McHughs - Recent Updates

A number of local residents have been in touch asking for updates on the McHugh's site, now entering its seventh year of dereliction. While I welcome the limited shopping facilities on offer in the new Traders Off-Licence, facts are that our neighbourhood centre remains a derelict eyesore. McHugh's has been my number one priority on the Council and I have been working with a wide group of people to ensure appropriate development at the site to provide the community facilities we need - as well as safeguarding the future of the site with a new Specific Local Objective in the County Plan.

Below are my most recent updates on McHugh's from my December, November and September local newsletters.

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December 09 Update...

I have been unrelenting in promoting our campaign to reclaim the derelict McHugh’s site for our local community. It is almost seven years now since the old shopping arcade was destroyed by fire and local people remain rightly furious over the lack of appropriate development at the site and the increasingly-bad eyesore left behind. The graffiti around the site has become worse in recent months and the site was a huge fire hazard over Hallowe’en, when I liaised with the Gardaí to ensure that the opening of the site would not lead to a potentially dangerous bonfire. Following my queries at Council level I have established that there are now plans by McHugh to scale down the current planning permission for the site, which was granted in April 2007 and will last until April 2012. My understanding is that the revised plans, which are still being drawn up, will include fewer apartments along with offices, a restaurant and a couple of retail units along with a mini-supermarket. While I would welcome any serious plan to provide decent services on the site, I will not support any unrealistic proposals or ones which are not likely to get built.

The good news is that, through my own motion for the County Development Plan which was agreed by the Council, any future plans for the site will only be permitted to include community facilities and appropriate commercial services for local residents – the scare stories promoted by those with questionable agendas as to what might go into the site should be nipped in the bud. Both myself and Pat Rabbitte TD will continue to promote what Labour believes is the best option – a Council-led Compulsory Purchase of the site, and subsequent community-led development – in the months ahead.

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November '09 Update

Cllr Dermot Looney continues to lead the fight to restore the old McHugh’s site which should be providing an important neighbourhood centre for local people. The lack of progress from the developer and the ongoing dereliction continues to cause grave concern across Greenhills. Dermot has secured the community nature of the site in the long term with a Specific Local Objective now in place in the County Development Plan that the site can only be used for appropriate community and local services, and no other purposes.

Cllr Dermot Looney adds:

“In response to the pressure put on by our community, the Council Management finally placed a fine on McHugh of €60,000 a year under the Derelict Sites Act. However the owner has still not paid the levy and now the Council’s Law Department is pursuing the matter through the courts. Against the background of the government’s €54 Billion NAMA bailout of the banks and developers, the cost of acquiring our derelict neighbourhood centre site is modest indeed – and I will fight to ensure the money collected from McHugh is used for our community services.”

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September '09 Update

6 years on, and the derelict former site of the McHugh’s Shopping Centre on St James’ Road continues to be the major issue for residents of Greenhills and Limekiln. After a campaign launched by Dermot Looney last year, the site was
eventually entered onto the Derelict Sites Register by the Council and the developer,
Sean McHugh, was fined for breaches of planning enforcement regulations. The Council are now pursuing the developer through the courts following his refusal to pay a levy issued for the dereliction.

“I have embarked on a number of measures in recent weeks to attempt to recover this site for the Greenhills community,” said Cllr Looney. “In the short term, I have made an enforcement complaint as to the use of the site for storing building material and vehicles. I have also sought to have the appropriate development of the site included as a ‘Specific Local Objective’ of the County’s Development Plan and have asked Council officials to prepare a report on a Compulsory Purchase Order or other mechanisms to take over the site. Winning won’t come easy in this campaign - but with the togetherness of local residents, we will succeed,” noted Cllr Looney.

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You'll also find a number of posts on this blog related to McHugh's by going to http://thelooneyleft.blogspot.com/search/label/mchughs

Election Diary: T-2: 29 Hours Til Polls Open

I know you're all fed up of election clichés at this stage, so I won't bore you with stories of my feet, blistered though they are, or my haircut, which the eagle-eyed amongst you might spot in before and after modes in the pictures below.

