Dublin Tall Ships

Over one million visitors are expected to come and see the Tall Ships when they sail into Dublin this August.  The organisers are currently recruiting volunteers and there is funding for  twenty five trainees from the Dublin area.  If you interested in getting involved more information is available HERE.

I have already requested Dublin City Council work with the organisers and the Gardai to ensure that disruption to residents and businesses in the area is minimised and visitors enjoy their time in Dublin Central.  

The Tall Ships Festival will run from the 23^rd – 26^th August 2012. Mary.

Fianna Fail in Dublin city

As leader of the Fianna Fáil group on Dublin City Council, I am inviting you to participate in the first ever Youtube enabled Fianna Fáil members debate at the Ard Fheis on Saturday 3rd March 2012.

Since late last year, myself and my colleagues on Dublin City Council have been talking to members about what needs to be done to renew support for Fianna Fáil in Dublin City.

At our Youtube enabled debate at 13:30 in Hall 4 of the RDS, we will respond to members suggestions, answer members questions and debate members ideas that have been uploaded to Youtube.

It would be really great if you can take a few minutes to upload your comment, question or suggestion.  We are looking for real questions and/or issues of real debate.  What we hope to get out of this debate are ideas about actions the party must take, practices it must change and policies it must champion if it is to re-gain the confidence of the electorate in Dublin. 

Please feel free to participate. Visit www.youtube.com/dublincityfocus or email dublincityfocus@gmail.com

Mary.

Greyhound & Data Protection Commission

The Data Protection Commission has issued a report on the Transfer of Personal Data from Dublin City Council to Greyhound.

While the Data Protection Commission finds that DCC did not breach the Data Protection Acts they do go on to find that DCC did not fully meet the "fair processing" requirements of the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 and DCC "did not have sufficient regard to the DPC's guidance note on "transfer of ownership of Business".

The Data Protection Commission criticises DCC and Greyhound for not giving customers sufficient advance notice of the changeover.

As part of the deal Greyhound will assume responsibility for the collection of bad debts of approximately €10million. The Data Protection Commission has stipulated that Greyhound and DCC must undertake a number of measures prior to Greyhound commencing this part of the deal. To read the full report please click HERE.

It really isn't good enough that Dublin City Council paid consultants over a quarter of a million euro to advise them on this deal and their advice (a copy of which I am still waiting for) did not ensure that the deal complied with the statutory data protection guidelines.

I will let you know when there are further updates.

Mary

For all recent blogs on Dublin City Waste Management issues, click HERE.

North Inner City Community Policing Forum

The next meeting of the North Inner City Policing Forum will be held on Wednesday 7th of March at 7pm in Store Street Garda Station.  This meeting is open to any member of the community to attend so if you have any issues you would like to raise with the Gardai, Dublin City Council or your elected representatives please come along.  Alternatively please feel free to drop me an email and I will come back to you on the matter. Mary

Navan Road Community Policing Forum

The next meeting for the Navan Road/Pelletstown Policing Forum is scheduled for 28th February 2012 at 7.00pm in the River Centre, Rathborne, Ashtown, Dublin 15.

The forum is an opportunity for residents and business operators in the area to meet and to discuss any issues relating to the area with the Gardai, Dublin City Council Officials and elected representatives for the area. If you cannot attend but wish to raise an issue, please drop me an email. Thanks, Mary.

Dublin City Waste

Here is the text of my statement requesting direct Ministerial action to resolve Dublin City waste collection fiasco:

Fianna Fáil Group Leader on Dublin City Council, Councillor Mary Fitzpatrick has called on the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan to immediately intervene in the dispute over waste collection in Dublin City.

Councillor Fitzpatrick said: “It is now clear that only direct intervention from Minister Hogan can bring about a resolution to this fiasco and provide answers to the abysmal handling of this by the City Manager. The Minister has to conduct an inquiry into how the contract was awarded to Greyhound Recycling. There is no transparency around this deal which has effectively created a private monopoly in the capital and gifted a private company, incorporated in a foreign jurisdiction, €14 million in revenue from day one. The City Manager has refused to provide me with the details of the contract, yet he has paid the discredited accountants of the former Anglo Irish Bank, Ernst and Young, a quarter of a million euro to advise him on this deal. The manner in which this issue has been driven forward without the approval of the elected representatives on Dublin City Council has been extraordinary. The Manager has disposed of the asset that is the waste collection service and it hasn’t been accounted for in the City Council’s most recent financial statement. There was no public tender process and the Manager’s explanation is that he simply disposed of an asset.

