The votes for the local electoral area of Balbriggan for Fingal Council were as follows:

Ken Farrell (Lab) 3385

David O’ Connor (Ind) 2291

Tom O’ Leary (FG) 1833

Joe Corr (GP) 1531 (not elected)

Ciaran Byrne (Lab) 1420

May Mc Keon (Ind) 1238

Sean Brown (Ind) 1075

Larry Dunne (FG) 1010

Dermot Murray (FF) 985

Terry Kelleher (SP) 882

Stephen O’ Connell (FF) 848

Fergus Byrne (SF)

Grainne Kilmurry (Lab) 523

Terry Kelleher said: “It has been a great campaign.  Election to the Town Council will provide a platform from which to campaign on the issues that concern the community.  I would like to thank everyone who voted for me and to all those involved in the campaign”.

Here are my answers:

1 – Why should people vote for you?

Balbriggan has been let down over the last ten years with over development of housing and inadequate development of basic services. This is a reflection of poor administration but also poor political representation. It’s time for change. Balbriggan needs a fighter for the area. The Socialist Party is a campaigning party with a record of standing beside the community on issues like water charges, bin charges, bad planning decisions and estate management fees.

2 – What change will you bring to Balbriggan?

 Balbriggan is need of many changes. I will work with residents and community organisations for justice on these issues like estate management fees, planning and who are campaigning for facilities especially for youth, will find in me a strong voice to represent them on the council.

 3 – What main issue are you facing at the doorsteps?

Overall the main issue has been bad planning for north Dublin. People see houses being bulit but no schools, no transport or youth facilities. There has been no planning for the community, only for the developer. People in Rush are extremely angry that there is a proposal of 1,000 houses in the latest plan, when currently they have to content with unresolved issues such as bad roads and sewerage problems. In Skerries, campaigners are angry that the public swimming pool which was to serve the whole of north Dublin, feel betrayed by Fingal County Council who have decided to hand the money over to a private development 3kms outside Balbriggan.

Residents in Skerries have worked long and hard to have a swimming pool developed in the area. 

As no doubt you are aware, the County Manager has formally requested that €2.5 million of public monies, provisionally awarded for the installation of a public pool at the Ballast Pit in Skerries, be transferred to the Balbriggan Rugby Football Club/Kingfisher private development.  We understand that the Minister will make a decision regarding this transfer during the coming days.

 
Minister Cullen
Department of Arts, Sport & Tourism
23 Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Email: ministersoffice@dast.gov.ie
Telephone: 01 631 3800

Letter to the Minister

Dear Minister, 

RE GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF SWIMMING POOL IN NORTH EAST FINGAL 

We have been informed that Fingal County Council Manager, David O’Connor has written to you to request that you make available 2.5 million euro of funding from the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme for the proposed swimming pool at Balbriggan Rugby Football Club in Balrothery. 

We are completely opposed to this request which will only provide a certain level of public access in spite of the public monies being sought for its construction.  

As you are aware, government funding of 3.8 million euro from this scheme was provisionally awarded to the swimming pool project in Skerries as far back as 2001 by Fingal County Council.   Trust was placed in the local authority to deliver, and eight years later the communities of north east Fingal are still without this facility. 

Following a public awareness campaign, culminating in a public meeting held on the 5^th March, urgent consideration was given by FCC, to a request and plans provided by the Skerries Community Association, to revert to the original stand alone pool project as opposed to the council’s preferred PPP option.  The SCA was working to a target date of April 10^th to publish an EOI (Expression of Interest).   

It is baffling to our community that, having waited so long for this facility, the lack of time is now the deciding factor, as we understand that FCC had to make their recommendation ahead of the forthcoming budget on April 7th.   

As a result, Skerries will not get the public pool it was awarded in open competition and in good faith, north east Fingal will continue to be without the facility of a public swimming pool and precious public monies will be inappropriately directed towards a largely private enterprise. 

It would appear that granting the FCC transfer request, would allow the transfer of 2.5 million of public monies to Balbriggan RFC/Kingfisher Ltd without any scrutiny or value for money criterion being applied.    

We urge you, Minister, to take a long term perspective and ask that you refrain from transferring these funds.  We believe that the honest and fair approach is to provide the residents of north east Fingal, with a full public swimming pool, built on public lands, beside public transport links, which will guarantee maximum public accessibility.   

