Labour
Labour.ie Dublin northeast |
Fingal Candidates Cian O'Callaghan Howth/Malahide
Cllr Gerry McGuire Swords
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HOWTH/MALAHIDE Pages
| ERROR: Can’t connect to www.cianocallaghan.com:80 (Bad hostname ‘www.cianocallaghan.com’)Why is the grass so long?This summer the Fingal County Council Management have decided to stop cutting grass in a number of areas including open spaces within housing estates. Their plan is to remove a crop of hay at these locations at the end of the summer to reduce the fertility of the soil and then to commence with bulb, wild flower seed and tree planting to turn these areas into meadowlands rather than open grass spaces. The Council management are claiming that this practice of not cutting the grass is in the interests of “biodiversity”. In other areas the Council has severely reduced the frequency at which it is cutting grass, leaving greens scorched when they are finally cut and rendering most open spaces unusable for the rest of the time. This decision to stop cutting grass has being implemented without the consent of local councillors and local communities. Residents who put great effort into keeping their houses and gardens well maintained are upset that the Council is failing to cut the grass. While the Council has to be more efficient, it still has a budget of a 252 million euro which is more than ample in my view to support core services like grass cutting. If the Council is able to approve foreign trips to Brazil, then it should be capable of cutting the grass. Developers are required by Fingal County Council to provide open space in new housing estates so that residents can use the space for recreation, sport and walking. By failing to cut the grass the Council is rendering these areas unusable. The assertion from the Council management that they are cutting grass in areas where they know children use it for football is simply not true. I know of several areas where there are goal posts in place and yet no grass is cut. I have submitted the following motion to the June County Council meeting: “That the manager will immediately restore the practice of regular grass cutting in housing estates and communities and will desist from implementing the draft and unapproved growing places policy without the active consent of local residents and elected members” Proposed trip to Bermuda is outrageous
At yesterday’s Council meeting item 30 J on the agenda was a conference in Bermuda. With my full support my colleague Cllr. Patrick Nulty requested a roll call vote to remove this conference from the list of approved events that councillors can claim expenses and travel costs for. Incredibly a number of councillors defended this “conference” in Bermuda and a decision on approval has being deferred until our June meeting. At a time when the Council is removing the bin tag waiver from pensioners and people who have become unemployed and when local businesses are struggling to pay their Council rates I find this staggering. The invitation sent officially to councillors reads as follows: “Looking for a few good reasons to attend the 20th ACI World & Latin America-Caribbean Annual General Assembly Conference and Exhibition this November? Here’s the best one: It’s in Bermuda…. Here are several more:
The fact that some Fingal Councillors support spending public money on a poorly disguised holiday for themselves is outrageous. It requires a highly creative imagination to visualise this event as a serious conference requiring representation by Fingal Councillors. I’d suggest that any councillor with such a creative imagination might retire from the Council and take up creative writing of children’s fairytales instead. Labour is committed to abolishing Fianna Fail’s Water TaxThe Labour Party unanimously adopted a motion on Saturday at conference in Galway commiting the party to abolish water tax when Labour is in government. Here is the text of a letter that I signed together with a large number of my labour colleagues from around the country today: As Labour Party Councilors, we wish to state our opposition to Minister John Gormley’s plan to introduce water charges. Labour reaffirmed our opposition to water charges at our Party Conference in Galway last weekend. We believe in the provision of water as a fundamental human right and that the cost of providing an EU standard of water to every home in the state should be funded through a reformed and progressive tax system. Labour also confirmed at our Conference that we are committed to abolishing these regressive water charges if in Government. In the meantime, we as Councilors will continue to lead the opposition to water charges and privatisation in our communities and in Council Chambers across the country in the months ahead. Yours sincerely, Cllr. Gearóid Buckley, (Bandon Town Council) Graffiti to be tackled on estate walls
Answering a question on the issue from Cllr Peter Coyle (Lab), the council explained: 'With the exception of open space areas litter is not picked within ...
Council spends over 90 K on conferences and travelThe evening herald today runs with a story on councillors in Fingal claiming over 90,000 euro in expenses for conferences and foreign travel:
For the record I pay my own way to any conferences that I attend and I have never claimed a cent of expenses for attending any conference.
