Positive news for Ballymun Shopping Centre as Council takes full ownership

Yesterday I welcomed the announcement today from Dublin City Council that it will acquire 100% of Ballymun Shopping Centre from NAMA and its receivers.

Dublin City Council already owned 47% of the Shopping Centre, and this decision today sees them take charge of the rest of the centre. This is excellent news for Ballymun and the wider area.

It makes complete sense for the Council to have control over the entire centre given their role in creating a viable retail heart for Ballymun. 

The Council have put a retail site north of the current centre out to tender so they are best placed to find solutions for the centre as part of the overall development of Ballymun Main Street.  

A new shopping centre has rightly been described as the final piece of the jigsaw for an improved Ballymun and its community. Local residents have waited far too long for the shopping facilities they deserve and today’s news brings that a step closer.

The future of Ballymun Shopping Centre must be looked at as part of a bigger picture of renewal, that includes looking at other vacant retail units around the community.

Ballymun’s role in regional economic development must not be overlooked either. It is ideally placed in north Dublin to take advantage of surrounding growth and new job opportunities. Dublin Airport is north Dublin’s largest employer, and there are continued jobs developments there and in our local university DCU. 

It forms part of the Green Way Cleantech cluster and Fingal County Council also have plans for further development on lands close to IKEA.

All of these stakeholders need to recognise Ballymun as a pivotal spot for business and regional development. 

As someone from the community, I will continue to work with Dublin City Council, the Ballymun 4 Business group and all other stakeholders to give the modern town of Ballymun the shopping facilities it needs and to bring new jobs to the area.

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€3.2M FOR DUBLIN TO BRING 135 BOARDED UP HOUSES BACK INTO STOCK

Finglas - Cabra Candidates Brendan Carr, Cllr John Redmond with John Lyons TD in Finglas

Along with Finglas-Cabra local election candidates Brendan Carr and Cllr John Redmond, I warmly welcomed the funding announcement of €3.2 million to bring 135 long-term vacant Dublin City Council homes back up to scratch and made available to families on the housing list.

Finglas Cllr John Redmond congratulated Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan on this positive scheme for the Finglas area.  

"I’ve lived in Finglas for 41 years with my family and boarded up houses have caused many issues for the local community over the years.

I know from my work with several residents associations that empty Council homes attract anti-social behaviour, especially when they’re left empty for months on end.

I worked to get the Choice Based Lettings scheme off the ground several years ago. This was a pilot in the Finglas area which offered empty homes in low-demand areas to people waiting on the housing list. It has made a big difference to local estates which previously had long-term vacant homes.

Today’s announcement will mean 135 long-term vacant houses will be brought into the housing stock very soon, which will be a great relief to neighbours beside these homes, as well as families who are on the housing list.”

I also stressed the benefits for Dublin and the country as a whole.

"As someone who meets people on the housing list every week, I know how frustrating boarded up houses are when you’re waiting to be housed. Some of those houses stay that way for months which has a knock on to the whole estate.

Overall Labour Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan is allocating €15m to make 932 local authority homes around the country available to families on the housing list. This is much needed for anyone in the area waiting on a housing list.

We need to invest more in social housing to tackle the huge problems at the moment. My Labour colleagues and I will continue to push for more investment in social housing, as well as practical schemes like the one announced today."

Raising the Importance of Dublin Fire Brigade Ambulance Service in Dáil Éireann

Yesterday, I raised a Topical Issue Debate on the Dublin Fire Brigade Emergency Ambulance Service. 

The DFB Ambulance Service is an exemplar service that is replicated by other fire-based emergency medical services around the world. 

In the Dáil, I called on the Minister to ensure any review being carried out is independent and recognises the quality of service provided by Dublin Fire Brigade as a starting point. 

You can watch the debate and my response to the Minister (at 8:14) here:

BALLYMUN RESIDENTS NEED CLARITY ON FUTURE OF SHOPPING CENTRE

Today I called on all stakeholders involved in Ballymun Shopping Centre to bring forward new plans after Tesco announced it would close its store in Ballymun Shopping Centre on 27th April. 

Tesco in Ballymun Shopping Centre

Local residents have known for some time that Tesco will eventually be closing, however, it still comes as a shock now that the date has been announced. 

First of all, it is welcome news that all 52 employees in Tesco will keep their jobs and be reassigned to other stores. This is hugely important for local employment, which has begun to recover in the last two years in line with the rest of the country.

The loss of Tesco to the shopping centre will of course be felt by local residents who rely on a supermarket in the shopping centre. It will also affect other local businesses in the centre who benefit from an anchor tenant like Tesco being there.

Unfortunately, the original plans for the site were stalled and the shopping centre site is now in NAMA. Since being elected, I have been in regular contact with NAMA and BRL in relation to this site and had met with the previous owners, Treasury Holdings, to get the ball rolling again on this project.

Original Plans for Ballymun Town Centre - Treasury Holdings 

I have provided local residents with regular updates on plans for the centre, particularly when a new plan was agreed between BRL, NAMA and Dublin City Council, for a 3 phase redevelopment last year.

These stakeholders now urgently need to come together and push forward with plans for Ballymun Main Street. 

As someone from the community, I will continue to work with all involved to give Ballymun Main Street the shopping facilities it needs and to bring new jobs to the area.

Local Meeting on Online Bullying - next Monday 10th March @ 7.30pm

I am hosting public meeting hosting on cyberbullying at 7.30pm on Monday, 10^th March in St Kevin’s Secondary School, Ballygall Road East, Dublin 11.

