< Previous© March 2019 The Meath Coaster10Council Update By Cllr. Sharon TolanStraight to the Point…..Draft Beach Management Plan was adopted at February’s MD meeting, and despite ‘click bait’ headlines and political stunts, which led to serious concerns and panic, nothing is banned from the beach!!There are 29 recommendations in this Plan (a wish list as it were!), and I, along with many others, have been working on this Plan since 2015. We secured €2.1 million in the Council’s Capital Plan, to provide infrastructure, solutions and re-sources into protecting and enhancing our beaches. These include the purchase of the buildings at the Bettystown entrance, permanent beach wardens, litter manage-ment & dog fouling, enhanced signage, to name but a few. Only 3 of the recommen-dations are contentious, namely in rela-tion to cars, dogs and horses.If we had not adopted the Plan, we would not be able to begin implementing the other 26 recommendations. The architect for our new public toilets & facilities at the entrance will now be appointed, our traffic study can now commence, we can increase the fine for dog fouling, provide better litter and recycling facilities. We are never going to get 100% consen-sus on every issue, as the saying goes “you can’t please all of the people, all of the time”. What we can do is work towards a com-promise on the contentious issues, to ul-timately protect and enhance our experi-ences on the beach. Watch this space!New Library for East MeathIt hasn’t been the best kept secret….Meath County Council have been negoti-“I am looking forward to meeting the newly appointed architect for our beach facilities building at our March MD Meeting,” Cllr Sharon Tolan.© March 2019 The Meath Coaster11 Continued over....ating in good faith with the receivers of the old Donovan’s shop in the Anchorage, with a view to providing a library for the area. I have been working closely with the executive to identify a suitable site, as there is no doubt that the Bettystown Town Centre site will still take a number of years to complete. The Council are anxious to provide a li-brary for our community and a site like the Anchorage could really change the visual impact in our town centre in a posi-tive way. Unfortunately, we received news that the Receiver was given instruction to put “the sale on hold in general on instruction of the charge holder ACC Bank.” I have written to Minister Paschal Dono-hoe asking him to write to ACC Bank and request that they engage positively with the Council on this matter. It is completely immoral for anyone to hold a prime town centre building, empty and derelict, when there is an interested party in the market. Watch this Space!R150 Laytown to Bettystown Spine RoadI was delighted that another €400,000 was granted to the Council for the Spine Road. I have requested that the Council plough ahead with preparing the tender documents, while we await the news from An Bord Pleanála in relation to the Com-pulsory Purchase Order. The Inspector gave me permission to speak at the Oral Hearing for the CPO which took place in December, and I took the opportunity to give a personal account of what it’s like as parents, students and commuters in the area. I hope to have news on the CPO very soon!Public Realm Begins!Delighted that following my motion in October 2017, the Council have engaged BDP to begin a Public Realm Plan for the area. Their public realm design work within Ireland includes Derry City Centre, Sligo City, Dundalk Town Centre, Tralee, Maynooth and Galway. There will be a number of Public Consultation Meetings locally, and I am looking forward to the designs they come up with to improve the visual impact and accessibility throughout Laytown and Bettystown, the linkages between all of East Meath, and a shared vision for our seaside villages.GrantsCommunity Grants Scheme is now open for applications. Categories include Equality & Social Inclusion, Festivals & Events, Recreation & Sport, Residents Associations, and Tidy Towns. Dead-line for applications is 5pm on Friday 8th March. If you need an application, or as-sistance, please get in touch!“ACC Bank must not be allowed to sit on prime, town centre premises, in total dereliction, while there is an interested buyer,” Cllr Sharon Tolan© March 2019 The Meath Coaster12New Community Amenity Project SchemeThis is now open for applications also. The scheme provides Capital Assistance for qualifying projects, minimum project application is €10,000 with a maximum project application of €100,000 per Mu-nicipal District per annum. This scheme aims to provide financial assistance for the development of sporting, recreation-al, environmental, amenity, heritage and cultural facilities. Closing date for appli-cations is 5pm on Friday 15th March. If you need assistance or application form, please get in touch! See the Meath County Council advertise-ments opposite for more details on both Grant SchemesLocal & European ElectionsBoth the Local and European Elections will be held on Friday 24th May. Please go to www.checktheregister.ie to find out if you are registered to vote!If you are not on the register, you have until Tuesday 7th May to be added to the supplement or to change address. Clos-ing date for postal votes is 27th April. It has been a privilege to be your Councillor for the past 5 years, and with the support of my family, I have decided to seek re-election. I will be your Local Fine Gael Candidate here in East Meath for the Lo-cal Election, whilst