No, I'm going to tell a few other clichés.

Before I do, here's a pic of me at the Belgard Luas Stop this morning, where we have been leafleting and speaking to local people all week. An early start was compounded by the unbelievable punctuality of Enda Duffy, whose role in the campaign is everything from a transport manager to poster master and canvass director. He took this picture too - the "Maria Parodi" shot of my campaign!

(For those not in the know both Maria and my former Labour Youth sparring partner Rebecca Moynihan have hit many's the headline recently, basically because they are attractive and young women. I neglected to mention that I was featured in an Evening Herald piece yesterday on 'fresh-faced' and 'handsome' young male candidates - though, sadly, my picture and phone number were not attached.)

Enda arrived beyond promptly this morning - at 7.30 - and lasted until about 10 this evening.

Like the dozens of others who have worked their socks off for the campaign, Enda is doing so with political reasons in mind, but I do want to thank him personally for all the months of work he has put in. I once managed Enda's unfortunately unsuccessful campaign for President of UCD Students' Union, but his management and good humour are far more successful this time out, regardless of the outcome.

Those same ones amongst you with eagle eyes - or those of a hawk, like Bravestarr - will have spotted Enda in our last youtube video of the campaign. I freely admit that we had to use Enda for a 'canvass' shot as the technical side of things didn't work out on the real things, and we were under pressure for time.

Now to Cliché #1: Babies and Kids. I've been followed round the doors by kids who love shouting out my name. What can only be described as a gaggle of 20 or so of them followed me around Limekiln last night with a poster - I assume they'd ripped it down - and were looking for autographs, stickers and whatever else I had going.

These kids are a little more genuine in their support, or at least their mam and dad are. Colm, Kevin and Mark, my three Kerry nephews, are in Dublin for the graduation of their aunt and my 'baby' sister, Aisling - who from tomorrow will be Doctor Aisling Looney. Ash spent 6 years in UCD doing Medicine and the whole family are up to celebrate her graduation with first class honours tomorrow. Sadly, I won't make it out to my alma mater with the last-day campaigning but Aisling was out with us tonight as she'll be spending tomorrow celebrating. I'm very proud of her and she's a great example of why fees should remain off the agenda.

The support from my family has been amazing, from my 71 year old dad climbing up poles to erect posters, to my mam canvassing half of Tymon Park, my other sister Tara making sambos and my three brothers constantly encouraging and supporting from Cork, Kerry and Galway. They'll be delighted when it's all over and their home, car spaces and lives are back to normal!

Cliché # 2 is this fetching rosette which I wore for the first time today. We've tried to mix a bit of traditional electioneering with more cutting-edgework. It was lovely to get another mention on the front page of labour.ie today, and I know the hits were excellent because of it.

We were again all over the constituency today, from the Luas leaflets in the morning, to more traditional leaflet dropping in the afternoon, and our biggest canvass of the campaign in Greenhills this evening. I was honoured to have 25 - political - brothers and sisters out with me on the doors tonight, covering a vast sweep of an area from Perrystown to Walkinstown and deep into Greenhills Estate. This picture doesn't even tell the full story - a few had headed home by the time the photo was taken at the end of the session.

They say not to do such a big canvass, and that it's right to split them up into smaller groups. But as you all know, I'm not one for those political clichés - we're going to build it even bigger tomorrow, and fight hard for every vote we can in the remaining 29 hours, and right through then til 10pm on Friday. Hope to be blogging while I'm at it. Adelante!

Election Diary: T -3: The Fullest Days

I got to bed at 3 last night, and was up just after 7. I thought blog readers might be interested in hearing about the schedule of the campaign as we hit the last few days.

TODAY's SCHEDULE
8am: Canvassing Luas stops in Belgard and Kilnamanagh/Kingswood.

9.30am: Breakfast.

10am: Letter writing, folding, trips to the post office for envelopes, more writing, more folding, trips to the postbox, and back for more stamps.

1pm: Two out postering, four in licking envelopes.