I have discussed this issue in detail with my Party Leader Micheál Martin and our Environment Spokesperson Niall Collins. At a time when Minister Hogan is asking householders to pay a household tax to fund local government he should be prepared to intervene here and investigate the circumstances surrounding privatisation of the waste collection service in the city. The difficulties around collection must be addressed and I welcome today’s collection but there are very significant questions that must be answered and it is only Minister Hogan who can secure.”

Click HERE for all my recent blogs on this issue, Mary.

Water Meters in Dublin

On Monday night, at the February meeting of Dublin City Council, my motion “The elected members of Dublin City Council call on the Government to confirm that there will be a free basic allowance and full roll-out of domestic water meters before water charges, in any form, are introduced” was passed and adopted by Dublin City Council, you can hear the debate by clicking HERE. 

You can also the Herald's coverage by clicking HERE. Mary

Inner City Policing Forum

The date of the next North West Inner City Policing Forum is the 22nd February 2012 and will be held in the Jameson Distillery at 7.OOPM. The NWIC forum covers the area west of O’Connell Street and North of the Liffey as far as the North Circular Road. The forum is attended by local Gardai, Dublin City Council officials, members of the community and elected representatives. Please feel free to attend the meeting and if you have any issues you would like addressed at the meeting please drop me an email before February 14th. Thanks, Mary.

Missed Bin Collections

Last week there was a problem with the collection of some brown bins in the city. Greyhound have advised that all brown bins missed last week on small truck Routes will be collected this week. They will be collected on the same day as the green bin collection i.e. if the brown bin was missed last Weds it will be collected this Wednesday and so forth. The collection will revert to normal next week as per calendar. 

Mary.

Greyhound Bins

At a special meeting of the City Council I put forward eight emergency motions dealing with the Greyhound deal and following is what was agreed:

1. Homeowners in the city must be provided with at least the same level of waste collection service that they had previously received from DCC or real choice of more than two alternative service providers. The City Manager is to re-instate domestic bin collections in the city.

2. Greyhound is to offer the same payment terms e.g. quarterly in arrears to all customers in the city.

3. DCC Waste Collection employees were poorly treated and DCC failed them as an employer by failing to give them an opportunity to compete for the waste collection service and/or providing them with alternative meaningful employment.

4. The City Manager is to provide a report detailing what services Ernst and Young provided with regards to domestic waste collection to DCC. The report should outline the criteria by which E&Y were awarded the contract, what other service providers bid for the contract, the total value of the contract and identify what expertise E&Y provided for €250k that DCC itself did not have after 100 years providing waste collection services?

5. The decision by Dublin City Manager and adjoining County Managers to withdraw from waste collection could lead to the establishment of a private monopoly and is to be referred to the Competition Authority to review the decisions taken and the resulting competitive situation in the four Dublin markets.

6. We raised concerns over the transfer of customer information from DCC to Greyhound without their prior knowledge or consent. The Data Protection Commissioner is to review the exchange of data between DCC and Greyhound, to advise if there was any breach of data protection guidelines and to take action if there were.

7. The City Manager is to make available to the members the service level agreement and the commercial terms agreed with Greyhound. The Manager should advise what payment Greyhound made to DCC for the business and/or how much DCC is paying Greyhound to fulfil the service.

8. We raised concerns about recent reports that Greyhound has incorporated itself in a foreign jurisdiction, and if correct, express further concern about DCC having engaged a non resident company that may not be required to pay tax or file accounts in this jurisdiction. We ask the City Manager for an immediate response to this report and if correct an explanation of when he first became aware of this change of jurisdiction.

Mary.

Click HERE to see Mary present at Dublin City Council on this issue.

Click HERE to hear Mary on Morning Ireland.

Click HERE for the any updates.

