Who We Are?

7th Meath (Dunshaughlin) Scout Group registered with the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI) in February 1977 with a Cub Pack and Scout Troop.

We are registered with Scouting Ireland which was formed from the amalgamation of SAI and CBSI, Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland, on Jan 1st 2004. We have 7 youth sections – Beavers (6-8 years), Cubs (9-12 years), Scouts (12-15/16 years), Ventures (15/16-18 years) and Rovers (18-26 years) . We have over 150 youth members ranging in age from 6-26 years and we have 50 Scouters and Adult Volunteers (ages not disclosed!!).

One of our first roles in the Village Community was to provide a guard of honour for the laying of the foundations of the new church in 1982. Today, we still maintain a presence in the Village and are involved with our extremely hard-working Tidy Towns Committee and Harvest Festival for example.

After our formation, with growing numbers of members, regular meeting halls became a necessity. We initially met in St. Patrick’s Hall until 1981. We were then provided with a “Den” in the form of a prefab at the back of the old tech. After a period of time the prefab was rotten and so we moved to another prefab until 1996 when it too was demolished.

At this point, all equipment was transferred to a shipping container in the GAA Pitch where it remained until 2003 when it was requested to be moved. The equipment was then stored in a shed belonging to one of our Scout Leaders as a temporary measure until early 2006.

For the next 11 years, we moved our ever increasing load of Gear and equipment to various storage facilities in the village thanks to the generosity of many parents and local businesses.

After we lost our Den in 1996, Scouts met in the Pitch & Putt Club and Cubs met in St. Patrick’s Hall. This was to be temporary measure as the community centre was being built and there was to be a storage facility and a meeting room which the Scouts and Cubs could use.

When the Community Centre was completed, we were given use of the large room overlooking the games hall. Scouts, Cubs and later Beavers used this room for their weekly meetings until September 2003 when the Gym was installed. Our gear remained in storage on the GAA pitch as no storage was available in the Community Centre.

From then, Scouts met in the Pitch & Putt Club and Beavers & Cubs met in St. Patrick’s Hall and later St Seachnalls N.S. and Gaelscoil Ns Ríthe school halls. Ventures met in the schools, the Pastoral Centre and the Community Centre prefabs. We are extremely grateful to the Committees of all of these premises for their help.

After meeting in virtually every venue in Dunshaughlin, the end is in sight as in the Summer of 2017, 40 years after our formation, we finally signed ownership of a Unit in Dunshaughlin Business Park…we have a Den!

Our aim for the future is to continue to grow and to provide a place where young people of all ages and abililties can benefit from the wealth of experiences which Scouting has to offer.

We would like to take this opportunity to Thank the Community of our Village for its continued support. We look forward to the next 40 years in Dunshaughlin!

Yours in Scouting,

7th Meath (Dunshaughlin) Scout Group