3pm: Another canvass in the sun down in Perrystown.

5pm: A quick dinner above the Laurels.

6.30pm: 18 people on a mass canvass of Limekiln and Temple Manor.

8.45pm: A quick drink in the Traders with the campaign team.

10pm: Back at home to do paperwork and prepare for tomorrow.

In between all of these were the usual phone calls, emails, mass texts, campaign management issues and dealing with the count. I also got to check our new ads in the Southside People and the Echo which we have paid big bucks for thanks to our fundraising work. Mercifully, I'm off work for the week but having the support of my campaign team today was crucial in getting the work done.

Tomorrow and Thursday will be similar in terms of intensity, with some fresh campaign work and ideas coming to the fore. Our numbers have really been excellent but we need to push them to greater heights in the days to come. Thousands of doors still to be knocked on, and thousands of leaflets to be dropped - we can start to relax in 69 hours time or so when the polls close, and truly relax on Saturday evening when the outcome is known. All of us are looking forward to a rest at this stage, but hopefully it'll only be short-lived as we look towards an historical Council seat.

Press Release - Cynical Attacks on Special Needs Kids Should be Reversed - Looney

Cynical Attacks on Special Needs Kids Should be Reversed - Looney

Dermot Looney, the Labour Party candidate in the new Tallaght Central ward in June's local elections, has called for special needs class cuts targeting local schools to be reversed. Greenhills-based Looney, a primary school teacher who works in Tallaght, was commenting in the wake of another savage week of cutbacks in education, with almost 120 schools hit by the effective closure of special classes and withdrawal of support for special needs children.

The schools in the Tallaght Central ward affected are:

- St Peter’s BNS, Limekiln Road, Greenhills;

- St Mary’s School, Greenhills Road, Tallaght Village;

- St Paul’s GNS (Senior), Limekiln Lane, Greenhills;

- Scoil Nmh Aengusa (Sinsear), Balrothery;

- St Mark’s Senior NS, Springfield

· each of which will lose 1 special class

- St Brigid's NS, Brookfield;

- St Aidan's NS, Brookfield;

- St Anne’s Primary School, Fettercairn

· each of which will lose 2 classes.

Looney, 26, has launched a petition locally to Minister O'Keeffe aimed at reversing the cuts.

"It is no coincidence that the majority of these are in working-class communities and areas of socio-economic disadvantage," noted Looney. "This really is the lowest of the low from this clueless government who are putting their banking buddies and developer donors ahead of the most needy. The sickening excuse that the policy is to mainstream these pupils is nothing but nonsense – mainstreaming should only take place when children are ready."

"The trend in recent years has been to accommodate children with learning disabilities in mainstream schools, with much of the old 'special school' infrastructure being dismantled. If the replacement infrastructure in mainstream schools is itself now being dismantled, that means that these children are being left high and dry. Services for kids with special needs have come under sustained attack in recent years, with many local schools already suffering from severe cutbacks in Special Needs Assistants numbers."

ENDS

McHugh's Eyesore - Mass Petition Launched

As a local area representative and someone who has grown up and lived all my life in Greenhills, I know full well how great a community this is. We are rightly proud of our great local achievements and the wonderful work done by volunteers at all levels to create the community spirit which has defined our area for decades.

But that community spirit can’t thrive in an area without a neighbourhood centre. We cannot prosper when faced on a daily basis by neglect and dereliction. We deserve better than more than five years of shabby boards, gruesome fencing and weeds, and an eyesore which has come to define us.

The old McHugh’s shopping centre on St James’ Road was an important resource for local people to buy their messages, to see a pharmacist and to use the post office. It was destroyed by fire in 2003 and despite plenty of applications and negotiations, the site remains a derelict mess.

Let us be clear – the developer, now known as “Property International McHugh,” is at fault for this shambles. We have waited long enough for him to take action – more than five years, in fact. Will it be another five, or longer again, before local people are rid of this eyesore? How long will it be before our neighbourhood centre is restored, and with it the vital services that older people and families need?

