Education is one of the best gifts you can give, and I’m delighted to see that Kildare County Council have announced their bursary schemes for 2015. KCC is awarding two bursaries which are designed to provide an opportunity to study at third level to persons who may not be in a position to undertake a course of study, because of serious disadvantage or disability. These bursaries are as follows:
- The William G. Carroll Bursary is mainly, but not exclusively, for third level courses in the field of community development.
- The Kildare Education Bursary for People with Disabilities is for any third level course.
Applications are invited from persons living in County Kildare who wish to undertake a degree course at a recognised third level institution in Ireland. The course applied for must be at undergraduate level. For further inforamtion on these great schemes, please visit KCC’s website here.
As part of the traffic management review I called for in relation to the works on the Kilcullen Road, the council have agreed to put in place a 50 km/h speed limit on the Rathasker Road between the southern ring road and the Kilcullen Road. This road currently serves as a detour route while the works are ongoing and it was important that speed restrictions were put in place in the interests of public safety. Since this is a route to Pipers Hill there can be pedestrians walking on this road. This change in speed limit will be in force for the duration of the roadworks or 1 year, which ever comes soonest. We are expecting to see the roadworks finished during 2015.
The railway bridge on the Kerdiffstown Road is due for renewal works which are scheduled to take place over the course of the August Bank Holiday weekend. The works involve the existing bridge being removed on the Friday night and a new bridge being lifted in on the Saturday night. Unfortunately, these works will involve the closure of the road and detours will be put in place for all through traffic. The road closure application as below has been sent to Kildare County Council and is as follows:
Recent figures I obtained have revealed Kildare has some of the lowest numbers of IDA Ireland sponsored site visits over the last four years. The IDA visits, which can lead to direct investment and employment opportunities in the county, have been severely lacking in Kildare since the current government took office. I have highlighted the lack of strong representation from the incumbent Kildare government T.D.’s on this issue for some time. Kildare has only received five IDA visits over the past four years. For the fourth largest county in Ireland with a sufficient motorway links, infrastructure, and a willing workforce it is disappointing more visits have not been made.