Aidan Davitt
Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland

2.5           Cllr.Davitt:              To askWestmeath County Council to place new signage and look at widening the bridgeat Ballagh, Mullingar.

Reply:

New signs have been ordered for this location and will be erected as soonas they arrive. There is no funding to widen this bridge.

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2.6           Cllr.Davitt:              To askWestmeath County Council to replace the missing green bollard at Cullionbeg,Mullingar.

Reply:            

New bollards are ordered and one willbe erected at this location as soon as possible.

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2.7           Cllr.Davitt:              To askWestmeath County Council to place two green bollards at the turn in toDerravara.

Reply:            

Thishousing estate is in the town area and is lit by public lights.  There isno need for green and white bollards at this location.

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2.8           Cllr.Davitt:              To askWestmeath County Council to replace two broken public lights in The Crescent,Lakepoint Park.

Reply:

Thismatter has been referred to the Council’s Public Lighting Engineer forinvestigation and attention.

5.3            Cllr.Davitt:               To call on Westmeath CountyCouncil to scrape the roadway and place gates at the rear entrance on the toprow of houses in Dalton Park, in order to stop dumping.

Reply:            

Westmeath CountyCouncil has carried out a clean up of service laneways in Dalton Park.  In recent years, withthe agreement of the Dalton Park Residents Association and affected occupants, theCouncil has installed lockable steel gates to secure a number of laneways where anti socialbehaviour and dumping was taking place. Discussions are ongoing with the ResidentsAssociation to extend the installation of gates to additional laneways.  The Council has carried out acleanup at laneway to the rear of No’s 234 to 269, Dalton Park in the last week.  Other clean ups will be organised during theyear, subject to the availability of funding.

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5.4            Cllr.Davitt:               That Westmeath County Council would outline theincrease in charges on stall traders in Fairgreen Car Park over the last twoyears.

Reply:

The Casual TradingBye-Laws were adopted at the November 2013 County Council Meeting and came intoeffect from 1st January, 2014. 

An applicant for acasual trading licence shall pay a fee in respect of each trading bay in a designated area asfollows:-

Ø      Charge of €5 perbay per day; plus

Administration charges of €250 (annual licence);

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Agriculture, Éamon Ó Cuív TD, has criticised the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, for refusing to give replies to simple questions raised in the Dáil.

Deputy Ó Cuív said that last week the Minister refused to give an estimate of the expenditure in the existing Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015, even though no new members can join the scheme and the Department is aware of the likely number of members to leave the scheme each year.

“This Government promised openness and transparency but is acting in a totally contradictory manner, refusing to give the most basic information to Teachtaí Dála. I now call on the Minister to give the information requested. It would appear that the Minister is afraid in relation to the AEOS and REPS schemes and the amount of money that will be paid out under the REPS and AEOS combined over the next three years will decline rapidly.

“The Minister has put farmers through a huge bureaucratic exercise to no avail and is now trying to hide these facts from the people. I would urge him to furnish the required information so farmers can have an idea of the added challenges they face,” concluded Deputy Ó Cuív.

Donegal Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill has challenged the Minister for Health James Reilly on his disgraceful cuts to home help hours.

Speaking on a Fianna Fáil Private Members' Motion in the Seanad this week, Senator Ó Domhnaill said; “Older people and those with disabilities are appalled at the HSE plans to cut spending on home help services by €8 million between now and Christmas. This amounts to a reduction of up to 450,000 home help hours and when added to the cuts implemented last January, it will result in just under 1 million hours withdrawn in 2012 alone.

“These savage cuts are not only deeply unfair, they make absolutely no financial sense. By slashing supports for patients who are currently treated at home, Minister Reilly is essentially pushing more people onto the already overburdened hospital system. Thousands of people who have been facilitated in living independently and with dignity in their own home will no longer be able to do so without home help supports. They will have nowhere else to go but hospitals and nursing homes.

“Enough is enough. From the moment Fine Gael and Labour took up office, they have targeted people with disabilities for a raft of unfair and short-sighted cuts. These people simply cannot endure any more cuts. In the Taoiseach’s own area of north Mayo, Coroner Dr. Eleanor Fitzgerald said that reductions in home help services lead to an increase in deaths from chronic illness. The Government cannot continue to ignore the facts.”

Spokesperson on Health Billy Kelleher has said there will be widespread disappointment at the breakdown in talks with Hospital Consultants on new work arrangements following the Minister’s declaration of a ‘breakthrough’ in negotiations less than four weeks ago.

Deputy Kelleher said: “It is clear now that Minister Reilly was misleading the public when he hailed his major breakthrough on September 17th, in an effort to divert attention from his disastrous handling of the Primary Care Centre announcement.

“The Minister has a responsibility beyond simply seeking to generate positive headlines for himself. We were promised a new dawn in the Programme for Government when it came to dealing with Hospital Consultants and again in September Minister Reilly hailed a significant breakthrough in talks only to see them turn to dust in a matter of weeks.

“Once again, Minister Reilly is failing to deliver and frontline services will continue to be affected by his inaction and lack of delivery. Minister’s Reilly’s false dawn with the Consultants last month only adds to the growing sense that he is not the man to lead positive change in the health service and it is time for the Taoiseach to honour his commitment to sack underperforming Ministers and remove James Reilly as Minister for Health.”

Further details can be found at http://www.fiannafail.ie/news/entry/9029/

One Member One Vote Membership Form

You should by now have received your OMOV Membership Form in the post. The mailing will guide you through the process of confirming your membership of Fianna Fáíl, and includes a membership form for confirmation of your membership details, as well as a selection of quick and easy payment options, and a prepaid envelope for returning the form to Fianna Fáil Headquarters.

If you have any questions regarding the mailing, or if you have not received your membership form, please contact Donal Kitt at Fianna Fáil Headquarters on 01 676 1551.

