Facebook Should Fight Fire with Fire and Provide Free Responsible Drinking Ads on 'Neknomnination' Pages

Today I called on Facebook to provide free advertising space for USI's 'break the chain' campaign to stop neknominations on all its pages that include content about the drinking game.

Facebook has stated that it was powerless to remove videos of people participating in the drinking game in response to the tragic death of a young man at the weekend.

It is ironic that on their 10^th anniversary Facebook is not prepared to seize the initiative. To suggest that such a successful company can wash its hands of the phenomenom of neknomination is not credible.

Of course the company is not responsible for reckless drinking, but it does own the pages where the activity is promoted.

Facebook should fight fire with fire. It must be easy for this sophisticated advertising company to ensure that any user’s page which includes neknomination content also includes material promoting smarter behaviour.

Speaking at event in Digital Skills Academy last year

USI’s 'break the chain' campaign which makes a clear argument why neknominations should be rejected is the ideal initiative that should be promoted.

I suspect that at this stage most young people in Ireland agree that neknomination is a bad idea. But there are wider issues here about how social media interact with their users – whose presence makes them wealthy.

This is an issue I’ll be raising with the Internet Content Governance Task Force that Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has established to review responsible behaviour online.

Modern Irish Families Need to be Recognised in our Laws

I welcome the publication of the General Scheme of the Children and Family Relationships Bill by Minister for Justice and Equality Alan Shatter.

The Children and Family Relationships Bill is a very important piece of legislation for 21^st Century Ireland, reflecting the reality of Irish families today.

Our laws at the moment are out of kilter with public opinion and the reality for many families. Children are being cared for in single-parent families, by civil partners, by families with a parent and step parent, and by extend family members and guardians.  This bill will modernise family law to recognise these and other family situations.   

It also updates our laws around custody and guardianship and the rights and responsibilities of children and parents in cases of surrogacy and IVF.    

As Co-Chair of Labour LGBT - an active section of the Party which has campaigned for LGBT rights for over a decade – I am pleased that the Bill will allow civil partners to jointly adopt a child for the first time and provide much-needed legal clarity for LGBT families and their children.

This legal certainty is particularly important in advance of the referendum on same-sex marriage due to take place in 2015. Events of recent days illustrate more than ever the need for a responsible debate based on the facts of Irish family life and the laws in relation to them.

I met Minister Shatter about progress on the Children and Family Relationships Bill late last year and it was encouraging to see the scope of his plans for the Bill. I am glad the heads of the Bill have now been published and that it will be considered by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, which will hold a public consultation.

I look forward to following the progress of the Bill during the public consultation and contributing to the debate on this Bill when it comes before the Dáil later in 2014.

€40m Sports Capital Grants Programme Officially Opens

Good news today if you're involved in a local sports club or team - Sports Capital Grants have now officially opened.

€40m will be made available by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for grants to organisations around the country this year.

For the first time, all applications must be made online for this year's programme.

I wrote to sports clubs in Dublin North West in November and again in the last week to inform them they could pre-register.

Clubs can still register until 5pm Friday 7th February. 

Applications officially close at 5pm Friday 28th February. 


You can get more information about the process, register and submit your club's application on www.sportscapitalprogramme.ie

Please contact me on 01 618 3280 or email john.lyons@oir.ie if I can talk to you about how the grants process works.

Further roll out of book rental schemes good news for parents

John & Minister Quinn talking to students at St Joseph's JNS breakfast club in December

I  warmly welcome the announcement this morning by Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, that book rental schemes will be available to every primary school in the country by the start of the new school year.

In Budget 2014 it was announced that an extra €5 million will be provided for each of the next three years to invest in book rental schemes so that they are available in every primary school in Ireland.

Today’s announcement by Minister Quinn gives a clear timeline for the roll out of these extra book rental schemes and delivers on that commitment. Schools can apply for a grant to set up a book rental scheme by 31^st January, with funding to be delivered in May to allow schools to plan for the new school year.

A survey by the Department in October showed about 20% of primary schools do not currently have book rental schemes, despite the fact that such schemes can reduce the costs to parents by up to 80%, bringing the average cost per child from about €100 per year, down to about €20 per year.

The extra money announced in Budget 2014 will allow for a grant of €100 per child in each school which is not currently operating a book rental scheme – with the figure at €150 per child in DEIS disadvantaged schools. I know there are many DEIS schools in Dublin North West and it is positive that they will continue to benefit from this higher allocation.

Each year, €15 million is provided to schools to invest in school books which should be used to fund rental schemes and reduce the costs to parents. This funding has been protected since Labour entered Government, and we are now expanding it.

