The Department of Education has sought planning permission for a Community Centre and a three storey, 24 classroom, national school for Tyrrelstown Educate Together. The local Mulhuddart National School was expected to be included in the application but a separate application has been submitted to provide for seven new prefabs at its temporary site on the Powerstown road.

Councillor Kieran Dennison (FG) said “the news was dissapointing but not surprising. Officials had already indicated that only one school would be built when I questioned them at a council meeting last July. However, the staff and students attending the Mulhuddart National School will be very disappointed by the news. The expectation was that the two schools would be built together on the one site and that they would share the community facility.

“Residents will want to know why the Department is not proceeding with both schools and on what basis has one school been chosen over the other. This could potentially become a divisive issue in the community and that’s the last thing Tyrrelstown needs right now. With seven new prefabs there are obviously no plans to proceed with building the Mulhuddart School for many years to come.

“In March 2007, just before the last general election, Minister Brian Lenihan promised that the schools would be built and operating by that September. Since then, one promise after another has been broken by Fianna Fail and the Greens.

“After years of wrangling the sites were finally acquired by the council in February. They were transferred to the Department of Education in record time so that building work could get underway to have both schools opened this September. It is difficult to understand why the planning application has taken so long and why it is for only one of the schools.
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Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar has welcomed an agreement between the HSE and the Daughters of Charity Service (DOCS) which will allow for the reinstatement of most of the respite and other services for the intellectually disabled that were closed last month.  This follows a vigorous campaign against the cuts led by the families and parents of the service users which was supported by opposition parties.  The campaign involved public meetings, lobbying the HSE and public representatives and large protest outside the Dail.  The HSE imposed cuts of more than 9% (€4 million) on DOCS in Dublin which was much greater than cuts imposed in other areas. 

Even after implementing the pay cuts and meeting the 2% efficiency savings target, there was still a shortfall causing frontline services to be reduced.  Under pressure from the campaign, the HSE agreed last week to reduce the cutbacks by €1 million thus allowing Ard Cuan and the Glenmaroon Day Centre to re-open and respite services to be reinstated albeit with a slight reduction in service levels.  No commitment has been given on funding for 2011.

‘I am very glad the HSE has relented and that most of the services that had been closed are being reinstated.  I would particularly like to congratulate the parents and families of the service users who organised and executive a brilliant campaign to have the worst of the cuts reversed.  I was happy that Fine Gael was able to assist them by attending the public meetings, raising the issue in the Dail during Taoiseach’s Questiontime and by visiting St Vincent’s Centre on the Navan Road with Enda Kenny.’

The Daughters of Charity is the largest service provider for people with disabilities in Dublin.  More than 1,100 people are cared for by the organisation including residential patients and people who live with their families and in sheltered accommodation.

Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar has called on the Minister for Finance to ‘come clean’ on METRO WEST and to say whether or not it will be built and when.  Metro West will run through the western suburbs of Dublin linking Blanchardtown, Liffey Valley and Tallaght.  It will interchange with Luas, Metro North and the existing suburban service in Dublin 15.  The project was included in the government’s Transport21 plan which was published before the last general election.  It was also included in the National Development Plan (NDP).  However, METRO WEST was left out of the €39 billion Capital Programme for 2010-2016 announced by the Taoiseach, Minister Lenihan and Minister Gormley last week.  The extension of the train line from Dunboyne to Navan and the Western Rail Corridor were also left out. 

By contrast, funding for METRO NORTH and DART UNDERGROUND was ring-fenced in the plan.  It seemed clear that METRO WEST was gone until Transport Minister Noel Dempsey went on radio to say that the Navan line would go ahead even though there was no budget for it and that planning and design work for Metro West would continue so that it could be built at some point in the future.