We appreciate that financial imperatives at a governmental level may mean any such development project may not proceed at this time.  We are prepared to wait until the economy rebounds as we believe the merits of Skerries as the preferred location of the North East Fingal public pool in 2001 still prevail.  We understand that you will make your decision within 30 days. 

In the meantime, we will continue to highlight our beliefs and will be actively encouraging Fingal residents to share their views with you. 

Yours sincerely, 
 

THE PUBLIC POOL LOBBY GROUP

Campaign statement

The Public Pool Lobby Group have written to the Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, Martin Cullen TD, stating their opposition to a request by County Manager, David O’Connor, to transfer funds awarded for the provision of a public swimming pool at the Ballast Pit in Skerries,  to the Balbriggan RFC/Kingfisher Ltd private development based in Balrothery.    

Government funding of 3.8 million euro from the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme was provisionally awarded, by Fingal County Council to develop the facility in Skerries in 2001. 

However, Senan Turnbull, Director of Services for Community, Sport and Recreation at Fingal County Council ,informed the Skerries Community Association that the County Manager had written to the Minister asking him to transfer 2.5 million euro of this funding  to the private development at Balbriggan Rugby Football Club in Balrothery, to include a swimming pool to offering a certain amount of public hours.  

Following the public meeting held on March 5^th, the SCA had been urgently working with Fingal County Council on a new plan to revert to the original stand alone pool project.  (In 2005 a PPP – Public Private was initiated, but having failed was finally concluded days before the public meeting took place).  The SCA were working to a target date of April 10^th to publish an EOI (Expression of Interest) for a stand alone pool facility. 

However, it is believed that a decision had to be made by the County Manager to make a recommendation ahead of the Emergency Supplementary Budget on April 7^th and therefore recommended the Balbriggan RFC/Kingfisher Ltd. Project.   

“We trusted our local authority to deliver a public swimming pool at the Ballast Pit in Skerries and they have let us down.   We have waited so long for this public pool and now the County Manager has to recommend the only viable plan on the table, due to a lack of time.  It’s absurd and we are furious with Fingal County Council,” says Public Pool Lobby Group member, Jonathan Farrell. 

“We are asking the Minister to take a long term approach to the provision of a swimming pool for North East Fingal”, says Group member, Edel Joyce. 

“We believe that the logical approach is to provide the residents of north east Fingal, with a full public swimming pool, built on public lands, beside public transport links, which will guarantee maximum public accessibility – the Ballast Pit was chosen for these reasons in an open and fair competition.” 

“Even if it takes more time, it is much better to wait for the economy to turn around and deliver this facility at the most appropriate and logical location, rather than give precious public monies to a private facility, with no public transport links that is located 3km away from a railway line”. 

The Public Pool Lobby Group is urging residents of Fingal to make their views known to Minister Cullen, as it is understood that he will make his decision within 30 days of receipt of the formal transfer request, made to him by the County Manager, on March 27^th. 

“If you feel strongly about this issue, it is vital that you let the Minister know your views asap, by writing to Minister Cullen at the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, 23 Kildare Street, Dublin 2 or by emailing him at: ministersoffice@dast.gov.ie or by calling 01 631 3800“, says Jonathan Farrell.  

For more information or to get involved please call Edel Joyce at 086 823 9255

The truth is the Irish economy was losing its competitiveness well before this crisis, due not in the main workers wages but government policy (causing inflation), high energy costs, high rents and property prices, and a fall back in investment in new technology. Instead of dealing with these factors the powers that be put the blame on wages levels and the public sector. A race to the bottom was initiated, using lowered paid foreign workers to break trade Unions and pay agreements, (Irish Ferries; challenge to hotel wage agreements; the GAMA scandal). 

Now this crisis is cynically being used to accelerate the race to the bottom and drive down wages and conditions of all workers. The main aim of this strategy is to maintain high profits throughout the recession. While many companies are feeling the pinch very badly it is clear many are using the recession to implement their own savage cuts on workers, e.g. TESCO, profits of billions yet demanding cuts in their new cork depot. 

The top 1% in Irish society has amassed a wealth of €82b throughout the celtic tiger, many aided by tax breaks, government handouts and even corruption. It is this wealth that the government should go after to deal with the financial deficit. However because the wont touch their friends, they go into our pockets.  

If a wealth tax was introduced billions could be raised and there would be no need for the pension levy, cut in our services and jobs could be protected. 

