Monthly Archives: August 2008

Permission granted for Kill Primary School

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Some good news came in last week for parents and pupils of Kill National School and surrounds, with the news that permission had been granted for a new 960 pupil facility to proceed at Kill Hill. The site had alreay been aquired and the planning application was submitted in June so it the process has been going reasonably according to plan over the past year or so at any rate. The school is billed as a 32 teacher campus but will initially function as a 24 teacher one and scale up over time. It will also include Basketball Courts, Hard Playing Area, Playing Pitch, 2 Libraries and a General Purposes Room.


The old school in Kill back in use as spillover accomodation

The current school in Kill, like a lot of others in the area, has just about coped with the strains of population growth over the last number of years as the commuter belt expanded beyond its buckle size in recent times. I know from speaking to several families in Kill, Johnstown and all around the catchment area that the school is the number one issue for many of them and has been for some time. Enquiries I made earlier in the Summer drew a positive response from the Mininster, Batt O’Keeffe TD, when he “confirmed that the design phase of the project is progressing well and is on target” and the permission granted is another welcome milestone along the route.

Whilst all has gone smoothly to date, and I am loth to jinx the positive karmic progress around the project, I believe it would be tempting fate to commit to any dates at this stage, given the current funding climate. The original projected opening was to be in September 2009 and I have heard nothing to suggest this will not be met, however it will be an uneasy next while while we await funding confirmation from the Minister. Myself, and I know Deputies Brady and Fitzpatrick likewise, will all continue to state the case and ensure the Minister remains aware of the urgency and priority of this development.

Funding aside, in terms of the construction timeline, it is certainly possible to make rapid progress, we have seen in Sallins school where extensions have literally gone up each Summer over the past couple of years. I was down at Sallins NS yesterday morning, when my own children returned to school after the break, and all the parents were taken with the new buildings that have flown up. A two storey extension houses the older children whilst the new library and PE hall facilities have all been added in recent times. An end to prefabs finally.

So another milestone met and good news for all but my view this is one to stick on until the children are literally walking through the door.

Last Orders for Local Area Plan

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The consultation period for Sallins local area plan closed today. A number of representations I’d made to the council over the previous period were contained in the eventual draft so I was already quite pleased with the shape of the plan when it issued for consultation. Nonetheless I made a final submission today reiterating some key points and highlighting where omissions still existed.

In brief I covered the following areas:

  • Sallins Bypass Route
  • Road Reservation and Green Space
  • Parking within village (casual and commuter)
  • Amenity and Waterways Developments
  • Civic needs and security
  • Protected Structures
  • Pavement Improvements
  • Traffic Management
  • Disability Access
  • Canal Moorings
  • Cemetry Provision
  • Recycling Bays
  • Public Transport
  • Market Square
  • Educational Needs

    • My full submission is available in Word format here or I reproduce a text only version below: Continue reading →

    Global Warning

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    Back on the old sod the other thing that struck me after all this focus on Brown was the similarities to our own Taoiseach back home. The takeover process was almost identical of course, but the difficulties they now face are also the same beast. And in both cases, largely out of their control. The whole global economy is in a wobble and like it or not in open economies like UK and Ireland when Wall street sneezes we catch a cold. Alan Sugar gave a very good defence of Brown making these points and the exact argument could be made for Brian Cowen.

    The whole subprime thing was crazy to start out with I always thought. Why not go down the pub, search out the guy whos barred from everywhere else (and the bookies), that noone will even lend a light to never mind the price of a pint, then go out of your way to give him your last fiver. And then come crying when he doesn’t turn up to get you back the next day? Effectively that’s what the financial institutions did in some cases. Only the clever ones sold off the debt before they became bad.

    It does seem wrong though that we are so defenceless to the ways of the wider world. I think the Irish banks and government could have sought a bit more fiscal rectitude at the height of the boom. Even the mainstream banks had become a little ridiculous (remember those “presigned cheques” coming through the door – don’t see them any more) but there were very little brakes put on them. Partly it comes down to individual responsibility too, noone put a gun to heads to accept the various credit “offers”. Its market forces versus societal management again. It depends whether we see government as having a responsibility to provide safeguards for people or whether it should allow free will and the implication that consequences must be individually realised also. There does seem to be a sense of shock in some quarters that this money now has to be paid back. Or that more of it is not now available. Personally I think a normalistion of property prices was long overdue. A survey claiming average household wealth has dropped is purely hinged on artifically inflated paper prices in the first place. It is undoubtedly tough for people who were caught on the turn but for the majority it should make it easier to buy a house in future or to trade up or even move on when things inevitably settle down in the medium term. And if you have a roof over your head in the meantime well that can never be a bad thing whatever the latest valuation might say.

    Four by-elections and a funeral

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    I’ve been reflecting a lot on British politics over the past week or two, principally as english papers were far easier come by on my hols than any others. The Guardian is always excellent, particularly if time is available to read it properly.

    So it got me thinking about a few things. Firstly Gordon Brown and the qausi leadership contest underway in the Labour party. I always liked Brown saw him as the cerebral force behind the throne, the substance behind the spin, and an antidote to the politics of instant gratification. But he does seem to have slipped up somehow along the way since he finally took the reins. One or two by-elections can be forgiven but four in a row is worrying. And now he has a whippersnapper chasing at his heels.

    On face value I didn’t think much to David Milliband initially. A young pretender, and tagged a Blairite, I felt it bitter consequence that Brown would be taken out yet again by the other camp and he barely a wet week in the job. However as I read up on Miliband the more I learned the more I liked. Geniune green politics. A focus on education. A society more than an economy. Balanced devolution. Empowered local government. An authentic social democracy. And a copy of the ‘New Left Review’ tucked into his holiday suitcase apparently. Substance as well as style. Not so Blairite after all perhaps.

    Having said that I don’t think it’s a good idea to chop and change leaders. The Tories learned that and are finally making headway under Cameron. Fine Gael finally got going with Enda Kenny after repeated bouts of regicide almost condemened them to oblivion. Even the controlling commies had one chaotic period with Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko swapping out in rapid succession and look how that worked out for them.

    So I wouldn’t be lighting the funeral pyres at number 10 just yet.