Iona Pay & Display

Dublin City Council has confirmed to me that they will ballot the residents of Iona Road for the introduction of Pay & Display parking. The ballot will be conducted over the coming months. For information on how Pay & Display works, the cost of permit etc. you can find more information HERE. If you have any queries, please drop me an email. Mary.

Labour & The City Manager

Labour in chahoots with City Manager to privatise bin collections.

Dublin City Manager has held secret meetings with Labour City Councillors regarding the privatisation of domestic bin collections in the city. Despite a request from Fianna Fail and Independent Councillors for a special meeting on this issue we were neither invited nor informed to meet the City Manager. How many other secret meetings have been held?

Furthermore Labour’s Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Andrew Montague has prevaricated in responding to my request on behalf of Fianna Fail and Independent Councillors, for a special meeting of the City Council to address the real concerns. He has rejected our email request and is insisting that at least five councillors make a written request and has said he will only consider the request after the signatures have been verified!

It beggars belief in this day and age that the Lord Mayor of Dublin, a Councillor that promotes himself as modern technology champion would be peddling such a line. What is more bewildering is that the Lord Mayor does not himself see a need for a Special Meeting of the City Council to address the serious issues that have arisen and must be addressed. In any event, we have delivered the letter as demanded.

Clearly the Labour Lord Mayor and Labour group on the Council have been working very closely with the Manager to privatise the bin service in Dublin but they need to admit that they have made a right mess of the city. We are on day four of the switch over and still homeowners haven't received letters from DCC and/or Greyhound and bins remain uncollected.

We will continue to pursue this issue and I have today contacted the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee to consult with him on the issue. I will let you know when there is a further update. 

Mary

Bins - Special Meeting Request

In light of the serious issues that have arisen with DCC's withdrawal from the collection of domestic waste in Dublin City, last night with the support of the FF councillors and a number of Independent Councillors I formally requested the Lord Mayor to immediately convene a meeting with the CEO of Greyhound and the City Manager to address the following issues:

• Late notification to customers of DCC's withdrawal from the collection of Domestic Waste
• Up-front payment of €112 is unreasonable 
• Fixing of charges for only six months is unreasonable
• Payment arrangements 
• Clarification on continuation of the brown bin service 
• Tags collection
• Alternative operators in Dublin City (i.e. the Manager to identify what competitive operators/choice is available to homeowners in each area of Dublin city) 
• Details of the contract should be disclosed to the elected representatives 

I will update this site when the Lord Mayor replies.

Mary
Click HERE for later updates on this matter.

Domestic Bin Collections

From Monday January 16th 2012, after more 140 years, Dublin City Council will no longer be responsible for collecting domestic rubbish in the city.

Over the past few months I strenuously opposed DCC’s withdrawal from the domestic bin collection service but unfortunately the majority Labour/Fine Geal Councillors supported the City Manager’s plan.

I again raised my concerns with the City Manager on Monday this week and in response the Manager arranged to make information available today on the DCC website HERE.

I hope this information provides you with the information you need about your bin collections but if it doesn’t and you have any other questions please drop me an email and I will be happy to try to help.

Mary.
Click HERE for later updates on this matter.

Bin Collections

As and from next Monday 16th Jan 2012 Dublin City Council will no longer collect household rubbish in Dublin City. Dublin City Council, under the control of Labour and Fine Geal, awarded the contract for domestic bin collections to Greyhound.

I objected at City Council to Dublin City Council withdrawing from the collection of household rubbish in the City.

Under the new contract householders should receive a letter from Greyhound this week advising them of the new arrangements for their bin collections. Greyhound will be responsible for collection of green, grey and brown bins as well as tagged bags.

Greyhound will require householders to pay in advance for their bin collections. Greyhound has agreed to honour the waivers that were already in place with Dublin City Council so Households that were approved for a bin waiver in 2011 will continue to get the a waiver on the standing charge. There is no obligation on Greyhound to accept or grant any new waiver applications. Greyhound will require all customers to clear any arrears owing to Dublin City Council and will require customers to pay in advance for their collection service.

The City Manager has agreed to provide a detailed explanation of the new arrangements for bin collection over the next few days, when he does I will post them to my website.

Mary.
Click HERE for later updates on this matter.

