21 years and growing– the success story that is Sandymount Community Services celebrated its coming of age in style with a gathering in the Hobbler’s End in Ringsend.

A proud and delighted Ann Ingle, who has been involved with the project since its inception, was obviously very happy to welcome participants, contributors, advertisers and friends from down through the years to honour the project and ‘NewsFour’ which has gone from strength to strength since it was originally formed back in 1985.

Fittingly, all four supervisors who have managed Sandymount Community Services were on hand to celebrate the event: Dermot Rafter, Denis McKenna, Martin Lacey and Ann herself.
Also present on the night was Ruairí Quinn who is patron of the project and who was influential in its instigation back in the 1980s when so many people were unemployed and desperate for the second chance Sandymount Community Services offered them.

Mr Quinn said that the early 1980s represented a very difficult time economically for the people of this country. The origin of this project came about, he explained, during a difficult period. “Things were bad economically, people were paying too much tax and there was too little enterprise. Community Employment projects give people a second chance and give people back their self-confidence and their dignity. What you do defines who you are. We now live in a rich economy and we have to ensure that everyone in this society has the skills to do the best with what they have.”

“‘NewsFour’ is the most successful community newspaper in County Dublin today and a measure of that success is the amount of politicians who advertise in it,” he joked. On a serious note Mr. Quinn pointed out that ‘NewsFour’ “is a newspaper that is consistently read. The bound copies of ‘NewsFour’ on display here tonight,” he continued, “are a collective memory of community achievement, and the participants are the ones who made it happen.”

Mr Quinn concluded his speech by appealing to those whose lives had benefited through their participation in ‘NewsFour’ to contribute their experiences to a special booklet which he suggested should be published to commemorate this very special anniversary.

Dermot Lacey, Chairperson of the Sponsoring Committee and along with Ann one of the founder members, said that Sandymount Community Services and ‘NewsFour’ was “a proud part of community life in Ringsend and Irishtown for over two decades” and he was delighted to see such a great crowd come out in celebration of its commitment to the area.

He paid a warm tribute to the four supervisors down through the years, whom he said had “helped and guided people to achieve success.” ‘NewsFour’, he said, “has chronicled our lives in history.”

In her address, Ann said it was great to see such a big crowd at the night’s festivities and she thanked FÁS for their involvement and those on the sponsoring committee for their ongoing hard work in making the project such a success. She thanked the advertisers for their commitment to the paper and for the crucial revenue they brought it.

Ann said that thanks are due to those who facilitated the project by providing premises: Rehab, the CYMS and our present landlord. Ann paid a special tribute to the seventeen participants currently employed by Sandymount Community Services engaged in work in the créche, the community centre, Cambridge Court and ‘NewsFour’.

Clockwise from left: Dermot Lacey and Ann Ingle; Patrick and Terry Dowling, Denis McKenna, Ger Siggins and John Gormley TD; Tara and Niall Feery; John Lee and George Humphries.