Friday, 17th February 2006

I was delighted to see that 5,500 submissions in relation to the Greystones harbour were received by An Bord Plenala As readers of this blog will know, I've been active in my opposition to the size and scale of this development. Along with the local residents who oppose this scheme, we've been calling for a rethink of the development in its current guise. It's great to see such people power being demonstrated - we need to keep this pressure on. Let's continue in our efforts to bring about the changes to this plan that will ensure it will be in keeping with the environment and the surrounding area. Well done to all who have contributed to this campaign so far. And I hope to see more join the campaign!

Last week some parents of young children at St. Catherine's school at Barnacoyle came into to Dail to hear me speak about their concerns at the future of this school. St. Catherine's is an Applied Behavioural Analysis facility and has been told by the Minister for Education that funding for nine children at the school will no longer be available - from March 31st. I will continue to urge that the Minister reconsiders. It is hard to believe that when the country is awash with money that the most vulnerable in our society are yet again left aside.


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IRISH ELECTION BLOG

I was asked to contribute to a new blog that will collect political articles and posts in the run up to the General Election. It can be found here if anyone would like a look...

GREYSTONES HARBOUR

So I'm back again about the Greystones Harbour! Last week 400 or so people turned up at a public meeting about this development - which was really heartening. I was aware of the concern among large numbers of residents and others but this kind of turn out on a Tuesday evening in January was great to see. I was the only TD that turned up - and was joined Labour Cllr Tom Fortune.


While its acknowledged that an upgrade of the areas is welcome, this development in its present guise goes too far. Its going to cause years of trucks ploughing down to the harbour every 2 mintues which will be unbearable for the local residents/community.

There is such a strong feeling among Labour representatives, Greystones residents and others that this development really needs a rethink and to be reduced in scale.

And finally - just a quick note on first few days back in the Dail, 2006. It definetly seems like Groundhog day there at times. Bloggers may well be aware of the revelations couple of weeks back of the 56 million euro that the Department of Health thought hadn't spent, but in fact had spent on capital spending...buildings etc. I just wonder sometimes if our Minister for Health ever looks at her bank statments, as the no one seems to know where this money has gone??

Labour Greystones Harbour Greystones Tom Fortune