Myself, Eamonn Walsh and the Labour Party have stood firm on this for years. Now it’s time for local people to take this campaign one step further. Below, you will read the facts of this debacle and you will be given a chance to sign the petition. Please go here to do so.

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McHugh’s Eyesore:

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

Dermot Looney, Labour’s local area representative and the Greenhills candidate in next year’s local election, has launched a community campaign demanding appropriate action at the McHugh’s site. Here you can read the timeline of development on the site and sign the petition demanding action.

Timeline

12^th March 2003 – A planning application (SD03A/0143) is made to change the roof & signage on the McHugh’s Shopping Arcade. Just weeks later, the entire centre is gutted by fire.

20^th June 2003 – A planning application (SD03A/0415) to demolish the remains of the centre is made, and approved by the Council.

15^th August 2003 – McHugh’s apply (SD03A/0601) to construct a three storey building mixing retail and apartments, including a basement car park. This is first deemed invalid as there was inadequate notice of the planning application at the site. A duplicate application (SD03A/0659) for planning permission is then submitted. The development will include two storeys of apartments (8 one-bedroom, 4 two-bedroom). It is opposed by residents groups and Cllr Eamonn Walsh. Further information is requested by the Council, who then approve the application in April 2004 with 26 conditions attached.

2003-2006 – No action taken on the site at any stage. McHugh’s architects claim that “due to changes in the market place, this scheme was found to be financially unviable.” On 1/11/2005 the Council notes that it “may also consider other options .. which could include acquiring the site by Compulsory Purchase Order or the imposition of a levy.”

4^th April 2006 – Council note that “it is proposed to commence the procedure to acquire the site by Compulsory Purchase Order under the Derelict Sires Act 1990,” at the Terenure Rathfarnham Area Committee (TRAC) meeting.

5^th April 2006 – Another application (SD06A/0248) is made. It will also have three storeys, but this time there will be 10 one-bedroom apartments, 10 two-bedroom apartments and 1 three-bedroom apartment. The Council note that “the residential density of the proposed scheme is excessive” and demand a reduction in the number of apartments. McHugh’s do not bother to meet this demand and the application is deemed withdrawn on December 4^th.

5^th September 2006 – Cllr Eamonn Walsh asks the Council to finalise the CPO. The Council respond that “it is intended to initiate the procedure to acquire this site by Compulsory Purchase Order under the provision of the Derelict Sites Act, 1990. Site drawings are now being finalised and the Compulsory Purchase Order procedure will commence thereafter.”

30^th January 2007 – Yet another application (SD07A/0062) is made. It has three storeys with retail units on the ground floor, but with the Council’s restrictions it has 15 apartments on the top two floors (12 two-bedroom units and 3 one-bedroom units). It is granted in April. The Council requests more than €250,000 to be furnished for Council infrastructure and facilities.

6^th February 2007 – The Council finally confirm the site as ‘derelict’ at a TRAC meeting.

2^nd October 2007 – Council note that “the developer of the land in question has indicated that he proposes to commence development in late October/early November 2007.”

6^th November 2007 – Cllr Eamonn Walsh tells the Council that “In view of the failure of the developer of the derelict shopping centre site to proceed with the development as agreed last May that the C.P.O. be re-introduced and to state that local residents are sick and tired of the false promises as they look onto a most offensive site in the heart of its community.” The Council take no action.

11^th January 2008 - a small commencement fee is paid with commencement of work due to start on 28^th January 2008 and a proposed end date of 30/1/2009.

6^th May 2008 – Cllr Eamonn Walsh tells the Council that “this site has devalued the properties in the general area and has devalued the quality of life of the whole community and to be arranged as soon as possible.” The Council replies, saying that because a skip was removed, a gate was replaced and walls and fences were repaired, “the site is no longer considered derelict.”

12^th June 2008 – Dermot Looney complains to Council that the use of the site as a storage ground for Dublin Bus is in breach of the planning permission. The Council reject the complaint.

12^th September 2008 – Despite claims to the contrary, bus stops and other material remains stored at the site. No development work has started – 5 years on.