Plans for old Smurfit Site - Consultation for Local Residents

I've been informed that a public consultation about plans for the old Smurfit site on Botanic Road will take place on:

Date: Tuesday* 29th July 2014

Time: 5-8pm (as a drop in session)

Venue: The Maples House Hotel, 79-81 Iona Road

The consultation is being organised by Westhill, a UK-based property development company who recently purchased part of the old Smurfit site. 

I'm informed this consultation is being held prior to a planning application being lodged by the company in question.

I hope the developer can take on board any concerns residents may have about their plans and work with them to resolve any issues that arise. 

Residents will be able to view detailed plans, drawings and talk to the architectural and planning team on a drop in basis from 5pm to 8pm on the evening of Tuesday 29th. 

Please drop me a line in the meantime if you have any questions about the planning process or your rights as a local resident.

*Edited: Originally had stated Thursday 29th. Correction: consultation is on Tuesday 29th July.

BALLYMUN NEEDS A COMMUNITY-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE - LYONS

The HSE and Department of Health need to put the needs of service users of Tús Nua Day Centre first and maintain a community-based service in Ballymun. 

This was the point I raised yesterday (see part of the debate in video above) about the closure of the Tús Nua Day Centre in a debate in Dáil Éireann with Minister of State Alex White.

I met a group of about 15 local people who rely on the Tús Nua service in Ballymun on Monday and they were very fearful about the future of the day centre.

Tús Nua is a safe haven for the 45 users of the services and a place where they can drop in to 4 or 5 times a week to talk to mental health professionals and to come to terms with problems they are experiencing.

Tús Nua helps local people deal with mental health issues through the likes of arts and crafts and cooking classes, as well as practical day-to-day advice around money management. It’s also an important social link to the wider community for a group of vulnerable people who may not otherwise leave their homes or engage with others at all.

I raised the importance of the service in the Dáil on Tuesday and the Minister stated in his response that the centre will not close until the HSE carry out an independent assessment of the needs of those attending the centre and find alternative placements and services for them.

If the HSE is committed to putting the needs of the services users first in the relocation of this service as they say, then they must work with the Social Inclusion Unit in Dublin City Council and other parties to find a more suitable centre in the local area for these people.

As I said when I raised this issue in the Dáil on Tuesday, the people who attend Tús Nua have already overcome adversity to begin engaging with a local service in Ballymun. If they have to move to another venue outside Ballymun, it will see these people put in an even more vulnerable position.

More information

A full transcript of the Dáil Topical Issue Debate and Minister’s response is available here.

Labour delivers new funding to deal with boarded up houses

I warmly welcome new funding of €3.9million to bring a 236 long-term vacant Dublin City Council homes back up to scratch and made available to families on the housing list.

Today’s announcement of a second round of funding means €7.1m will be given to Dublin City Council this year, to bring a total of 371 boarded up houses back into stock.

I speak to people on the housing list at my advice clinics every week who are fed up seeing boarded up houses in our community, at a time when there is a real housing shortage. Some of those houses stay that way for months, which has a knock on effect for the whole area.

Empty council homes also attract anti-social behaviour and illegal dumping, especially when they’re left empty for months on end.

This extra funding to the Council to renovate these void houses will be a great relief to neighbours who live beside these homes, as well as families who are on the housing list.

Nationally, Labour Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan is allocating €15m today for renovation works on 1008 local authority homes.

We need to invest more in social housing to tackle the huge problems there at the moment. My Labour colleagues and I will continue to push for more investment in social housing, and bringing ‘ready to go’ boarded up houses back into stock is a common sense approach as part of this aim.

€504,067 in Sports Capital Grants for Dublin North West

Today's funding of €504,067 in Sports Capital Grants to Dublin North West is a major investment in local sports clubs.

The Sports Capital Programme is the Government’s main way of supporting the development of sports facilities and the purchase of non-personal sports equipment.

This year, there were 11 successful applications from clubs and sporting organisations in Dublin North West.

The largest allocation to the constituency was €200,000 for St. Kevin’s Boys Football Club followed closely by €147,565 for Erin’s Isle GAA Club in Finglas. This will greatly aid their continued development and ensure their success in the future.

It is also positive to note the allocation of €866,468 to Dublin City Council, which will go to amenities in city parks and recreational spaces.

The hard work of local communities and the standard of the applications made by local clubs have clearly paid off with these sports grants.

As a Government TD, I was delighted to have supported so many clubs in their efforts to get funding and the results are good news for clubs and sport in Dublin North West.

The clubs and groups which were allocated funding include:

€3,629 Charleville Lawn Tennis Club
€10,500 Clonliffe Harriers Athletic Club
€147,565 Erin’s Isle GAA Club
€697 Finglas Kempo Karate Club
€40,000 Glasnevin Lawn Tennis Club
€60,779 Home Farm FC
€27,141 McKelvey Celtic FC
€1,846 Sports Across Ireland
€200,000 St. Kevin’s Boys Club
€9,785 Whitehall Colmcille GAA Club
€2,125 Woodlawn Sportslink F.C.

€504,067 Total

More than two thousand clubs applied for funding and over 800 clubs received funding totalling €40.5m, which is a 33% increase in funding since the last round of Sports Capital Grants in 2012.