Mairead McGuin-ness MEP will be your Local Fine Gael Candidate for the European Elections. If you would like to become involved in my campaign, please feel free to drop me a text or email sharontolan132@gmail.com Tidy TownsFollowing my appeal in the December edition of the Coaster, I am delighted to say that Donacarney Tidy Towns will be hosting their first meeting on Wednesday 6th March at 8pm in the little red brick school. I have committed €1000 of Dis-cretionary Funding to get them started on projects for the area. If you are interested in getting involved, please pop along to the meeting!I am still on the lookout for community spirited individuals in the Mornington area who would be interested in setting up the Mornington Tidy Towns, so do get in touch!Donacarney FootpathsThankfully, at last, a contractor has been appointed to design the footpath & cy-cleway scheme from Bettystown Cross to Reált na Mara Primary Schools. I will continue to push this project until completion! Developers on Church Road are set to complete footpath works from Mornington Park/Maiden Hayes area down to the Star of the Sea Church, again welcome progress! §“Cllr Sharon Tolan works tirelessly for her constituents and it is great to work with her,” Mairead McGuinness, First Vice President, European Parliament© March 2019 The Meath Coaster13COMMUNITY GRANT SCHEME 2019Applications are invited from Community Groups, Tidy Towns/Village Committees, Residents Associations and other organisations, to assist with actions and projects being undertaken in their local area for the Meath County Council Community Grant Scheme 2019. The range of grant categories available under the Community Grant Scheme 2019 are:• Residents Association• Tidy Towns • Equality and Social Inclusion• Recreation and Sport• Festivals & Events • Burial Ground Further details and application forms can be obtained from The Community Department, Meath County Council, Buvinda House, Dublin Road, Navan, Co. Meath C15 Y291 or by email communitygrants@meathcoco.ie or alternatively from our website: www.meath.ie The closing date for receipt of completed applications is 5.00p.m. Friday, 8th March, 2019COMMUNITY AMENITY PROJECT SCHEME 2019Applications are invited from Communities within the County and registered with the Public Participation Network (PPN) for the development of sporting, recreational, environmental, amenity, heritage and cultural facilities.The Community Amenity Project Scheme is a new grant scheme which is being introduced by Meath County Council for an initial three year period subject to availability of funding. The scheme provides financial assistance to Communities within the County and registered with the Public Participation Network (PPN) for the development of sporting, recreational, environmental, amenity, heritage and cultural facilities.The minimum project application is €10,000 with a maximum project application of €100,000 per Municipal District per annum.Further details and application forms can be obtained from The Community Department, Meath County Council, Buvinda House, Dublin Road, Navan, Co. Meath C15 Y291 or by email communitygrants@meathcoco.ie or alternatively from our website: http://meath.ie/Community/CommunityInformation/CommunityGrants/CommunityGrantsSchemeThe closing date for receipt of completed applications is 5.00p.m. Friday, 15th March, 2019© March 2019 The Meath Coaster14Bettystown Tidy Towns - BTTResidents Associations Grant Applications are invited from Resi-dents Associations for the Meath County Council Community Grant Scheme to assist with works undertaken in their estate. For example, Residents As-sociations can apply for funding towards the cost of the landscape maintenance of their green areas.Further details and application forms can be obtained by contacting the Community Department of Meath County Council, or by visiting the Councils web page under Grants or by emailing communitygrants@meathcoco.ie. The closing date for receipt of completed applications is 5.00p.m., Friday, 8th March 2019.Village Enhancement ProjectWork is continuing on the enhancement of the village, two hanging basket poles were installed near Macari’s and our thanks to Reddan’s Bar for offering to provide the flower baskets later in Spring. These are being installed on a trial basis to deter-mine if the area is suitable to hanging bas-kets, as they can be exposed to some harsh weather conditions. If they are a success we will consider installing more hang-ing basket poles, in consultation with the businesses.In March we intend to commence some planting along the main street. This has been part funded by Cllr. Eimear Fergu-son and by a significant contribution from Cllr. Sharon Tolan, from their Council Discretionary Funds. Our thanks to them both for supporting this and previous pro-jects.Maintenance works around the town is conducted daily by Gary and Paul, our TUS and C. E. Scheme resource workers, and the BTT volunteers are out each Sat-urday. A lot of work has been completed recently along the Coast Road, the Brook-side Estate entrance and the path to the beach at Brookside, which was littered and overgrown with bushes. We were delighted to be asked to give a presentation on Community Development Projects to the LCA students in Coláiste na hInse recently. They are a really nice group of students and we wish them every success in their final exams later in the year.If you would like to get involved with BTT, even if you only want to assist occa-sionally or if