Knocklyon Network is a Voluntary Group. There is a small number of Volunteers that varies between 6-12 members at any time. We are driven by our Goals of improving the Community. We do not always succeed and sometimes ,we get it wrong. However, our motivation is always to improve our Community. So, what areas do we get involved in.
Environment: We have always been supporters of Climate Sustainability. We post many articles on this aspect of our environment. We held information meetings about recycling products. We canvassed our local Supermarkets about their Packaging and Environmental policies. We have along with St. Colmcilles Primary and Knocklyon Woods Residents Association put in a Biodiversity garden with 20 Fruit Trees next to the School.
Planning. We report weekly on all the planning applications and decisions in our area and make these available through our Facebook page. We have joined in several campaigns and made submissions about these. These include the unsuccessful bid, despite wide Councillor support for the acquisition of Orlagh House and 100 acres by SDCC. We oppose the Interpretive centre for Massey’s Wood and Hell Fire Hill. We opposed the changes to the Orlagh Roundabout, the large developments on Cosgrave’s Land, Augustinian Land without additional infrastructure. We proposed a larger playground for Scholarstown Wood Development. We have over the last 10 years always campaigned to get SDCC to turn Dodder Valley Park into a Regional Park as it was supposed to be like Tymon, Bushy, Marley complete with Play spaces, walkways, ponds, etc.
Energy. We were one of the first Sustainable Energy Communities in the Country. We used a Grant of 15000 from SEAI to assess the Energy usage throughout Knocklyon. We evaluated the Retrofit requirements of most of the older type houses in Knocklyon. We followed this up with an Energy Show and an Energy information evening. We enabled Six houses to do retrofits under the scheme which gave them access to increased level of grants. Under this scheme we were able to Update all the Lighting in St. Colmcilles Community School. We also worked with that school to win a Grant from Friends of the Earth and SEAI to get a 11KW Solar panel scheme for the school. We have recently been able to win Grants totalling 23000 to enable that school to improve their controls to reduce their energy usage. We did a survey on transport usage in our community, with a view to reducing transport energy in the community.
Community. We were instrumental in getting the path from Knocklyon Shopping Centre to the Church and Schools, previously there was just the path along the wall of the Church. We put in two benches in Knocklyon. They did not bring Anti-Social Behaviour as people feared. We held a competition for people to improve their Estates. We ran a competition for Scarecrows around Halloween. We ran for several years an art competition in the Primary Schools to design Christmas cards, the winning 4 cards were then printed off and used to raise funds for our local Vincent de Paul. We have donated 1000 euros most years to the Local Branch of VdP. We gave a donation of 500 euros each to the start-up of the Knocklyon Men’s Sheds and the Knocklyon Women’s Club. We have won awards twice from Dublin Bus for “Spirit of the Community” and once won the top Community prize from SDCC for our Facebook page.
Politicians. We have worked with politicians of all parties always. We have had several debates with political candidates for National and local elections. We publish the questions and answers of the area meetings. We have made submissions to Section 8’s on many issues as well as making submissions to County Development Plans, Bus Connects, National Transport Authority. We are currently supporting the work of Metro South West Group to try and get a Metro from town to Knocklyon-Firhouse. We have a good relationship with most Councillors and TD’s in our area.
Business. We rely on our local businesses to support us to do our work. Our website lists local businesses who pay a small annual fee which we use to finance our work. We encourage the community to use the listed businesses and promote them on our social media. Many of these businesses see their fee as part of their support for the community. Up to COVID-19 we held a Business Breakfast every year to allow our businesses to meet with politicians and other businesses. This meeting is always addressed by a local celebrity. We have had Conor Faughnan of the AA, Felix Mc Kenna former head of CAB, Ray Bates former head of Lottery Ireland, and Mary Kennedy of RTE.
Communications. Our Facebook page has over 9000 followers. Our Twitter account follows 1540 and has 1400 followers. Our LinkedIn has 704 Connections and 1821 Contacts. We are the communication hub for the local area. People who lose anything from a Dog, Cat, Keys, Bank card, Childs favourite Teddy whatever, come to us. Anyone who wants to give a warning to the Community on a crime, a scam, a danger, come to us. Politicians who want to get a public message out there come to us. Any events we think may be of interest to our community we post. We try to bring you anything at all, that is relevant to you, our community. We also got a grant from the Taoiseach’s office to set up a Facebook page for past pupils of St. Colmcilles Primary Schools. It has 1300 members.
We are desperately in need of new Volunteers. So, if you are interested in any of the areas above or any other area, we would love to hear from you. The amount of work involved depends on you. We meet every fortnight for about 90 minutes, on Zoom now. Our next meeting is on Tuesday 26th of January at 7.30 PM. If you would like to join in, send us your email address and we will send you a Zoom invite. Email us at: knocklyonnetwork@gmail.com