‘I think the Minister Lenihan really needs to come clean on Metro West.  Will it be built or won’t?  And if so, when and how much will it cost?’, asked Deputy Varadkar

‘I have always been a little skeptical about Metro West.  I think it would very expensive to build especially the new bridge across the Liffey Valley from Porterstown to Liffey Valley and I am not convinced that it would cover its own running costs.  It seems to me that projects like electrifying our existing train line and linking-up all the train and luas stations in town makes more sense.  However, nobody turns down a major piece of infrastructure in their own constituency.  But I would hate to see millions of euros and thousands of man hours wasted on a project that is never going to be built.  It’s time for Brian to come clean’, he added

Numbers signing on up 460 in June; Up 4,938 Since June 2007

According to the latest statistics from the CSO, there are now 8,565 people signing on the Live Register at the Blanchardstown Social Welfare Office. This represents an increase of 460 people over the past month. However, the starkness of this figure is all the worse when it is compared to the June 2007. Since then the numbers signing on has increased by 4,938 from 3,627– a staggering increase of 136%.

Local Dublin 15 TD and Fine Gael Spokesperson on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Leo Varadkar TD said “These figures demonstrate how this national catastrophe is hitting home at the local level. Unfortunately, there is no action from the government to tackle the unemployment crisis.”

“The government can talk their way around all the statistics in the world and pretend things are on the mend, but the simple fact is that until the dole queues stop increasing, and being to fall dramatically, this recovery talk from is just nonsense. Each and every one of the 8,565 signing on in Dublin 15 would be able to tell you this.”

“The government would do well to remember the 1980s, when a recession ended in 1983, but the public finances were not stabilised until 1987, and there was no jobs growth until 1990. The Government is leading us into another lost decade of stagnation due to its failure to implement a jobs plan.

“Unlike the Government or any other political party, Fine Gael has a costed and comprehensive jobs plan. We have demanded no further cuts in capital spending or investment, and no further tax increases, which would only destroy a recovery.”

Fine Gael spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and representative for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar has called on the IDA to do more to avert the planned 310 redundancies at IBM’s Mulhuddart facility and has called on the company (IBM) to improve on the redundancy offer being made to staff.

 
“IBM continues to employ over 3,000 people in Ireland but last month’s news that 310 jobs would be lost to Singapore and other locations came a great disappointment to us all.
 

“IBM staff benefit neither from the representation of a trade union or an employee association and are unable to speak with one voice to press their case. I have met with and spoken to a number of affected staff members in recent weeks. They are all very unhappy at the five weeks per year of service redundancy package being offer by IBM and I support them.
 

“This offer pales in comparison to other seen recently as it is substantially less that is being offered by loss-making Aer Lingus and the administrators of Quinn Insurance. IBM is a highly profitable company which recorded profits of over $20 billion in 2009. It has received millions in grants from the Irish Government and benefits from our 12.5% corporation profit tax rate. IBM also describes itself as one of Ireland ‘leading corporate citizens’. It can and should make a better offer to its staff.
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Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar, has called on Fingal County Council review its pilot ‘Growing Places’ policy under which a large number of open spaces and green areas are being allowed to grow wild. The policy is supposed to encourage greater biodiversity by allowing weed and wild flower to grow which in turn attract birds and insects like butterflies and ladybirds.

‘I have received a large number of complaints from residents in recent days about the council’s decision not cut the grass on open space and woodland areas in Dublin 15. In some places like Delwood, residents are particularly aggrieved as they can no long use their local park to play to football or other ball games. In other areas, residents are concerned about vermin and find the uncut areas to be unsightly.’

‘I can see the case for trying this out around woodlands or on a relatively small part of a large open space but I do not think that whole parks should be allow to go wild in this way. I am calling on the council to review its policy and scale back the areas affected’

List of areas affected in Dublin 15:

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Fine Gael TD for Dublin West raised local concerns about HSE proposals to locate a methadone clinic in the Coolmine Industrial Estate next door to a work shop for people with intellectual disabilities. Their parents are currently engaged in a campaign to have the clinic placed in an alternative location. The debate occurred on Wednesday night with Batt O’Keefe representing the government.

