Myself and Cllr. Eithne Loftus are delighted to report that the application for the development in Castleknock Village has been withdrawn. We regard this outcome as a demonstration of “People Power”. However, this is only the first hurdle. At the meetings we held in August and January on this development, a number of people expressed interest in forming an Action Group and gave us their contact details. Eithne recently facilitated an inaugural meeting of the group. Castleknock Residents Action Group is now up and running and will welcome any contributions from interested parties.

…[more]

As you’ll see from the press release below, I launched a policy document on Fine Gael’s consumer policy today. The document in full is available here in pdf format, and I put the executive summary of it beneath the fold.

The main points of the document are

1. Reversing measures in Budget 2009 which are driving up prices, including the VAT increase to 21.5% and transport fares;
2. Freezing Government charges and local authority rates and levies in order to reduce business costs;
3. An immediate review of electricity and gas prices;
4. Abolishing surcharges for payments by credit card, debit card and direct debit, and abolishing expiry dates for shopping vouchers;
5. Utility regulators will have to publish a detailed case for every proposed price increase, and hold public hearings. Consumers will have the right to petition regulators to review prices;
6. A new arbitration system for disputes between consumers and businesses, and increase the threshold in the Small Claims Court to €12,000;
7. Extended breaks in services such as electricity, multi-channel TV or telephone will have to be refunded;
8. Merge the National Consumer Agency and Competition Authority into an Irish Fair Trading Authority (IFTA);
9. IFTA will have real powers, including monitoring tax and excise, and ensuring that currency fluctuations are passed on to consumers;
10. Government and public bodies shall give a reasoned response to IFTA recommendations. …[more]

New proposals to tackle the high cost of living and strengthen consumer rights have been published by Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD. They include an immediate review of electricity and gas prices, a ban on surcharges for all payments by ‘plastic’, and a freeze on Government charges.

Speaking at the launch of Finding Real Value today, Deputy Varadkar said: ‘In the midst of the deepest recession in a generation, consumers are left wondering why the cost of living is still so high. Rip-off Ireland is still a fact of life. Prices in Ireland are still much higher than the UK and the rest of Europe. Electricity and gas prices bear no relation to international rates. The high cost of goods and services are hurting consumers and families in their pockets’. …[more]

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has welcomed IBEC’s endorsement of Fine Gael’s policy to call for a national pay freeze, as announced by the Party’s Leader Enda Kenny last November.

“Last November, Enda Kenny called for the suspension of the national pay deal through 2009. Deputy Kenny subsequently said the pay freeze should cover 2010 as well. Support from other quarters was not forthcoming. Four months later, the construction industry has withdrawn from Partnership and IBEC has now called for the pay deal to be suspended. …[more]

Over 11,000 residents of Dublin 15 face a cut in their weekly social welfare benefits next week as the cuts announced in the budget take effect. All recipients of social welfare payments under the age of 66 face a cut of more than €8 per week in their benefits from the beginning of the year. These include 11,581 recipients of the jobseekers benefit, jobseekers allowance, the one-parent family payment, carer’s allowance, illness benefit as well as recipients of the widow’s pension, maternity benefit and blind persons pension. In addition to these, the parents of the 24,000 children in Dublin 15 will have their Child Benefit cut by €16 per month. In total, €7.4 million will taken out of the pockets of Dublin 15 residents and the local economy in 2010.

‘I accept that €4 billion had to be cut from government spending in the budget. The government’s attempt to raise more money through higher income taxes, VAT and excise in the previous budget turned out to be counter-productive. However there were choices as to how the €4 billion in savings could be achieved. The government made the wrong choices. They could have implemented the Bord Snip recommendations on the rationalisation of state agencies, quangos and cuts to administrative spending. This would have saved €750 million. If they had done this, the cuts to child benefit, carers allowance, the blind persons pension and the illness and disability benefits could have been avoided’, said Deputy Varadkar

‘Over the past ten years, Fianna Fail used the temporary windfall in taxes from the construction industry and banking to fund increases in pay, pensions and benefits. Last year, these industries collapsed and the tax take collapsed with them. Since then, the government has already borrowed €30 billion to replace these lost taxes and to keep the money flowing. The pay and welfare increases that occurred during the Bertie years were never sustainable. Indeed, Fine Gael spent most of the last five years warning the government and public that it would all end in tears. Tax increases and spending cuts will be necessary over the next few years but there are still choices to be made. The government should target wasteful spending and administrative costs before touching benefits or increasing taxes.’

