Author Archives: James Lawless

Multi-Nationals in Kildare

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ICTThis piece was first published in the Liffey Champion on 17th September 2016.

When Micheál Martin asked me to become our party spokesperson for Science, Technology, Research & Development, I saw it as a reflection on my background – I studied Maths and Physics before training as a Lawyer – but it was also made clear that the party was aware of the presence and strategic importance of the multinational, high tech sector in Kildare North and that this was a factor in assigning me that brief.

In politics one can be lucky or unlucky and it is hard to say where I sit in terms of marking my opposite number in government, Minister Halligan. Continue Reading →

Publication of Draft Phoenix Park Tunnel Rail Service Timetable

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Deputy Lawless with commuters at Hazelhatch station.

Deputy Lawless with commuters at Hazelhatch station.

A publication of a draft timetable for rail services which will benefit Hazelhatch commuters in the coming months has gone live. The timetable is now open for public consultation and will close on 19th September.

This is a service I have campaigned for, for many years. Recently I had meetings with the NTA and this was a matter which was brought up. I have also been in constant contact with Irish Rail on this issue. Continue Reading →

Parnell Summer School

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Parnell_SchoolI was delighted to attend the Parnell Summer School recently. At the Summer School I gave a speech on the echoes of 1916 and patriotism in the modern era. Below is a transcript of that speech.

Nationalism cannot become the sole preserve of an exclusionary, closed borders rhetoric. A positive force for national self-confidence and assertion of fraternity; a recognition that between the models of material individualism and xenophobic supremacy lies a third way.

Communitarian, egalitarian and continually evolving, true patriotism embraces diversity and recognises the nation as a state of mind and cultural connections as much as a physical entity bound by borders and barriers.

The progressive and open nationalism of the Catalans, the Scottish and indeed the Irish must be championed and distinguished from the narrow and often false flag patriotism of the new cheer leaders and charlatans of the 21st century. Continue Reading →

North West Kildare Residents Struggle for School Bus, Minister Halliagan has Broken Promise

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I have spent the past five weeks lobbying the Minister of State John Halligan to get school bus places for constituents in Johnstownbridge, Kilshanroe, Kilmurray, Dunferith, Timahoe and other areas in North West Kildare. It is now the case there are a number of students who cannot get a school bus to Kilcock or Edenderry due to cuts imposed by the Minister’s Department.

My clinics in the area have been full with concerned parents and my offices in Maynooth and Naas have been receiving calls about this matter. Despite the Ministers promises school bus places have been cut back right across the country. In the Dáil the Minister stated that no child would lose their place on school buses pending the outcome of a review in his Department.

The Minister has broken another promise by the failure to set up a cross party committee that would meet at the end of July to try and help resolve outstanding problems with the school transport scheme.

If the Minister had taken necessary action in good time, parents would not have this stress right now. His Departments efforts to save money have now brought unnecessary burden for so many families in Kildare. Clearly this is not good enough. I am calling on the Minister to set up this cross party group immediately to resolve this problem for parent and students

Minister overrides Sallins Area Plan

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The Minister for Planning and Housing, Simon Coveney TD, has rejected the considered opinion of all 9 Councillors in the Naas electoral area, along with over 2,000 supporting submissions from the Sallins community to reject the amenity option in the local area plan. The Sallins Local Area Plan had contained a provision to zone 40 acres of land at Bodenstown as Amenity along with 30 for housing, the package also included a site for a second school and common use playing fields and community centre. I actively supported this when I was on the council, in fact as Mayor I formally proposed it, and chaired the meetings where it was voted through over the course of the last year.

Coveney refuses Sallins amenities

The County Manager and now the Minister opposed this proposal from the start as their argument was about over-zoning. Everybody in Sallins understands the problems of over-zoning as we are living through it. Sallins went from 500 to 5,000 people in the last fifteen years with no accompanying increase in leisure amenities.

This plan offered a concrete proposal to actually deliver lands for those amenities and enjoyed massive local support. All parties and all Councillors supported it as well as the overwhelming majority of local residents and for the Minister to ignore this reality and strike it down is really riding roughshod over the clearly expressed will of the people in the area affected.

Here is the Minister’s Directive Letter and the Community_Facilities letter that came with it.

It is worth noting the Scout Den is still being delivered and the playground is still underway. The Bodenstown lands were easily the biggest block of zoning in this plan but those smaller parcels are still going ahead so at least some amenities got through.

You can see some of my previous posts on it here.