Phoenix Park Concerts

Dublin City Council is considering an APPLICATION for a Special Event Licence to hold concerts in the Phoenix Park this summer. The application is currently available for members of the public to inspect and make an observation or objection. The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 12th April 2013, for more information click HERE.

Following the mayhem of last years Swedish House Mafia Concerts, as Chair of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee, I brought together the OPW, the Event Organisers, Dublin City Council and the Gardai to review the unfortunate and unacceptable events. Improved protocols and procedures have been agreed by DCC, the OPW, the Event Organisers/MCD and the Gardai. As part of these new procedures public consultation meetings are being held to consult with local residents.

There will be an Information/Consultation meetings for the North Circular Road/Navan Road/Blackhorse Road/Castleknock areas on Wednesday the 3rd of April 2013.

The meeting will be held in the Phoenix Park Ashtown Visitor Centre at 7.30pm. Residents Associations, individual local residents and businesses from the Navan Road area are invited to attend to meet with the OPW and representatives of the Promoter. An Garda Síochána and Dublin City Council Planning Department are also invited to the meeting.

A copy of the Licence Application is available to view at the Public Planning counter in DCC Civic Office or at the Visitor Centre Reception in the Phoenix Park.  Mary

Docklands SDZ

I welcome the publication today of a draft Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) Plan for Dublin’s Docklands which has the potential to stimulate economic and social regeneration of Dublin’s Docklands.

The SDZ must deliver regeneration for the entire community and correct planning mistakes of the past. The exclusion of parts of the North Wall, where there is the greatest need for economic and social regeneration, is a major flaw in the draft plan and the Minister should correct this.

The 60 hectare Docklands area on the banks of the Liffey is strategically important for the City, the Region and the State. The SDZ centres on the area between Spencer Dock and Point Village on the north side and the Grand Canal Dock Area on the south side. Most critically the draft SDZ excludes, one of the most economically deprived parts of the North Wall, an area bordered by Amiens Street and Guild Street.

Planning has a huge role to play in the development of the Docklands. The draft plan, prepared by Dublin City Council, indicates the type and extent of the development to be permitted in the docklands and deals with issues like urban design, transport, service provision, public amenities and community services.

It will be a missed opportunity to address past planning mistakes if the final SDZ excludes parts of the North Wall area where there is the greatest need for economic and social regeneration. The part of the North Wall that has been excluded records some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the state. Despite the success of the IFSC there has been very little social housing or investment in social infrastructure on the North side of the docks. The draft SDZ focuses exclusively on a part of the north docks that records very high socio economic scores and as a consequence will not correct the imbalance in social investment that is needed to develop a successful urban community.

The plan is supposed to be a blueprint for moving the Docklands forward however by excluding parts of Sheriff Street and the North Wall it is a blueprint for a two-tier docklands. Excluding parts of the North Wall from the SDZ will increase and compound the social and economic divide that already exists in the Docklands. It will potentially make a ghetto of part of the community, fail to bridge the social divide or address the real social, educational and community needs in the area.

A six week public consultation begins today Monday 25th March and will continue until Friday 10th May, inclusive. It is really important for the city that we get this plan right and I encourage members of the public to review the plan and to make a submission calling on the Minister to extend the SDZ boundary to include all of the North Wall area.

I will continue to work with and support the local community to get the best possible plan for the Docklands area.  Mary

Cabra Youth Service at Risk

As a founding member I am pround to have been involved from day one with Cabra for Youth and we recently celebrated our fourth year working with and supporting young people in Cabra.

 A question mark now hangs over the future of the highly successful Youth Service because the Minister for Youth and Children has not yet confirmed funding for 2013.  The Ministers indecision has put the whole youth service at risk. Independent auditors have advised the Board of Management that they cannot sign-off on, the otherwise up to date, accounts without having confirmation of 2013 funding.

Cabra For Youth works with young people to deal with challenges in their lives, to develop interests and to confront and deal with issues that matter to them.  Over the past few years hundreds of young people have engaged with the service. As well as the voluntary community board of management there are seven full-time staff who with the help of volunteers from the local community provide programmes for young people aged 10 to 21yrs.

