Ballyshannon NS fundraiser at Martinstown

A reminder that the Parents Association of Ballyshannon National School is organising a fundraising event, Spring Fest, at Martinstown House, The Curragh, on Sunday next, 19 April 2026, from 12pm to 4pm.

Spring Fest will be a fun-filled afternoon for adults and children alike. The event will feature live music, children’s games, storytelling and crafts, face-painting, and a range of food and drink options, including a pizza truck, coffee truck and bar.

There's also a raffle with a wide selection of prizes sponsored by local businesses and supporters. Among the prizes on offer are:

• Kildare Fire Logs voucher (€200)

• The K Club hotel voucher (€100)

• The Yurt voucher (€100)

• Crookstown Tyres & Batteries Ltd voucher (€100)

• Playbarn vouchers (10 admit-one passes) valued at €115

• Faerly hamper (€90)

• Kildare Bouncy Castles (€80)

• Burkes Pharmacy hamper (€80)

• Mondello Historic Festival family passes

• Vouchers and prizes from The Potting Shed, Dome Carlow, Mels of Narraghmore, Lily and Wild, TRM Pet, Punchestown, Lullymore, Kalbarri, Shackleton Experience, K Leisure, Treasured Toys, Eabha Crystals, Pumpkin Patch Kildare, Grangecon Kitchen, and many more, including family days out, toy sets, haircare products, hampers and activity vouchers.

Tickets for both the event and the raffle are available on Eventbrite by searching “Spring Fest Martinstown House” or by using the QR codes featured on Ballyshannon National School Parents Association’s promotional material.

All funds raised will go towards supporting Ballyshannon National School. Updates and further details are available on Instagram at @ballyshannonsparentscouncil.

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Ballyshannon plants trees

Images: Ballyshannon Action.

Ballyshannon has marked National Tree Week with the planting of 1,800 trees across the area as part of its Community Biodiversity Action Plan, supported by Community Foundation Ireland.

Led by Colm and his team, the project introduced a rich mix of Irish hedgerow species along with fruit trees at the local school and in nearby homes. Organisers hope the new hedgerows will attract more insects and birdlife, enhance the local environment, and increase the diversity of trees and shrubs in the area.

The initiative builds on Ballyshannon’s existing natural assets and aims to strengthen local biodiversity for years to come.

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Ballyshannon NS Christmas Raffle

A mega hamper brimming with treats is among more than 20 prizes that are up for grabs in the Ballyshannon NS Christmas Raffle. The draw will be held on 19 December.       

Tickets are available at the school, on the Aladdin app, and by Revolut at 086 1673093. Please include your full name and contact number. All proceeds will be used to purchase musical equipment and fund outdoor upgrades.

The raffle is organised by the school's Parents Council.

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Local family dairy farm visited by European Commissioner for the Environment

A Ballyshannon farm was shown as an exemplar of how Irish farmers are working to improve water quality, writes Brian Byrne, during a visit to Kildare by European Commissioner for the Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall.

The Durkin family farm between Kilcullen and Athy was presented as a typical Irish dairy farm, where Pat Durkin and his daughter, Kayleigh, work side by side, adopting the latest technology to produce top-quality food while improving the farm’s environmental impact.

Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon arranged the visit as part of his campaign to retain Ireland’s nitrates derogation. It was followed by meetings with Oireachtas TDs, senators, and environmental stakeholders in Teagasc’s Ashtown research facility in Dublin.

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Ballyshannon Action AGM

A reminder that the Ballyshannon Action Group AGM will take place on Thursday next, 24 July at 8pm in Ballyshannon Hall. All are welcome to attend.

The Ballyshannon Action Group was formed in 2019 to protect their rural area from unsuitable development and improve and conserve their biodiversity and  local environment. 

For more on the various initiatives they have supported over these last six almost years, please check out their website here. 

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Ballyshannon Bric a Brac sale continues Sunday

Due to the massive response in donations, the Bric a Brac and Book Sale held today in Ballyshannon WILL BE REPEATED TOMORROW.

The sale will again be in the Ballyshannon Community Hall, from 2pm-5pm.

It is organised by the Ballyshannon Action Group. All welcome.

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At-risk Ballyshannon hedgerows are 'species rich'

Photo from the report by C O’Connell.

Ballyshannon has a ‘really beautiful rich rural biodiversity’, those attending the recent Ballyshannon Action Group AGM were told, writes Brian Byrne. The comment came in a short presentation about the completed Community Biodiversity Action Plan 2025-2029 which had been commissioned by the group. 

In particular, the area’s hedgerows are ‘top quality’, Ballyshannon Action’s Sarah Burke said — “and Kilsaran want to take away our hedgerows.” That was a reference to the reason the group was set up in 2019, to fight a plan from Kilsaran Concrete to open a quarry in the rural community. Widening the L8006/7 road to cope with the quarry HGV traffic would result in the destruction of hedgerows. 

The Biodiversity Plan was produced by ecologist Dr Catherine O’Connell. Summarising the work which she had done, Sarah said the Plan offered 71 enhancement ideas for the local biodiversity. In terms of the hedgerows, Dr O'Connell advised planting more, using native hedge species of wild hawthorn and others such as blackthorn, apple, guelder rose, elderberry and wild privet. 