As a long standing activist in the CPSU, I have argued for action by the trade unions to get rid of the pension levy and defend jobs and services. If all the public sector unions took united action together they could have defeated the government. However the leadership of these unions have proved themselves out of touch and far too interested in saving partnership instead of representing their members. It is time to reclaim trade unions away from the fat cat leaders that control them now and use our unions to defend our jobs, wages and services. 

Activists from North Dublin gathered this evening to launch the campaign to elect Terry Kelleher to Balbriggan Town Council and Fingal County Council.

Swords Councillor Clare Daly appealed: ‘Anyone in Balbriggan who has given me support in the past, should give their vote to Terry Kelleher in the forthcoming local elections this year’.

The Socialist Party is standing a team of candidates in every ward of Fingal County Council including Councillor Ruth Coppinger in Mulhuddart and Councillor Clare Daly in Swords.  Also standing are former Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins in Castleknock, Denis Keane in Mulhuddart, Brian Greene in Howth, John Mc Camley Swords as well as Terry Kelleher in Balbriggan.

Former TD Joe Higgins, whose series  Ché has just finished on TG4, will also be standing as the Socialist Party candidate for Dublin in the European elections. 

At the meeting tonight to launch the campaign Terry Kelleher said: ‘Balbriggan has been badly neglected over the last number of years.  While unemployment has more than doubled in a year, people have to go to Coolock to sign on.  This is shabby treatment of people in difficult circumstances.  It is a reflection of poor political representation’. 

He also said: ‘Fingal County Council should demand that the government lift the freeze on council spending.  It should be noted that Fingal Council has €55m in the bank which is unspent money collected on the payment of development levies over the last number of years’.

About the levies, he said: ‘Balbriggan residents have contributed €60million to the exchequer of Fingal over the last five years.  It is now time that some of that money should be reinvested in Balbriggan’. 

‘Balbriggan needs a leisure centre, parks development, amenities as well as roads development.  Fingal Council should convene a meeting of agencies of the state to ensure local delivery of social and community welfare allowances’.

‘Unfortunately, Fingal Council and the councillors have failed residents.  It is now clear that residents will have to fight to have their views heard.  On our canvasses over the last months, we have heard how people feel about the issues.  It is necessary for the community to organise so that ‘the powers that be’ hear how they feel’.

‘The council has €55m in the bank.  They should put people back to work and spend it on the necessary infrastructure and services that the community need’.

Government has now put a freeze on councils spending this money.  Fingal Council has presently €55million in the bank, which is frozen. 
 
We say that this money should be spent-
to develop roads in Balbriggan
to develop parks
to develop community facilties
 
While unemployment has more than doubled in Balbriggan from 1500 in January 2008 to 3500 in March 2009, the Social Welfare Office has closed.  People have to travel to Coolock to sign on.  Meanwhile others have travel all the way in to Gardiner Street, Dublin 1 to claim other allowances provided by Community Welfare Officers. 
 
We say the council, knowing that there are a lot of vacant commercial units, should act to liaise with the HSE and Department of Social Welfare to ensure a new centre is set up in Balbriggan to provide these services. 
 
Balbriggan needs a councillor that fights for the area to ensure the facilties and services the community needs.

We invite you to our meeting this Monday to find out more!

The winning factor for Councillor Joe Corr was that there is the promise of a bus for Rush funded through an additional levy.   However there is no commitment by Dublin Bus or any other company to deliver a bus service in this area.  A bus service would have to be tendered for by ether Bus Eireann or Dublin Bus.  Given that both these companies are cutting back on their services, one wonders how they plan to cover additional services in Rush.

If this plan happens, it will be yet another disaster in north Dublin for it would be more houses without basis infrastructure.  No new community centres, no schools, no creche facilities, no parks development.  Just a whole lot more of the same and now with the local Green Party on board.

Further to a well attended meeting hosted by Socialist Party reps Clare Daly and Terry Kelleher, Rush Development Committee has organised a campaign to for the community.  The Rush Development Committee has a number of proposals and a template submission which can be sent to Fingal Council and to local councillors as part of the consultation process.

Check out http://sites.google.com/site/rushlap/Home/rush-local-area-plan/list-of-councillors-e–mail-addresses

The plan under consideration proposes  developing 76 acres of land to include the following:

- develop land primarily for housing

-reserve a site for a school

- develop a number of playlots

- reserve 11 acres of open space

The plan as proposed permits over 1,000 houses, with high density along Park Road, medium density at the back of Woodland Park, across from Kenure and off the Palmer Road and lower density along the Skerries Road. 