Wolfe Tone Commemoration

The annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration will be held on Sunday 21st October at 12 noon in Bodenstown Cemetery, Co. Kildare. All members are welcome to attend.

Constituency Communications Officers & PROs Training Day

A one day training course for all CDC and CC Communications Officers and PROs is taking place on Saturday, 20th October next, from 11am to 4pm in The Red Cow Morans Hotel, Naas Road, Dublin 22.

The day’s content will include:

- Understanding local media

- What makes a good ‘news’ story

- Writing press releases

- Media relations

- Developing good relationships with local media

- Photocalls

- Social media

The course will be presented by Pat McParland, Fianna Fail Director of Communications and Kathryn Byrne, Limelight Communications and Vice President, Fianna Fail. To book your place, please email [email protected] or call 085 233 6033. This course is free of charge.

Cllr.Davitt: To ask the Council if it will address the road surface of the Curraghbrack Road, particularly as special development levies have been collected for this road.

Reply:

Mullingar Area Office will include this road L17214 in its Routine Maintenance Works

Programme.

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Cllr.Davitt: To ask Westmeath County Council if it will examine the steel cover for stopcock on the pedestrian crossing at Dominick Street, as it appears to be set below the road level and is causing a trip hazard for pedestrians.

Reply:

Mullingar Area Office will arrange to raise and replace this hydrant cover.

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Cllr.Davitt: To ask Westmeath County Council if it intends to ask persons making application for grants whether or not they have paid the household charge.

Reply:

Westmeath County Council has no plans at this time to ask persons making an

application for grants whether or not they have paid the household charge.

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Cllr.Davitt: To ask Mullingar Town Council if it will consider giving an Address of Recognition to Damian Shaw on his momentous winning of a Bronze Medal at the London Paralympics.

Reply:

If Members are in agreement, a letter of congratulations will issue to Damian Shaw.

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Cllr.Davitt: To call on Mullingar Town Council to write to the Department of Environment to consider changing the existing postal voting regime as due to forced immigration, all Irish nationals working abroad should be entitled to a vote in the next Election.

Reply:

A letter can issue to the Department of Environment in this regard, if the Members are in agreement.

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Cllr.Davitt: That Westmeath County Council would consider a pilot project whereby it would acquire a “ready to go” site from NAMA and look to tender for a public private partnership to have ten houses built and guarantee a rent back over twenty years.

Reply:

Westmeath County Council would consider such a project subject to normal procurement rules. Any resultant viable project would be subject to the approval of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, under its long term leasing initiative. It is the County Council’s intention to advertise for proposals under this initiative in the New Year.

Recent Question/Motions at Mullingar Town Council 26/6/2012

4.12 Cllr.Davitt: To call on Westmeath County Council to place a screen or flicker on Mullingar Town Council’s building to publicise events happening in the area on any given week.

Reply:

The Market House is a protected structure and as such would require planning permission to place any structure on the building. It is unlikely that this would be forthcoming and there is no funding for such a proposal.

(After Much discussion and support from all parties this idea is to be fleshed out by the technical and engineering staff in Mullingar to

progress it.)

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4.13 Cllr.Davitt: To call on Westmeath County Council to reject the proposed new water charge that is imminent.

Reply:

The charging for water will be part of a national policy. This Notice of Motion can be referred to the County Council’s Corporate Policy Group.

2.21 Cllr.Davitt: To ask Westmeath County Council to investigate dumping in the ditches at Marlinstown Boreen, Mullingar.

Reply:

This matter will be referred to the Council’s Environment Section and any rubbish will

be removed for investigation.

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2.22 Cllr.Davitt: To ask Westmeath County Council to write to all disabled parking permit holders in Westmeath to inform them that since new legislation in 2011 they are now bound to adhere to traffic bye laws within the town of Mullingar.

Reply:

Westmeath County Council does not have a list of disabled parking permit holders as these are issued by the Irish Wheelchair Association, however, this request can be referred to them.

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2.23 Cllr.Davitt: To ask Westmeath County Council to sweep the main thoroughfare in Pettitswood Manor as has happened in previous years.

Reply:

This estate has been included on the Council’s street sweeping rota.

Cllr.A.Davitt: To call on Westmeath County Council to outline what steps are to be taken to return normal water levels to the canal.

Reply:

The Royal Canal is operated by Waterways Ireland and the Council has no jurisdiction over its operation or maintenance.

When the Royal Canal was operating from the early 1800s to the late 1900s, Lough Owel was the main source of water for navigation. The Royal Canal Company and its successors own the water rights from Lough Owel. In 1985, after the Canal had fallen into disuse, Westmeath County Council reached agreement with CIE (the then owner of the Canal) to abstract 5 million gallons per day from Lough Owel for a drinking water supply and gave an undertaking to provide all works necessary for the supply of 5 million gallons per day to the Royal Canal if required in the future for navigation purposes. The water supply from Lough Owel is now largely used to supply Westmeath County Council’s domestic requirements.

The Council is meeting its current obligations to supply water to the Royal Canal and has not placed any restrictions on Waterways Ireland regarding abstraction from Lough Owel, other than the normal requirement to limit the demand as much as possible in the interest of maintaining lake water levels. Through its active water conservation activities, the Council for its part is also limiting abstraction for drinking water supply.

For reasons outside the control of the Council, Waterways Ireland closed the summit level to navigation recently but is still abstracting water from Lough Owel as before.

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Cllr.A.Davitt: To call on Westmeath County Council to identify a site for a skate park and playground on the east side of Mullingar town in the general Pettitswood/Lakepoint area

Reply:

Mullingar Area Office will bring this matter to the attention of the Community & Enterprise Section. A source of funding will be required if this project is to proceed.