Local Policing Forum

The next Navan Road & Pelletstown Area Community Policing Forum meeting is on Thursday 13th of June 2013 at 7.00p.m in the Navan Road Parish Hall. 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

The next NWIC Policing Forum will be held in the Holy Family Parish Centre, 13 Prussia Street, Dublin 7 on Wednesday the 12th June 2013. 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

Cabra Youth

Congratulations and well done to all the young people involved in creating Cabra for Youths' entry into the Irish Cancer Society X-hale Youth Awards.  Their entry  called “Beep Out Smoking’ raises awareness around the health effects of smoking and the power of the tobacco industry.  Another great example of the young talent in Cabra.  Mary

Ashtown Pelletstown Local Area Plan

Dublin City Council has worked with elected representatives and local residents to prepare a Draft Local Area Plan for Ashtown-Pelletstown. The Draft Local Area Plan is on display and available to inspect at The Atrium, Ground Floor, Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. I also requested DCC make the plan available for viewing in the Cabra Library, and the Cabra Area Office (97 New Cabra Road, Dublin 7). The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 18th June 2013. Mary

Local Boundary insult to Dublin

The local boundary report issued yesterday sets out Minister Phil Hogans plan to add fifty extra Councillors in Dublin. In the week that hard pressed Dubliners have struggled to pay Fine Geal’s unfair and anti-Dublin property tax Minister Hogan has published his plan to spend their property tax to save government party seats at the next local elections.

Minister Hogans plan to increase the number of Councillors in Dublin from 131 to 183 is arrogant, unnecessary, costly and an insult to everybody in Dublin who paid their property tax this week. This proposal demonstrates Fine Geals’ complete disregard for ordinary people.

Dublin already has too many Councillors. Currently in the four local authorities there are 131 Councillors representing a population of approximately 1.3m. Just to put this in perspective, New York City made up of the five boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island with a population of more than 8million people has 51 City Councillors. Yet Dublin with 1.3million people has not one, but four local authorities, four county managers, four Lord Mayors, four chambers filled with 131 Councillors. Now Minister Hogan is going to actually increase the number of Councillors in Dublin by 50!

I would challenge the Minister to find anyone in Dublin, except a government party councillor or candidate who thinks we need more Councillors. The number of Councillors in Dublin should be more than halved. This would reduce parish pump type politics that involves multiple councillors falling over each other to get a pot hole fixed and would lead to more effective, less costly and more representative local Government.

This is a bad day for local government and a bad day for Dublin. The Minister has failed and insulted the people of Dublin.