st year and 2nd year team playing matches against Dundalk grammar recently. The 1st year team also gave a good account of themselves in a triangular tournament playing Gormanston College and Bally-makenny, winning 1 and drawing 1 matchF. Watson & Son LtdFuneral Directors Complete Funeral ServiceLAYTOWN, CO. MEATH Tel: 086 0275440 • 041 98382279 DYER STREET, DROGHEDAwww.droghedafunerals.ieServing the Entire East Meath Area and Drogheda since 1921Next >