I know the issue of online bullying is a growing concern for parents, teachers and of course our young people. It may be an issue you have already engaged with in some way in your own work.

The panel for the discussion will be:

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte TD; 

Brian O’Neill, Chair of the Internet Content Governance Advisory Group; 

Nigel O’Callaghan, Youth Engagement Officer with ReachOut.com.

The meeting is being held as part of a local online safety campaign and survey I carried out in several schools in the constituency. 

The Internet Content Governance Advisory Group, set up by Minister Rabbitte is also accepting submissions from the public until 18^th March and I will make a submission arising from the discussion at the meeting. 

I very much welcome your input in this regard, even if you are unable to attend on Monday 10^th.

I look forward to talking to you on Monday 10^th March and using the discussions at the meeting to inform my submission on the subject. 

Youth Entrepreneurship Fund a key part of 2014 Action Plan for Jobs

I warmly welcome the inclusion of the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund in the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and the overall focus on entrepreneurship to create further jobs.

Today’s announcement of the Action Plan for Jobs for 2014 contains 385 actions to be implemented across all Government Departments, including 26 actions in the section on entrepreneurship.

As part of these actions, an additional €3.5 million is being provided to support start-ups and expansions and to fund the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund. 

This new fund will be managed through the new Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), a ‘first stop shop’ service for local start-ups and small businesses.

As Vice Chair of the Oireachtas Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Committee, I helped launch a cross-party report last year, Creating Policies that Work, that specifically recommended the setting up of a €1 million Youth Entrepreneurship Fund on a two-year trial basis.

I brought the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund proposal before the Labour Parliamentary Party who endorsed the proposal this time last year. It’s great news this has been carried forward and included in 2014 Government Action Plan.

Why set up this Fund?

Given that youth unemployment in Ireland is at 24%, a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund serving those under 25 is a signal to our young people that we believe in their talent and are willing to back them. 

Speaking at the Youth Guarantee launch in Digital Skills Academy last year

Those availing of the fund could also be given business mentoring supports as part of country-wide implementation of the Youth Guarantee scheme, which is another key measure in the 2014 Action Plan.  

Many young people have stated their difficulties in accessing start-up credit, due to their age and perceived lack of business experience. 

I was left in no doubt that these barriers are preventing business ideas being realised and potentially costing us jobs that we can ill afford to pass up.

Roll of Committee Work - Leads to Actions

Many of the key recommendations of the Creating Policies that Work, such as a Youth Guarantee; a Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, and the use of Social Clauses in public contracts, were included in the 2013 Action Plan and I am glad the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund and the Youth Guarantee will be rolled out and further expanded in the 2014 plan.

The whole-Government approach of the Action Plan for Jobs is working. 

It was also announced today that 61,000 jobs were created last year, meaning we’ve gone from a situation where 1600 jobs a week were being lost in 2012 to now where over 1200 jobs a week are being created. 

I will continue to work in my capacity as Vice Chair of the Oireachtas Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Committee to ensure we bring forward more ideas to help tackle unemployment in the country.

More information

You can read the full Action Plan for Jobs 2014 here. 

You can read my previous tatements on Youth Entrepreneurship & Action Plan for Jobs here and here.

"Just like my mam, I believe that Irish people are willing to open their hearts and accept change"

Last week in the Dáil, I raised the recent controversy about RTÉ and the reported €85,000 pay-out they made to several individuals following a discussion on The Saturday Night Show about what homophobia is.

As I spoke I thought about a conversation I had with my mam in the kitchen in Ballymun about 10 years ago. I had come out as being gay already at this stage and conversation turned to the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry.

I was a little taken aback with my mam’s attitude to gay marriage. While she had no issues with gay people, or my own identity, she was against same-sex marriage and it made her quite uncomfortable. At that time there weren’t even Civil Partnerships in Ireland, so I imagine her opinions were shared by a lot of people.

Do I think that made my mam a homophobe for thinking this way? Absolutely not!

My mam is a good example of the ‘decent folk’ that make up Irish society. She is the same loveable person that she was 10 years ago. Slowly, however, over time, her opinions have changed about the rights of gay people to marry. I put this down to her willingness to open her heart to what life presents her.

In the years that followed, Civil Partnerships were introduced for gay and lesbian people and I think they’ve changed a lot of people’s opinions on the rights of gay couples.

I have a great memory of all my family, including my mam, going to the Civil Partnership ceremony of my sister’s best friend a couple of years ago. It was a very happy occasion with friends and family celebrating a couple who had been together for well over a decade.

Over the last two weeks there has been a lot of public debate on the rights of gay people to marry in the same manner as straight couples. A lot of different things have been said. I believe this debate has been a good thing. I also think that over the last two weeks many people have come out in support for the right of gay and lesbian people to marry. 

In 2015, the Irish public will vote on a referendum on this issue. Just like my mam, I believe that Irish people are willing to open their hearts and accept change.

And I believe they will open up their hearts like they did this week and vote yes to extend equal rights to their sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, friends and fellow citizens.  

This blog post appeared as an opinion piece in the The Irish Sun newspaper on Sunday 9th February.

Other media from last week:

You can send the end of my contribution in the Dáil chamber here:

 


I also spoke to Ryan Tubridy on his radio show on Friday reflecting on recent events - you can listen to my interview here as well.