Press Release - Ghost estates still a problem in South Dublin, notes Looney

Cllr Dermot Looney, a Labour Party representative on South Dublin County Council, has said that the publication of the National Housing Development Survey this week highlights over 5,000 ghost houses and apartments in the county. The report shows that, like most counties, South Dublin has a significant problem with ghost estates that are in limbo and only partially completed.

“The report on ghost estates,” noted Looney, “is an indictment of the developer-led planning that blighted the Celtic Tiger era. The greed of developers and their friends in Fianna Fáil was allowed to flourish at the expense of good planning, affordable housing and sustainable communities.”

“Ghost estates have been characterised as a particular problem in small rural towns and in the so-called ‘commuter belt.’ However, there are issues particular to our situation in South Dublin. Here, unlike in other counties, it is clear that many of these uncompleted developments involve apartments, which make up approximately half of the units in the study.”

“This report found that there were 49 ghost estates in South Dublin encompassing some 9,425 units. Within these estates there are 2,953 units where construction has not even started yet. An additional 760 are still under construction while there are 1286 units completed but vacant.”

“Of the 119 areas set aside for open space in these estates, 45 were uncompleted. These add up to severe difficulties for residents of nearly 4,500 homes which are occupied in the partially-completed estates.”

“As well as the myriad issues regarding issues of good standards of living, estate completion and the creation of sustainable communities, the South Dublin area has a particular problem with management companies in apartment and other multi-unit developments. In particular, developers retain a controlling interest in many management companies but may not be contributing their management fee. This can create great difficulty for residents in getting vital work done in their estates. The issue of management companies is another failure of ‘light touch’ regulation in Ireland and regrettably the new legislation on management companies is not retrospective.”

Summary of the report including SDCC statistics is available at http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/FileDownLoad,24375,en.doc

Article for "Look Left"

Look Left is an excellent leftwing magazine which has had three issues in 2010 to date. The magazine is supported by the Workers' Party but is editorially independent.

I wrote the following article for Issue 3 of the magazine about the left-wing Alliance on SDCC. You can find out more about Look Left on the web at http://www.lookleftonline.org

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A left-wing Alliance on South Dublin County Council holds fast more than a year on from the Council elections, writes Labour Councillor Dermot Looney

The 2009 local elections marked a move by voters away from Fianna Fáil and, in urban and suburban parts of the country at least, a shift to the left. Nowhere was this more evident than in South Dublin County, the third largest local authority in the country after Dublin City and Cork County, dominated by large towns such as Tallaght, Lucan and Clondalkin.

Last June, voters returned 9 Labour, 8 Fine Gael and 3 Sinn Féin Cllrs, along with one People Before Profit Alliance and one Independent Councillor. Only 4 Fianna Fáil Cllrs were elected out of 26 – three of those on the final count, one of whom required a recount.

The historic pasting given to Fianna Fáil enabled the Labour Party to enter negotiations to form the ruling group on the Council. But rather than reach agreement with Fine Gael, as has happened elsewhere in deals for ‘mayors and chairs,’ Labour looked left in negotiating an ‘Alliance for Change’ with Sinn Féin and Independent Councillor Guss O’Connell.

The Alliance of 13 Councillors forced Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael into effective opposition on the Council, with PBPA Cllr Gino Kenny tending to support the Alliance in most votes. Remarkably, it has been widely suggested that this may be the first ever formal left-wing Alliance in over 110 years of Irish local government.

Although the standard “Mayors and Chairs” pact is part of the Alliance agreement, all three parties to the Alliance – Labour, SF and Guss O’Connell – focussed on policy matters from the outset. A 36 point plan focussing on housing, environment and heritage, development and planning, enterprise, jobs and value for money priorities agreed in June 2009 remains the working agenda for meetings of the group.

All 13 members of the Alliance agreed to forego the €4,500 a year claimable in Conference expenses and instead divert the money to a fund to provide the first emergency homeless shelter in the South Dublin area. We were joined in this pledge by Cllr Gino Kenny (PBPA) and John Lahart (FF) but the three other FF Councillors, along with all eight in FG, continue to claim these expenses.

At a time of cutbacks and vicious attacks on working people and those left behind, Alliance Cllrs have been engaged in a fight to defend public services as much as to expand them.

The current Council Budget agreed just before Christmas differed greatly from its National namesake introduced by the Government just weeks before. The Alliance sought in its approach to protect frontline services and prioritise the most vulnerable, achieving, for example, a new €1.2 million project for essential maintenance on windows, doors and other features on 500 Council homes.

Indirect taxes too have been the focus of Alliance Cllrs in the Chamber. My own motion to oppose July’s 31% hike in the Council’s bin charges won support from all Alliance Cllrs – in fact, only FF refused to back it. However, the County Manager over-ruled the vote of the Councillors based on a 2003 Fianna Fáil/PD decision to withdraw the democratic involvement of elected representatives in setting waste charges. There is no doubt that the Manager will attempt to do likewise regarding domestic water charges, which were opposed as a matter of policy by the Alliance both in the Agenda and during a debate on a successful motion I brought to the Council last November.

Continuing to oppose these attacks on working people, standing up for quality public services and demanding a sustainable planning future for South Dublin remain the priorities for an Alliance which remains solid in the uncertain times ahead.

