Year in Review 2019: July
By Brendan Grehan
JULY was a memorable month for the county with a smorgasbord of community events and festivals on throughout the month. The festivals ranged from Longitude in Marlay Park to the Clondalkin festival which is now in its ninth year.
At the start of month, the Dublin County Board planned to sell nine acres of their 35-acre site at the Spawell. In 2017, the Dublin County Board purchased the 35-acres Spawell site for a reported €9 million.
GAA to sell nine acres at Spawell
In April, Tallaght’s Paddy Finlay, aka Paddy Drac died, and three months later he was commemorated through an artistic tribute that looks down on the Dodder towards his home in Bawnville.
Located at the entrance to Aylesbury estate, across from Dodder Valley Park, the tribute to Paddy Finlay (aka Paddy Drac) was this week painted by Tallaght fireman Geoff Tracey as part of the Dublin Canvass project.
Tallaght fireman Geoff Tracey
The Clondalkin Festival was a great success with an estimated 9,000 turning out to attend the festivities. Activities ranged from a pop-up Gaeltacht to an open day at Clondalkin Garda Station.
Dog excrement is a problem throughout the county and this month, Maxi Zoo, launched the Scoopthepoop campaign which aimed to educate the public on the importance of picking up after their dog.
Throughout July, Maxi Zoo gave away 1.5 million degradable dog poop bags to help keep our parks and streets poop-free.
Over in Clondalkin, residents took to the streets to protest at the impending loss of Jigsaw Clondalkin services for young people. Clondalkin Jigsaw is set to be ‘integrated’ with Tallaght Jigsaw by April 2020.
Thomas Morgan, Laurence Bryan and Wesley Hoolahan
Two years ago, Laurence Bryan was stabbed 14 times in the Midlands Prison by four other inmates. Laurence survived the attack and this month was selected to play for Ireland in the Homeless World Cup.
This month, The Dodder Valley Litter Mugs were out on one of their regular claean-ups and removed 30 bags of rubbish from the stretch of Dodder that flows through the park from the bridge at Old Bawn to Seskin View.
Tallaght had a European gold medalist this month. Sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke claimed victory in the 100m at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Baku.
Rhasidat Adeleke
Storming to victory in a time of 11.70, the European Under 18 200m champion could not contain her delight at her latest achievement.
She told The Echo: “I was pretty confident that I could execute my race well, so it was just whether I would get a medal. I was so happy. It was just relief, because I had worked so hard for this. It was so cool to do it in a different event, because I normally race in the 200m. And to get a gold was just amazing.”
TAGS Lifestyle