The area would be altered beyond recognition.  A new relief road is also proposed from the Park Road junction, with a new link road across to the Skerries Road.  However these roads will not be in place in advance, which means a major negative impact on existing and any new residents. 

Terry Kelleher says: ‘There are more than 130,000 vacant houses in Ireland.  Building has collapsed because of over development.  There are more than 7,000 vacant units in Fingal.  The council will argue this Local Area Plan is being prepared strategically when demand picks up.  However, once again, the same mistakes are being proposed.  That is, build houses before infrastructure.   We have been been through the school of boom and overdevelopment, but the council do not seemed to have learned the lessons’.

As it is the population of Rush is at 8,300 according to the 2006 census, up from 6,500 in 2002, and is similar in population to Kilkenny and Athlone but without their infrastructure.  There has already been a significant increase in the population of the town.

The council must work to address existing needs before considering this plan.  There is an economic crisis out there where housebuilding has collapsed and the council are continuing as before.  What is necessary to inject growth in the local economy and to provide jobs to unemployed construction workers is an Public Infrastructure Building programme to address existing infrastructure deficits.

This would mean the town could benefit from funds such as Young Peoples Facilities Fund, Dormant Accounts and other supports administered by POBAL. We believe a A Task Force should be established to co-ordinate the strategic development of the town. We have a legacy of overdevelopment and a failure by all the major statutory bodies.

Fingal Council failed to place any conditions on private developers in Balbriggan as the town trebled in population. Developers have received hundreds of millions in profits on the purchase of housing in Balbriggan and walked away.

The council also failed to liaise with government departments to plan service delivery, hence for example, the closure of the Social Welfare office, just as unemployment is rocketing upwards. A Balbriggan Task Force is needed to co-ordinate activity between local and national government to address service delivery failures. Currently there is no sense that Balbriggan feaures on the radar of public services. Balbriggan’s burgeoning youth population need a youth service but what has happened to the one in existence. Cryptic Youth Service closed because of interagency politics. An indication of the inconsistency of public service delivery is that Blanchardstown has 47 full-time youth workers, while Balbriggan has none and Blanchardstown Youth Service is under-resourced.

While there has been overdevelopment because of the failure of the council planning department, our schools need investment to cater for growing demand. The town centre also needs a strategic plan. Developers are hoarding vacant commercial space in the vain hope that small businesses will pay unrealistic rents. The result is the only business that have opened in the town have been fast food retail outlets and other outlets closing.

The economy is in crisis. Unemployment nationally is increasing. There is a crisis in confidence at business and consumer level. The council must intervene with government departments at a local level to respond to increasing need. There are resources they can use. Fingal Council collected €60m in development levies from the 4,000 new households in Balbriggan over the last number of years. We need to know what has happened to that money.

Acknowledgement of the failure to residents in Balbriggan is crucial. Leadership should come from the top and that should start with the county manager and the tops in the various council departments. Other agencies such as the HSE and Department of Education have also failed. We are not looking for politicians and bureaucrats to hang their heads in shame. Acknowledgment can come in the form of an action plan.

Now is not the time for inertia. Now is the time for action. Areas like Ballyfermot, Finglas and parts of the inner city have benefited from council led public service delivery. We welcome the response of the council to the issue of vacant boarded up houses in estates like Pinewood and Cardy Rock. This sort of action makes an impact on the quality of life for people.

Now we want to see an action plan that makes the case for Balbriggan to be designated as an area in need. The private sector will not deliver. It is time for the public sector to stand up and be counted.

A Balbriggan area task force should address the following- 

 Development of adequate roads infrastructure

- New build Balbriggan Educate Together school

- Assign Council staff specifically to Balbriggan so as to be attuned to local need

 - Increase the capacity of Balbriggan Youth Service

- Fast track development of Bremore Castle Park as a public amenity

 - Develop a multi-purpose public service centre in the town

Anecdotally, I know there are a lot of Dublin Bus drivers who have moved to live out in Balbriggan.  While the number of drivers living here has increased, the services are to be cut.  Commuters are now being charged for train station parking.    Balbriggan and residents in north county Dublin also rely on Bus Eireann and the government have still failed to introduce integrated ticketing between the three companies of CIE.

Meanwhile public transport fares have increased by more than 10% across the board.  While petrol is dropping in price and public transport is becoming more infrequent and more expensive, more people will revert back to the car.  The Green Party silence on this issue speaks volumes. 

If the Green Party will not say anything on an issue such as this – a core policy area- then they should go the way of the Progressive Democrats!