Cabra For Youth runs weekly drop-ins where young people can spend time with friends in a safe place as well as structured programmes dealing with issues that affect young people. Cabra for Youth helps young people cope with challenges and gives them a sense of ownership in their own area. At times we all have issues that we might struggle to cope with and the Youth Service is there to work with young people to deal with those issues as well as supporting and developing other interests that enable them to be active, engaged and responsible members of their own community.

It is bad practice for any organisation not to have its budget in place for the coming year before the year commences. It is inappropriate that the Minister would put a voluntary organisation that adheres to good governance in a position where it is being forced to operate without confirmation of its funding. It is disappointing that the highly paid Minister would treat a voluntary not-for-profit community organisation with such disrespect. The young people, the staff and the voluntary Board of Management are very concerned and want to know if the youth service has a future? The Minister owes it to the Community to stop dithering an to let them know what funding she is going to provide for 2013.

I have raised the issue with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin TD and he is going to question the Minister on the issue in the Dail.  You can support the continuation of the youth service by emailing the Minister and asking her to provide funding for Cabra For Youth for 2013 here.  Thanks, Mary

Rainfall Warning

Dublin City Council has confirmed that Up to 40 millimetres of rain has fallen since yesterday. City Council Drainage staff have been monitoring the drainage network including rivers and streams since yesterday and will continue to do so over the weekend. I have been talking with local residents who were badly affected by the previous flooding in Cabra and the Navan road and so far the improved drainage work that I worked to get the City Council to do to protect their homes is coping well with the heavy rainfall.  If you do want to report flooding please phone 222 2222 or drop me an email.  Stay indoors and stay dry.  Mary

Dunard Avenue

At the March meeting of the Central Area Committee I asked the Manager when will the grass verge on Dunard Avenue be re-instated. Dublin City Council Area Manager replied that the "Damage is as a result of illegal vehicular parking or movement on the grass verge. The damaged area of grass verge will be reinstated over the coming weeks." Mary

Royal Canal

Phoenix Park Concerts

IMPORTANT CHANGE OF DATE

There has been a change of date for Information/Consultation meeting from Thursday 21st March to Wednesday the 3rd of April 2013. 

The meeting will be held in the Phoenix Park Ashtown Visitor Centre at 7.30pm. Residents Associations, individual local residents and businesses from the Navan Road area are invited to attend to meet with the OPW and representatives of the Promoter. An Garda Síochána and Dublin City Council Planning Department are also invited to the meeting.

A copy of the Licence Application is available to view at the Public Planning counter in DCC Civic Office or at the Visitor Centre Reception in the Phoenix Park.   Mary

Phoenix Park Concerts

At yesterday's meeting of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee Chief Superintendent Coburn of the K district confirmed that the new security and public order protocols are in place and will be adhered to if any concernts are held in the Phoenix Park this summer.  

The Office of Public Works has confirmed that MCD have applied to hold three outdoor concerts in the Phoenix Park on 9th or 11th, 13th and 14th July 2013. The capacity for each of these proposed events is approximately 40k.  I understand the proposed, but not yet confirmed,  acts are The Killers, Mumford & Sons and Justine Timberlake. 

Given the concerns raised following one of last year's concerts, the OPW Events Committee will hold two information/consultation meetings on Thursday 21st March 2013 at Ashtown Visitor Centre, Phoenix Park at 7.30pm and a further meeting on Monday 25th March 2013 also at Ashtown Visitor Centre, Phoenix Park at 7.30 pm.


Residents Associations, individual local residents and businesses are invited to attend to meet with the OPW and representatives of the Promoter. An Garda Síochána and Dublin City Council Planning Department are also invited to the meeting.

A copy of the Licence Application is available to view at the Public Planning counter in DCC Civic Office or at the Visitor Centre Reception in the Phoenix Park. I will put up a link to the application as soon as it is on-line. 