The report says that the mature hedges along the L8006/7 'are species rich', and that there is opportunity to create wildflower meadow habitat on the road. "Wildflower meadows have disappeared by 97%," Dr O'Connell says in her Plan. "Roadside verges and how they are managed are vital for pollinators." She says grass cutting along the road verges should be phased out to allow wild plants to grow, flower and set seed and to develop linear wildflower meadows.

The survey for the Plan also found that sparrows are using old buildings along the L8006/7 for nesting. Sparrows are amber-listed due to loss of their habitat and food source in the wide, and they like dense hedges and ivy on old walls. Dr O'Connell said the hedges along the road should be managed to provide this habitat for them.

The full study is available on the group's website here. 

The original planning application for the Kilsaran quarry at Racefield, Ballyshannon, was turned down by Kildare County Council. This decision was overturned by Bord Pleanala, despite a recommendation from their own inspector that the appeal should be rejected. Ballyshannon Action have sought leave to have a judicial review of the ABP decision, and are awaiting a judgement on this request.

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Fun Run planned for Ballyshannon NS

A reminder that a Family Fun Run in aid of Ballyshannon NS's Sensory Garden and play area will be held on Sunday 23 April, from St Laurence's GAA grounds.

The funds raised will be used to update the fence around the garden, and add equipment and seating.

There are 5K and 1K courses and the event starts at 10.30am, with Registration on the day from 9.45am. Adults €10, children €5 or families €25.

(First posted 10 March 2023.)

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Bakes, Crafts and Coffee in Ballyshannon this morning

A Festive Bakes, Crafts and Coffee Morning takes place this morning in Ballyshannon.

All proceeds to Ballyshannon Community Hall and the Peace Proms buses.

The event will run from 10am-12 noon in Ballyshannon Hall. 

A chat, a cuppa, and the opportunity to buy some local crafts for yourself or for a Christmas present.

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Ballyshannon Action Group launches new website

Ballyshannon Action Group has launched a full website to have available the full details of their fight against the proposed imposition by Kilsaran of a quarry in their rural community, writes Brian Byrne. 

The website includes articles about the various planning and legal issues which the community has been involved in since the concrete company first applied for planning permission.

It's also a platform for Ballyshannon's wish and actions to preserve the environment and biodiversity for the families of today who live there and for future generations.

Fundraising campaigns information and contact details are also easily accessible for anyone who wants to support their campaign.

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Ballyshannon litter pick walk

A community walk to pick up litter is being organised by Ballyshannon Action for Saturday 26 November, writes Brian Byrne.

The event sets off at 10.30am to clean the road from the quarry site to the crossroads. There will be tea and treats afterwards in Dowling’s Bar.

The group will have some litter-pickers and bags but volunteers are encouraged to bring whatever they can themselves.

The filled bags can be dropped at the entrance to Lugatanna Park for collection.

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Listen: Ballyshannon Voices from the Past

An exhibition and heritage walk today in Ballyshannon was an eyeopener to many of the current residents of the village. Through photographs and words it traced back through a century and further the local happenings and places. One gem is a series of interviews with local people, on a short reel to reel tape made 40 years ago by the local  branch of Macra na Thuaithe and kept by local woman Joan Dowling, who was one of the young people making the tape. Pictured above are some of the Ballyshannon Heritage Day people, James Delaney, Clare Keon, and Joan Dowling. Produced by Brian Byrne.

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'Keep the pressure on' — Ballyshannon Action Group

The Ballyshannon Action Group are ramping up their campaign against the proposed Kilsaran quarry at Racefield by asking people to contact their local representatives and keep the pressure on, writes Brian Byrne.

Their latest social media post notes that there has been very welcome cross-party support for their campaign since the beginning, but say that they 'need everyone to know that this issue is not going away'.

"If you are angry that we are having to fight to protect our community against the unsustainable development of a major quarry on a greenfield site here in the rural residential node of Ballyshannon ... please get in touch with local representatives and TDs and make your voice heard," they say in their latest Facebook post. "This area of Kildare needs a permanent solution to fix a planning system that is facilitating the kind of large-scale quarrying that is subsuming communities around Kilcullen with no end in sight."

The group note that all of Kilsaran’s existing quarries in this area have had planning permissions extended over and over again. "Their site at Silliot Hill on the Naas Road in Kilcullen will be 43 years in operation if it closes at the end of its current duration — and that is a very big ‘IF’ as it was only granted its initial planning permission for a period of 10 years."

Kildare County Council's initial refusal for the Racefield project was overturned by An Bord Pleanala. The action group are currently awaiting a High Court decision on whether they can have a Judicial Review of the ABP decision.

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Footpath campaign walk from Ballyshannon to Calverstown

Image: Google Maps.

A walk from Ballyshannon to Calverstown will take place on Friday 10 December to highlight the need for a footpath between the adjoining communities, writes Brian Byrne.

The walk is being organised by the Calverstown Action Network, and begins at 10am. CAN is actively seeking the construction of a footpath and would appreciate all support at the event.

The 2.6km route takes around half an hour, but without a footpath it is considered a dangerous undertaking. From the junction with the R418 at Dowling's Pub is 1.4km.

The section from Dowling's Pub to Ballyshannon itself is threatened with very heavy truck traffic if the ABP decision to allow a quarry to be developed at Racefield is upheld.

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