Deputy Varadkar said:

‘No one is opposed to the provision of a methadone clinic or the idea that users of methadone should facilitated in their own communities. It appears that the HSE is seeking to pit the vulnerable against the vulnerable in chosing the location in question for a methadone clinic. It should not be located next door to a workshop for people with intellectual disabilities. I ask the Minister to convey (to the HSE) the united wish of the community and all parties who have been represented at the public meetings that there be a proper consultation with their potential neighbours and that alternative locations be considered in the Dublin 15 area’

See debate transcript below:
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Following the intervention of Leo Varadkar TD, Tesco have given a commitment that there will be no opening of any headshop in the Roselawn Shopping Centre, Dublin 15. Over the past few days, rumours have begun to circulate that the old Noel Reid menswear store is to be converted into a headshop.

According to Leo Varadkar “I received a number of representations from concerned citizens regarding a planning permission notice from a Headland Ltd seeking to change the use of the old Noel Reid menswear store to a premise allowed to sell “legalised relaxation and recreational products etc”. These were from a range of individuals – parents worried about the products these headshops sell, as well as residents of Roselawn and shop keepers concerned about the clientele these shops attract.”

Concluding, Leo said “Tesco own the Roselawn Shopping Centre, and their consent is required for any new shop to into the centre. On foot of this planning permission application, I contacted Tesco and they have assured me in no uncertain terms that they will not consent to any headshop opening in Roselawn. I welcome this commitment from Tesco. It is in their own best interests, as well as the wider Dublin 15 community.”

Fine Gael TD for Dublin West, Leo Varadkar, has given a guarded welcome to plans from Dublin Bus to re-organise the bus routes around Dublin 15. The changes are planned for implementation in July and form part of Dublin Bus’ cost-cutting and rationalisation plan.

Among the changes are:

• The 37 bus will now terminate at Wilton Terrace providing a direct bus service from Clonsilla, Carpenterstown and Castleknock through town to St Stephens Green and the Luas;
• The 70 bus will serve Dunboyne and Clonee and will travel straight down the N3 without going into Blanchardstown Centre and the Village;
• The various 39 bus routes will be merged in to two routes one will be more direct and other more frequent but more circuitous;
• The badly served area around Latchford and Manorfields will now be on the 39 bus route; and
• The 39 and 70 will cross town terminating at Wilton Terrace

All 38 buses will serve Castlecurragh (they won’t go through Mulhuddart Village anymore) and will run as far as UCD

There will be greater use of existing bus lanes and less routes and roads that have no bus lanes
Bus services will run seven days a week

‘The new bus route map and timetable will be welcomed by many commuters in Dublin 15 especially those who work in the southern part of the city around St Stephen’s Green, Merrion Square and the Grand Canal. . Residents of Clonee will welcome a more direct bus service to town but won’t be happy that they are being cut off from the Blanchardstown Centre. Some people are definitely going to have to work farther to catch the bus that they want.’

‘It seems that Dublin 15 is avoiding most of the cuts to services in other parts of the city but it is hard to see how a better service can be provided with ninety fewer buses in operation across the city. I believe the time has come to allow private operators to take over some of the routes currently controlled by Dublin Bus. This would allow Dublin Bus to provide a better and more frequent service on the routes they retain. It’s a shame to see so many buses, public and private, not been used. I would still like to see the 37 terminate at the Blanchardstown Centre in order provide a direct bus service to the Centre for residents of Castleknock and Carpenterstown’

Fine Gael TD for Dublin West has called on Fingal County Council to spend the €2.7 million that it has in the bank to provide a public park for Tyrrelstown.  The money was paid by the developer of the estate to the council in 2000 in lieu of providing land for a public park for the seven thousand residents in the area.  The money has been warehoused in the council’s bank account for over ten years earning interest for the council but doing nothing for the residents of Tyrrelstown.  If the council does not spend the money by 2015, it will revert to the developer.

‘This money has been resting in the council’s bank account for over decade.  It has been earning interest for the Manager but has done nothing for the residents of Tyrrelstown.  The money was included in the purchase price of their homes.  The council is running out of time to spend this money.  It would be a tragedy if it was forfeited to the developer due to inertia among the council’s top brass.  Now that land prices have fallen dramatically and land-owners need cash, the council must use this money to acquire land for a public park and to equip it for use.’