A belated Happy New Year to you all

Recent Burglaries:

As you will have seen from recent text alerts it was a busy start to the year with burglaries in Deerpark, Park Avenue and surrounding areas.   We have been lucky to have missed out to date on this latest wave but it is a reminder that criminals remain active in the area and that we need to remain vigilant and report suspicious activity.

We are exploring some collaboration with our adjacent neighbourhood watch areas to alert each other of incidents in the broader area and over time there may be other initiatives that we can approach jointly.

While text alerts are useful in getting information out it is important to remember that we still live in what most would consider a very safe neighbourhood.      Security is important but so is getting on with our lives.

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

We have come through another Christmas season and despite some improved signage on the green on Auburn Avenue from Fingal we once again faced a constant flow of Christmas trees illegally dumped on the green.     The dumping appeared later than in previous years but once one or two trees appeared, more followed. While our priority will be on burglary and more serious crimes, this is something that we will continue to try to address in cooperation with Fingal and the authorities.

This dumping is illegal and persons caught doing so can be prosecuted.     I expect that much of this is from persons outside our area and we may consider further improvements to signage in future years and potentially a mechanism to report those that are dumping which can be reported in an efficient way to the appropriate authorities.

We may never fully solve this problem (you can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it drink) but we will continue to make it more clear that these actions are illegal and we will help the authorities with enforcement.

Neighbourhood Watch Signage:

The saga of our Neighbourhood Watch signage continues to be a frustration.    We are now on our third application through the Gardaí and Fingal – this first two applications having been lost in their process.

The signs are printed and ready – we just need the official all clear.   As soon as we get the approval the signs will be erected.

Ideas and Volunteers for 2017:

As it is the start of a new year we will start to make our plans for the Neighbourhood Watch.     We are alsways open to ideas and suggestions on how we can improve the Neighbourhood Watch so please do not hesitate to share your thoughts on how we can improve security and the sense of community in the area.

We will plan to have our AGM in April and we will share with you further plans and updates and a report on our finances in advance of that meeting.

If anyone is interested in becoming more involved with the Neighbourhood watch this year let me know.    We have a great team of volunteers but additional help is always welcome.