Great day at the Harvest Fair

Managed to get out of my sickbed this morning to attend most of the first-ever Greenhills Harvest Fair. Although I was involved on the Organising Committee, the real plaudits should go to the community groups who came together to organise a fantastic event. Find some of the pics from the event below as well as a video. I'm off now to get ready for the Barn Dance - where did I leave that stetson?

EDIT - some great new pics added (the four above) taken by Brian McArdle of the 65th Scout Unit.

Press Release - Fianna Fáil Let the Mask Slip on Tallaght Kids’ Hospital, Says Looney

Labour Party Cllr Dermot Looney has slammed comments at yesterday's Council meeting by a Fianna Fáil Councillor who supports the closure of Tallaght Children’s Hospital. Looney’s reaction comes in the wake of the monthly meeting of South Dublin County Council in which Fianna Fáil Councillor Eamonn Walsh voted and spoke against a motion calling for the children’s hospital to be saved.

The motion, proposed by Labour Mayor Eamonn Maloney, asked Councillors to oppose the closure of Tallaght Children’s Hospital and the planned Government policy to relocate it to the Mater in the North Inner City.

“Tallaght Hospital has only been opened for ten years but for most of that time the Fianna Fáil/PD axe has hung over the head of the Children’s Hospital,” said Looney. “Tens of thousands of parents from across Tallaght and the rest of South and West Dublin – not to mention Kildare, Wicklow and other parts of the country – have benefited from this excellent and accessible facility, staffed by hardworking and dedicated personnel who themselves want the Hospital to stay in Tallaght.”

“Four years ago, then-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced that a new Children’s Hospital would be built at the site of the Mater Hospital in his own constituency of Dublin Central. The scandalous lack of accessibility, parking and traffic issues around the Mater – never mind the cost – shows up yet another example of Fianna Fáil cute hoor-ism.”

“Ever since, Fianna Fáil’s representatives in Tallaght – particularly TD’s Conor Lenihan and Charlie O’Connor – have blustered and blown while our Kids’ Hospital faces the chop. They’ve put out leaflets and press releases and made speeches full of misinformation and spin, claiming to oppose the closure of the facility. One of them even turned up to a march organised by the Hospital Action Group and Mayor Maloney to save the hospital!”

“But now it seems, with Cllr Walsh’s incredulous speech on Monday, that the Fianna Fáil mask has slipped. Cllr Walsh’s bizarre suggestion that local parents should bring sick kids on the Luas to the Mater shows not only a heartlessness, but a cluelessness on FF’s part. His accusation of ‘emotional blackmail’ against Councillor colleagues who continue to support the hospital and its work shows Fianna Fáil at its core – nasty, brutish and unfair.”

"Labour wants the Children's Hospital to stay in Tallaght. We want to properly resource this modern facility which is easily accessible to hundreds of thousands of people. My colleagues Pat Rabbitte TD and Cllr Eamonn Maloney are standing on this ticket in the general election, whenever it comes - local voters should now be clear on where Fianna Fáil stands."

Reports of Children Being Turned Away from Special School Very Worrying

Tallaght-based Labour Party Cllr Dermot Looney has said that reports from St Joseph’s Special School in Balrothery that approximately 20 children with special needs were turned away from the school on its first day back yesterday are very worrying indeed. Parents were reportedly told on Thursday that the local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) had decided that children previously earmarked for the school would now need to await a decision later in the month to determine whether or not they could attend St Joseph’s. It is now unclear as to the arrangements for these children to attend school in the meantime.

Looney, who works as a primary school teacher at another local school, has called on the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to clarify the situation at the school as a matter of urgency. The NCSE tightened special schools criteria earlier this year and it is understood that these criteria are being used to justify yesterday’s announcement.

“The very existence of St Joseph’s was put under severe threat in February of this year due to Government cutbacks. At the time, the NCSE stated its intentions to cut 2/3 of the teaching and support staff, including a reduction from 16 to 6 teachers,” said Looney. “The school was also told it would lose 12 out of 17 Special Needs Assistants, although the cuts were somewhat alleviated on foot of a vocal campaign by parents and school staff.”

“In the case of yesterday's incident, it is unclear whether the local SENO had received, as reports are suggesting, the documentation on these children before the summer break, only to report today that children would have to wait until later this month before their situations are fully assessed. There is confusion over the designation of the special needs which apply to the school and it appears that the SENO has possibly taken a strict interpretation of “Mild General Learning Disabilities” which has discounted these children.”

“My understanding is that the school principal and staff, as well as parents, were until yesterday under the impression that the children were approved for attendance at the school. If this was the case it would appear that the Department of Education and Skills has failed in its basic duty of care to these pupils.”

“I understand the majority of the children concerned had been in mainstream schools last year and their parents had agreed to the huge step to move them to St Joseph’s. Uniforms were bought, transport arrangements were made and the children were all set for the year ahead when they were told the devastating news. The stories emerging from St Joseph’s of confused children in floods of tears coming out of the school are heartbreaking and everything must be done to ensure the situation for these vulnerable children is clarified immediately.”

ENDS

Note: St Joseph's is a special school in Balrothery, Tallaght which caters for approximately 100 special needs children aged between 5 and 18. The school offers a range of FETAC programmes as well as the Junior and Leaving Certificate for older children. A discussion on the incident including eyewitness accounts, has been taking place on the Special Needs Parents Association Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000878825538&v=wall&story_fbid=123113721074191#!