Question No: 262 Ref No: 47461/09

To the Minister for Social and Family Affairs

To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of persons in Dublin 15 in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit, jobseeker’s allowance, one parent family payment, transition pension, non-contributory state pension, contributory state pension, carer’s allowance and disability benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

- Leo Varadkar.

* For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 16th December, 2009.

R E P L Y

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Hanafin T.D.):

The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the attached tabular statement.

The 750 job losses at First Active are likely to be followed by thousands more in the financial sector, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has warned.

Deputy Varadkar urged the Fianna Fáil Government to take urgent action to stem the surge in unemployment.

“This is terrible news for the 750 staff who will lose their jobs at First Active and I would like to extend my sympathy to them and their families. These are skilled financial staff who could reasonably have expected to stay with the banking group until their retirement. They join the 300,000 plus people now on the dole. Tragically, these redundancies are likely to be followed by thousands more in the financial sector. I would urge Ulster Bank to minimise the number of branch closures and do its utmost to limit redundancies. …[more]

Adeola Ogunsina, who is one of the two Fine Gael candidates in the Mulhuddart Ward (along with Kieran Dennison) has launched his own website.

I am currently distributing a new updated version of Know Where You Stand through the constituency (it can be accessed here in pdf format). Know Where You Stand is a leaflet which details your entitlements in respect of:

• Taxation & tax reliefs
• Social Welfare
• Health Service
• Housing

I have been publishing this leaflet across the constituency since I was a councillor, and find it is very useful in helping constituents get a grasp on their entitlements from the various bodies they might be dealing with, be it the HSE, Fingal County Council, the Department of Social Welfare and so on.

Superquinn’s announcement that it is to cut 12% of its workforce is firm proof of an economy that continues to freefall with a Government at the helm that has no strategy in place and shows no leadership according to Fine Gael Enterprise, Trade & Employment Spokesman, Leo Varadkar TD.

“My thoughts, and all those of the Fine Gael Party, are with the 400 Superquinn workers who received the devastating news today that they will lose their jobs. It is likely that this is going to be the first in a series of major job losses in the retail sector. 2008 was dominated by losses in the construction sector and 2009 is likely to see a collapse in retail, hotels, catering and banking sectors unless urgent Government action is taken.” …[more]

Planning Department

Site Plan of Diswellstown Development

Fingal County Council
Ms Louise Murphy
Planning Department
Fingal County Council
Grove Road, Blanchardstown
Dublin 15
Monday, 19th January

Re: Diswellstown (F08A/1425)

Dear Ms Murphy

We are writing to make an observation on the above referenced planning application. It is noted that site is zoned for residential development and that the density proposed is broadly consistent with the current government guidelines. Nonetheless, we have a number of concerns and request that the development be refused if they cannot be addressed satisfactorily.

Local Area Plan

While an Area Action Plan (AAP) exists for this site, no Local Area Plan (LAP) has been drawn up. The AAP was agreed before LAPs were placed on a statutory footing. Given the size of the site, the many changes that have taken place in planning law and planning guidelines, we contend that the preparation of an LAP by local councillors would be appropriate prior to any planning permission being granted. This would also allow the community to have a say in the type of development that might be permitted.

Number of units

Documents included in the files suggest that the council has agreed to purchase 75 units for Part V housing. This is based on a total of 525 units being provided in the development. It is not clear why this application is for more than 525 units. …[more]