Any person may make a written representation/observation to DCC regarding the Licence application within a 5 week period from 8th March onwards.  Mary

Navan Road & Pelletstown Forum

The next Navan Road and Pelletstown Local Community Policing Forum  will take place on Thursday 14th of March 2013 at 7pm in the Community Room, River Centre, Rathborne Village, Pelletsown.  This forum is an opportunity for people living and working the area to meet with the Gardai, Dublin City Council and elected representatives to discuss and address issues of concern. As Chair of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee I encourage people from the area to come along and engage in the these forum meetings which feed into the priorities for the Dublin Central Joint Policing Commitee. Mary

Phoenix Park Concerts

On Friday evening I was advised by Dublin City Council that event promoters have applied for Special Event Licences to hold three concerts this summer in the Phoenix Park. I am sure nobody forgets the mayhem that occurred last year when Swedish House Mafia played and public order was greatly disrupted by anti-social behaviour and crime.  As Chair of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee I took the lead in bringing together the event organisers, the Gardai, Dublin City Council Special Events licencing Officer and the Office of Public Works (OPW) at the JPC to address the public's serious concerns. Following on from this a number of recommendations were made and changes agreed to protocol and procedure for such events.  Once these latest applications have been validated and accepted by Dublin City Council I will post an update on how the general public can make submissions.  In the current economic climate special events that attract and entertain visitors who in turn support employment are extremely important to the local economy.  However the Phoenix Park is more than 350 years old, it is a heritage site that attracts millions of visitors and is highly valuable and valued by the local community.  It should not be abused for private profit.  The local surrounding community should be able to enjoy their homes in peace.  As part of the new process the Event Organisers and Gardai will have to submit a robust security and public order plan.  The Event Organisers will have to meet with the local residents.  The Phoenix Park is not controlled by Dublin City Council it is controlled and managed by the OPW.  The Minister must insure that any money paid by the Event Organisers for the use of the park is put back into the park and the surrounding area.  I will be asking the event promoters when possible to hire suitable applicants from the local area.  Mary

Deaf Village Ireland

 

I was delighted last week to join the local and national Deaf and hearing community for the official opening of Deaf Village Ireland in St Josephs on the Navan and Ratoath Road.  This is a fantastic development not just for the deaf community but also for the local hearing community.  Well done to everybody involved in making it a reality.  Mary

Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee

The next meeting of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee will take place on Monday 11th March at 9.30am in Dublin City Hall.  This is the first Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee to be WEBCAST live. Mary

Mountjoy Community Forum

The next Mountjoy Local Community Policing Forum  will take place on Tuesday 12th March at 7.30pm in the An Oige Hostel, 61 Mountjoy Street, Dublin 1.  This forum is an opportunity for people living and working in the area to meet with the Gardai, Dublin City Council and elected representatives to discuss and address issues of concern. As Chair of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee I encourage people from the area to come along and engage in these forum meetings which feed into the priorities for the Dublin Central Joint Policing Commitee. Mary

DEADLINE TODAY

Today is the deadline for submissions to Dublin City Council regarding the planning application from Irish Rail for a new train station to serve Pelletstown and Ashington.  They propose to locate the train station in Ashington Park with a connecting pedestrian bridge and access from Ashington and Royal Canal.   Full details of the application are available HERE. The deadline for submissions is today March 6, 2013.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance.  Mary

Cabra shooting

I was shocked to hear of the shooting dead of a man tonight in a pub in Cabra. This is a truly awful event and the people of Cabra are horrified.

As Chair of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee and founding member of the Cabra Community Policing Forum I know the good work the local gardai do with the local community to ensure a safe community for all.

This cold blooded murder comes as a huge shock to the local community and undermines the good work being done, day in and day out, and sends the wrong message about Cabra.

The local Gardai are on the case but Minister Shatter needs to wake-up and realise that the Gardai are fighting serious crime and deserve to be provided with adequate resources to tackle serious crime. 

Anybody with any information should contact Cabra Garda Station on 01 666 7400.  Mary

Greyhound Independent Review

I have recently learned that Dublin City Council paid way above market pricing for waste collection services in 2012. This raises new questions about the secret deal done between Dublin City Council and Greyhound.  City Councillors must insist that we get a better deal for 2013.