Capuchin Day Center

It was great that Pat Kenny used his radio programme on December 14, 2011 to highlight the great work done by Br Kevin, Teresa and all the staff and volunteers at the Capuchin Day Center on Bow Street. The work they do is truly inspirational. They feed approximately 600 people a day and give out over 1000 food parcels every Wednesday. Many of the people coming to the day center are homeless but increasingly there are also people attending who just can’t make ends meet. It has been a real honour for me to help Br Kevin and I was truly flattered that he wanted me to participate in the discussion on the show and raise the issues I have been raising for him at City Council. You can listen to the show on RTE by clicking HERE but most importantly you can make a donation to Br Kevin by clicking on www.homeless.ie. 

Mary.

Grangegorman

It was hugely disappointing that the Government failed to include any capital spending for the Grangegorman Development in their 2012-2016 Capital programme. The capital required is only €80million and it would have led to the redevelopment of the 70 acre campus, 1000s of jobs and a worldclass Education, Health and Community Facilities. As it is the DIT currently spend €3m a year on rent for buildings around the city, this money should be saved and can be saved if the Government commit to free-up even a small amount of capital to facilitate DITs transfer to the campus. It is estimated that even as small an amount as €20million can get the project back on track. At the December meeting of the Central Area Committee I put forward the following motion that "The elected members of the Central Area Committee call on the Government to re-confirm its commitment to the Grangegorman Development and to make available funds to ensure Phase 1 of the campus is completed by 2016."

Mary.

Christmas Waste

Dublin City Council has announced details of its plans for domestic waste collection over the Christmas and New Year period before the service in privatised in January, if you want to check when your bin will be collected please click HERE.

Local Policing Forum

The next meeting of the Mountjoy and Phibsborough Policing Forum will be held on Tuesday 10th January 2012 in An Oige Hostel, Mountjoy Street, Dublin 1 @ 7.30pm.


Mary.

Joint Policing Committee

 

Every three months I chair a meeting of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee in City Hall. I started the December 2011 meeting with a minutes silence for Conor Hickey and thanked the Gardai from Mountjoy for the support they gave his family and the community at the time of his death.

The Gardai gave updates on policing activity in the North Inner City and Cabra Glasnevin areas. In the year to date the Gardai have seized drugs of a value in excess of €7m, there have been more than 6000 searches, more than 8000 arrests and more than 700 inspections of licensed premises. The trend for burglaries is up as is common in a recession but the number of assaults causing harm is down. More than 150 individuals are being case managed by the Gardai. 

The issue of serious anti-social behaviour on St Lawrences Place East was raised and will be further addressed at the next meeting of the JPC. The issue of repeat offenders was discussed and the Gardai explained how they are trying to get the courts service to re-organise the court system so that the courts deal with offenders and their crimes as opposed to the current system whereby the courts are organised around the crime. I proposed and it was agreed that the JPC would make a submission to the Minister for Justice and the Courts Service supporting the Gardas proposal. It is also accepted that Dublin City Council has a role to play in dealing with offenders who are also City Council tenants. Dublin City Council has been working with the Gardai on a list of identified tenants. Dublin City Council is to provide a report in relation to social housing provision in the North Wall area in advance of the next JPC.

I raised the issue of the closure of Whitehall Garda station and the members supported my proposal to write to the Minister for Justice and ask him to reconsider the matter and reverse his decision. It was further proposed and agreed that we would invite the Minister for Justice to the attend a meeting of the JPC so he could see first hand how the JPC functions.

The closure of Fitzgibbon Street Garda Station was also raised and the Government was criticised for not providing funding for its refurbishment. Inspector Sean Ward has successfully made a case to re-open a small public office in Fitzgibbon Street and to maintain Garda patrols in the area but funding for the substantial refurbishment of the station is not forthcoming from the Government. It was agreed to raise this issue with the Minister for Justice.

There was a report from DCC on the issues raised by residents and being addressed at the seven local policing forums that operate in Dublin Central.

There was a report from the Cabra Community Local Policing Forum and from the Community representatives to the JPC.

There was no report from the North Inner City Drugs Taskforce or from the North Inner City Policing Forum.

There will be a meeting of the members for the JPC to agree the 2012 Policing Plan for Dublin Central in advance of the next JPC. Mary.