However these articles are problematic. They spread apathy about politics. They give the impression that all public reps are the same and are just in it for themselves. They give the impression that all conferences attended by councillors are attended as “junkets”. And more importantly these articles distract from the real crimes that are taking place in
Most councillors have a genuine commitment to their local community and to public service. Many who attend conferences do so to further their understanding of issues so they can perform their duties as councillors. However if the wrong impression is being conveyed councillors must take responsibility for this. We live in a time when funding for vital community projects is not been provided. And yet some of our elected reps who are meant to lead are jet setting off around the world.
Yesterday Fingal councillors voted 13-8 to approve a trip for councillors to
At the meeting I suggested that there is plenty councillors can do closer to home if they wish to brush up on policy issues. There are excellent resources available in  Council spends over 90 K on conferences and travelThe evening herald today runs with a story on councillors in Fingal claiming over 90,000 euro in expenses for conferences and foreign travel:
For the record I pay my own way to any conferences that I attend and I have never claimed a cent of expenses for attending any conference.
However these articles are problematic. They spread apathy about politics. They give the impression that all public reps are the same and are just in it for themselves. They give the impression that all conferences attended by councillors are attended as “junkets”. And more importantly these articles distract from the real crimes that are taking place in Ireland where billions of euro of public money is been given away for bailouts.
Most councillors have a genuine commitment to their local community and to public service. Many who attend conferences do so to further their understanding of issues so they can perform their duties as councillors. However if the wrong impression is being conveyed councillors must take responsibility for this. We live in a time when funding for vital community projects is not been provided. And yet some of our elected reps who are meant to lead are jet setting off around the world.
Yesterday Fingal councillors voted 13-8 to approve a trip for councillors to Brazil. This shows just how out of touch many of our elected representatives are. I voted against the trip and spoke against it. Fine Gael and Independents voted en bloc for this completely unnecessary trip.
At the meeting I suggested that there is plenty councillors can do closer to home if they wish to brush up on policy issues. There are excellent resources available in Ireland – on the internet, in publications and from conferences that are organised here. I attended an excellent conference on planning held by An Taisce several months ago and learned a great deal. There was no hotel, no flights, no complimentary dinners or travel expenses. It cost the tax payer zero cent – and as it turned out I was the only councillor in the county to attend! Clongriffin Dart Station due to open (finally)
The news in today's Irish Times that the new Dart Station at Clongriffin is due to open on April 19th is very welcome: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/commercialproperty/2010/0407/1224267823114.html
It is normal practice in Western European countries for schools, parks, train stations and other key pieces of community infrastructure to be delivered before residential units are built. This means that these facilities are available to new residents and families from the day that they move in. There is no good reason why the Irish government cannot change Irish planning law to ensure the same good practice in Ireland is compulsory. Rumours that have been circulating there would be no access to the new Dart Station from the East or Baldoyle side of the station are unfounded and this has been confirmed to me in writing by the Chief Executive of Irish Rail Mr. Richard Fearn.  Council income and expenses for 2009
I will be publishing details on an annual basis of the income and expenses that I receive from Fingal County Council on this website.
My expenses and income from Fingal County Council for 2009 is as follows: Representational Payment: 9,735.81 Conferences and seminars: Nil Annual Allowance: 3,591.36 This income and expenses put me joint lowest on the league table of councillors elected in June 2009 to Fingal County Council. Full details of the expenses and payments made to all councillors can be found at: http://www.fingalcoco.ie/YourLocalCouncil/LocalDemocracy/CouncillorsExpenditureElections09/ In contrast my meeting attendance record and number of items submitted to council meetings from June to December 2009 put me on joint top of the league: Meeting attendance record: 100% Number of items of business submitted to local area meetings in 2009: 101  An Irish Town Planner’s Blog: Aldi to build branch near Martello tower
Local Portmarnock Labour Councillor Peter Coyle said he believed the decision was made in error based on a “colouring mistake” on the county development plan. Prior to 2005, the area was zoned as residential. However, this was seen as ...
An Irish Town Planner's Blog - http://buckplanning.blogspot.com/
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