In 2012 Dublin City Council paid Greyhound €2.4million to collect rubbish from the 10,000 City Council flats and senior citizen complexes in Dublin City. This equates to a cost of €240 per flat/unit. This represents very poor value for money for City Council. This price is way out of line with current market pricing in the city where homeowners can get individual collections for less than €100/year.

The Fianna Fail group vigorously opposed the City Manager’s decision to withdraw Dublin City Council from waste collection services. We have requested but been denied access to financial details of the deal that City Management made with Greyhound for domestic waste collections and bad debt collections..

It is unacceptable that there was no public tendering process and the commercial elements of the contract remain hidden from public scrutiny.

It is unbelievable that the City Council could not have got a better price for such a large contract and better value for public money. Flat complexes use shared, large capacity, bins so the cost of collection should be considerably lower than the cost of collection for individual homes.

I have raised this issue and the Fianna Fail group is insisting that Dublin City Council negotiate a better deal with significant cost reductions for 2013.

At tomorrows meeting of Dublin City Council we will be calling for an independent "value for money" review of all waste management contracts entered into by Dublin City Council. Mary

Incinerator

Dublin City Council’s own Audit Committee has issued a report that contains damning criticism of Dublin City Council’s management of the multi-million euro Poolbeg incinerator project.

The report’s findings are highly critical of Dublin City Council’s mis-management of the incinerator project that has already cost the public more than €90million.

The report finds that procurement rules were breached on a number of occasions and financial process and procedures were inadequate. Most worryingly the report states that at this point "the audit committee is not in a position to provide assurance to the City Council that current project governance arrangements on the Poolbeg Waste to Energy project adequately address the weaknesses indentified in the Local Government Auditors report and are fit for purpose for a large and complex project of this nature".

The City Councils’ own Audit Committee clearly has little confidence in Dublin City Council’s ability to manage this project and it would be irresponsible of City Councillors to ignore this fact.

The decision on the construction contract for the incinerator is due to be made in April 2013. It is not acceptable that the project would go ahead until all the issues already identified with the project have been addressed. The Minister should take charge of this project before any more public money is wasted.

As leader of the Fianna Fail group on Dublin City Council I will propose a motion at tomorrow evenings City Council meeting calling on the Minister to directly intervene and to take charge of this project. We will oppose any further spending on this project until all the issues raised in the Local Government Auditors report have been fully addressed. We are seeking cross party support for our motion. Mary

Property Tax

Next Tuesday the Dail will pass the Finance act that will provide for collection of the Property TAX. The Fianna Fail group on Dublin City Council has consistently opposed the introduction of a property tax.

At Monday night’s meeting of Dublin City Council, as leader of the Fianna Fail group, I will propose a motion calling on the Government to amend the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Bill 2013 to include an exemption to the property tax for family homes where a real inability to pay can be demonstrated.

We are seeking cross party support for this motion. We are appealing particularly to the majority Labour and Fine Gael City Councillors who support the introduction of a Property Tax to think of the hundreds and thousands of families who will not be able to pay the property tax.

We are asking them to stand-up for their constituents and to use their influence to do something practical to help them. By supporting the Fianna Fail motion Labour and Fine Gael City Councillors can send a strong message to their colleagues in Government that ordinary homeowners need and deserve a break.  Mary

Na Fianna Spring Fair

The annual Na Fianna Spring Fair takes place on Sunday 3rd March 2013 from 1pm.  As well as being a great day for the family the Spring Fair is a very important fundraiser for the club.  The club is accepting any donations so if you can bake a cake, have a spare bottle or some suitable gifts please bring them to the club house.  Mary

Smithfield Horse Fair

Sunday March 3rd 2013 will see the first Smithfield Horse Fair to operate under the new casual trading bye-laws.   The fair will run from 9am to 1.30pm is family friendly and free to the general public.  In addition to the traditional horse fair Dublin City Council has organised a cultural programme including a photographic exhibition, traditional irish music and a lecture on the history of the square.  Mary