you have a suggestion for us, then why not message us on our Facebook page or meet us on a Saturday morning between 10.00 and 11.00, when we are out and about in the area. . §© March 2019 The Meath Coaster15NATIONAL COMMUNITY EVENT 4TH - 6TH MAY 2019Last September, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Mr Michael Ring, TD, announced the launch of a National Community Event, to be held for the first time over the May Bank Holiday weekend, 2019. Local communities are asked to come up with ideas for events in their areas. The event is a celebration of the great spirit of community that exists across the country and an effort to help people who share communities to come together, get to know each other and deepen the sense of community in their area. Events could be centred round food, sport, the environment, health, heritage, culture, family fun day, etc.Events will take place over the May Bank Holiday weekend 4th - 6th May, 2019. Applications are invited from Community Groups, Tidy Towns/Village Committees and Residents Associations, further details and application forms can be obtained from The Community Department, Meath County Council, Buvinda House, Dublin Road, Navan, Co. Meath C15 Y291 or by email communitygrants@meathcoco.ie or alternatively from our website:http://meath.ie/Community/CommunityInformation/CommunityGrants/CommunityGrantsSchemeThe closing date for receipt of completed applications is 5.00p.m. Friday, 15th March, 2019041 98 444 98 041 98 111 98086 838 4444www.eastcoastcabs.comEAST COAST CABS SERVICING MEATH COAST & DROGHEDA REGIONS CABS - 4, 6 & 8 SEATERSNEW RANGE OF MINI-VANSCOACHES - 16, 24, 36 & 54 SEATERS AVAILABLE© March 2019 The Meath Coaster16Reált Na Mara GNSFighting Words Trip.Ms. Colgan’s and Ms Linden’s 4th classes visited Roddy Doyle’s creative writing workshop in Dublin..( photo above). Together, with the help of Jonathan and Niamh, the children came up with their very own illustrated story ‘Porky’s Getaway’. It was an amazing opportunity to learn to write a story.Catholic Schools WeekOn the 28th January, the 4th class of Réalt na Mara welcomed parents and grandparents to the school to celebrate the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. The children partici-pated in a prayer service where a selection of hymns and prayer could be heard. Thank you to everyone who came to join our service. §Celebrating Culture Diversity in Réalt Na Mara Girls’ School© March 2019 The Meath Coaster17The SanctuaryUpstairs @ Riverside Home & Gifts, Coast Road MorningtonSANCTUARY HAIR SALON MARTINA 0876009845© March 2019 The Meath Coaster18Coláiste na hInseAoife Forkin and Laragh Phillips to Represent Ireland at Cambridge Uni-versityIt has been one of the most successful months for Coláiste na hInse debaters in their 10 years of competitive action. Earlier this month Aoife Forkin and Lar-agh Phillips qualified to represent Ireland at the prestigious International Competi-tion for Young Debaters in Cambridge University. Only four teams are selected from Ireland and this represents the first ever time that a school from Meath or Louth has ever been chosen. The finals' day takes place at the end of April and we wish the two talented students the best of luck!Aoife and Laragh, along with Kyla Boyle have qualified for the semi-finals of the UCD Junior Debating Competition which takes place at the end of February. And those three daltaí will be joined by first years, Sean Corr and Thomas Balfe in the Leinster Finals Day of the Junior Debat-ing National Mace - the largest debating competition in the country! Glorious Double Success for CNI Soccer TeamsColáiste na hInse scooped a magical dou-ble in early February by winning both the Under 15 and Under 17 North-East League titles in one week.On the Monday, the Under 17s faced off against Coláiste Rís, Dundalk in Oriel Park. In a tight encounter, both teams struggled to create chances in a match dominated by the defences. With the game remaining goalless after 100 minutes, penalties ensued. The Coláiste's penalty takers each held their nerves to score from twelve yards, whilst goalkeeper Darren Rowley saved two penalties from Coláiste Rís to ensure a 4-3 win.There was similar drama on the Friday as the Under 15s faced St. Mary's Drogheda for the second time this season. After a 1-1 draw earlier in the year, the teams were once again inseparable. St. Mary's threat-ened from set pieces, while CNI proved more incisive from open play. However, as with the Under 17s, a goalless match and extra-time led to penalties once again. History repeated itself CNI maintained CNI Dáltaí to Represent Ireland in Debating at Cambridge University© March 2019 The Meath Coaster19their cool to emerge as champions.Both teams now progress to the Leinster Champions' League competition, with quarter-final matches due to be played after mid-term. Furthermore, the First Year soccer team are hoping to emulate the success of the Under 15 and under 17 teams as they have also qualified for the North-East Leinster final, where they will play Ardgillan College, Balbriggan.Coláiste na hInse Ten Year Anniversary Gala DinnerThe Coláiste na hInse Ten Year Anniver-sary Gala Dinner takes place on Friday, March 15th at 7pm in the school. Students, parents and staff members, past and pre-sent, are welcome to attend. There prom-ises to be much nostalgia on the evening as we reflect on our beginnings in the Neptune Hotel, the move to the Dánlann Under 17 Champions! Continued over....Next >