I invited Minister Quinn to the constituency to my former primary school, St Joseph’s NS, Poppintree before Christmas and he saw first-hand the value of the programmes his Department funds particularly for DEIS schools. 

Budget 2014 protected class sizes at primary and secondary level and introduced reforms to reduce the costs of school uniforms and expand breakfast clubs in disadvantaged schools. Today’s announcement about the further roll out of the book rental scheme will be welcomed by hard-pressed families around the country.

Applications Now Open for Garda Recruitment

The first recruitment of Gardaí in five years was announced as one of the measures in Budget 2014. 

I am pleased to say that applications are now officially open for this new in take of officers to An Garda Síochána. 

You can apply for the new positions in the Gardaí on the Public Jobs website here: http://www.publicjobs.ie/publicjobs/campaignAdvert/9112.htm

Applications are open until midnight on 9th January 2014.

This is great news for Dublin North West as it will mean retiring Gardaí are replaced and that national Garda numbers are maintained above 13,000 in the coming year.

John with Residents and Community Gardaí in Meakstown 

I know a lot of young people have also been waiting several years for recruitment to reopen so they can apply for positions in An Garda Síochána.

While it was announced recently that crime is already falling in key categories in North Dublin, this new recruitment process will allow Garda to continue this progress and to provide further help to our communities in tackling anti-social behaviour. 

PLANNING PERMISSION APPROVED FOR GAELSCOIL BUILDING

As part of the Government’s €1.5 billion spending on new school buildings, Gaelscoil Bhaile Mhuna has been granted planning permission to replace the prefabs the school has at the moment with a new school building.

John outside Gaelscoil Bhaile Mhuna

This is great news for all those who have been campaigning for a new school building for the Ballymun Gaelscoil. I know that some local residents had some concerns about the plans for the building. I’m glad the school were able to talk to residents and I hope they came to an agreement that everyone agrees with.

As a former teacher, I also how important a proper school building is for learning and this new building will be a big help to the students of the school.

2,700 new classrooms have been constructed since the Labour took office in March 2011, providing high quality classrooms for over 66,000 children.

John with Minister Ruairi Quinn

The 2014 school building programme will continue this momentum, spending a further €430m. This will also create 4,300 construction jobs as part of the building programme.

Labour in Government is creating jobs through investing in education and I am pleased that Labour will deliver this new school to Ballymun and to many other schools around the country. 

‘BETTER FINGLAS’ IN NEXT STAGE OF AREA BASED CHILDHOOD (ABC) PROGRAMME

There was great news today that Finglas will be one of the areas included in the next stage of the Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme. 

John with Minister for Frances Fitzgerald at the Ballymun Whitehall Area Partnership 

The ABC programme, launched this morning by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Minister for Children & Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald, will provide €30m in funding for nine new area - based childhood early intervention schemes across the country between 2013 - 2016. 

The ABC Programme builds on a previous early intervention programme  - the which has been hugely successful in Darndale, Tallaght West and in Ballymun in Dublin North West.

Today’s announcement will mean the ‘Better Finglas’ application goes through to the design stage of the programme along with another nine locations. Importantly, the ABC Programme will also maintain funding for the three existing programmes to allow them to continue their work.

The Programme for Government recognises the importance of breaking the cycle of child poverty where it is most deeply entrenched. This area - based approach is already being implemented in my own area of Ballymun through Young Ballymun which implements a series of evidence - based services. 

These strategies target different age groups and issues across the life cycle, from pre-birth right through to adulthood.

I have supported the ‘Better Finglas’ consortium since it was set up and it has gone from strength to strength with Barnardos as the lead organisation for the Finglas application. 

I am delighted this application has now been brought forward to the next stage of this process as it will make a great contribution in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty, poor educational attainment and unemployment in each of the programme areas. 

As someone who represents Finglas, I welcome today’s announcement which is delivering on long-standing Labour Party policy.

More information on ABC Sites:

Proposals approved for design stage of ABC Programme 2013-2016: 

Previous Pilot Programmes: 

Tallaght CDI 

Young Ballymun 

Northside Partnership (Darndale/Moatview/Belcamp) 

New sites: 

Bray 

Ballyfermot/Dublin 10 

Clondalkin/Archways 

Dublin Docklands 

Finglas (Barnardos-led project) 

Grangegorman/NW Inner City 

Knocknaheeny (Cork) 

Limerick (A number of proposers from Limerick will be asked to develop a joint proposal, facilitated by Limerick Children Services Committee) 

Louth (Drogheda & Dundalk) 

Midlands (as part of Northside project)