My first question at today’s (21st Feb) Municipal District meeting, ‘ Can the council provide a list of the numbers of contractors who have received

a) Verbal warning,

b) Formal written warning,

c) Suspension from future works, or

d) Termination from engagement in any future works on the basis of works carried out in this municipal district since 2014?

Here is the report issued by Ms S Scully, Administrative Officer, Housing Department, ‘This information will be compiled and provided at the Kildare-Newbridge March Municipal District Meeting.

A report was also issued by Mr S Wallace, Senior Parks Superintendent, Community and Cultural Development, ‘ No warnings, suspensions or terminations have been issued to contractors by the Parks Section.

The bonds for these developments were not drawn down because a Site Resolution Plan (SRP) has been agreed and it is the Bond Provider / Receiver’s responsibility to implement the SRP including the public lighting. The provision of public lighting in The Meadows was highlighted by Building and Development Control staff as a priority issue to be addressed by the Bond Provider/Receiver but has not been completed to day. It was recently agreed that the Bond Provider/Receiver would pay the council to provide a new public lighting system, the payment has been received at the end of December 2017 and the request for the new public lighting system has been issued to the council’s energy supplier.

#progress #report #kildare-newbridge #municipal #district #meeting #lights #meadows #morristown #cornelscourt

The council has brought these issues to the attention of Irish Water. Contract 2B is on track and this should alleviate the capacity issues in the sewer network in due course. In the interim, the recent Surface Water Capital Scheme will have resolved the historical drainage issues.

Report issued by Mr. E Fagan, Administrative Officer, Water Services.

#progress #report #kildare-newbridge #municipal #district #meeting #flooding #issues #dara park

An independent consultant was commissioned by KCC in December 2017 to review the operation of the Town Hall. The methodology included a review of existing documentation including financial information, enquiries and bookings and customer survey (7 respondents in August 2017); consultations with KCC, K Leisure, the Board of Management, County Councillors and a sample of five customers who had used the Town Hall and three groups who had enquired but not proceeded. The review was conducted in the month of December 2017. Please click on link below to see the full report;

Newbridge Town Hall FINAL (1)

Applications are now sought from community organisations located within a 9km radius of the Drehid Facility for funding for environmental, recreational and community projects which will mitigate the impact of the landfill facility on the local community.  Closing date for receipt of applications is Friday 6th April 2018.

Application forms and guidelines of the scheme are available by clicking on links below or by emailing grants@kildarecoco.ie or phone 045 980965/980595.

2018 Drehid Application Form-1

Drehid Grant Guidelines 2018

The purpose of the Shop Front Improvement & Accessibility scheme is to improve the appearance of shop fronts and other retail and commercial properties in our towns around Co. Kildare.

Application forms and terms and conditions for the scheme are available through link below;

http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Business/ShopFrontTownCentreImprovementGrantScheme/ShopFrontApplicationFormeditablec.pdf

Kildare County Council are now inviting applications for the following grants;

Community/Local Property Tax and Festival Grants
Application forms and details for these grants are available on our website; http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Community/GrantSchemes or by emailing grants@kildarecoco.ie or telephone: 045 980538.

The objective of the grant scheme is to promote interest, education, knowledge and enjoyment by facilitating an appreciation of the heritage of County Kildare. We invite applications for community heritage projects which will benefit or relate to at least one of the aspects of heritage as set out in the Heritage Act 1995. Application forms and details for this grant are available on our website; http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Heritage/Grants/ or by emailing heritageofficer@kildarecoco.ie or telephone: 045 980791.

Residents Association Grants – Local Authority Estates
Applications forms for grant aid to assist Residents Associations in Local Authority Housing Estates to maintain their open spaces are available on our website; http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Community/GrantSchemes or by emailing grants@kildarecoco.ie.

Residents Association Grants – Private Estates
Application forms and further information for this grant are available on our website; http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Community/GrantSchemes or by emailing grants@kildarecoco.ie

CLOSING DATE FOR ABOVE GRANTS IS TUESDAY 13th MARCH 2018, 5PM

Arts Service Arts Grants & Bursary Award Opportunities
Artists and arts collectives and community groups may apply for the following grant and award opportunities
#Arts Act Grant scheme
#Artists in Schools Residency Bursary Award
#Artistic Entrepreneur Bursary Award
#Denis O’Driscoll Literary Bursary Award
#Drama League of Ireland Summer School Bursary Award
#Emerging Artist Solo Exhibition Award 2018
#Film Bursary Award
#Local Publishing Award
#Recording Bursary @ Platform4 Recording Studio
#Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency Bursary Award
#Youth Arts Residency Bursary
Information sessions on ‘how to apply for an arts award’ will be held in Leixlip, Newbridge and Athy during February 2018.
Application forms and further information are available from Kildare County Arts Service, Riverbank, Main Street, Newbridge, Co Kildare. Tel: 045-448328; Email: arts@kildarecoco.ie, or on our website: http://www.kildare.ie/ArtsService/Grantsandopportunities/

CLOSING DATE FOR THE ABOVE AWARDS IS TUESDAY 20th MARCH 2018, 12 noon.

Kildare Creative Ireland Bursary Awards
As art of Kildare’s 2018 Creative Ireland programme, we invite applications for bursary awards that will develop bodies of work with a public interface/engagement.
We invite applications from individuals and groups to creatively explore themes of

Well being
Sense of place
Heritage (which may include historical exploration)
Music
STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics)
Irish language

Application forms and further information are available from Kildare County Council Creative Ireland Programme, Riverbank, Main Street, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Tel: 045-448318, Email: creativekildare@kildarecoco.ie or on the website at http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/Community/GrantSchemes
CLOSING DATE FOR THE ABOVE AWARDS IS TUESDAY 20th MARCH 2018, 12 noon.

The State is failing spectacularly in its duty to protect the unique amenity that is Curragh Plains.
Here is a chronology of that failure, as I have witnessed it, since entering Kildare County Council in 2014.
But first, thank you to those fellow Cllrs who; supported my motion at last weeks Municipal District meeting that the Council invite The Curragh Forum to meet with MD Cllrs; called out the Forum for failing to meet even once in 2017 in order to address ANY of the issues of littering, illegal encampments, over-grazing and the destruction of this truly unique amenity on our doorstep

Jan 25th 2015
Following lengthy discussions with the then Min for both Defence and Agriculture-Simon Coveney – he agrees to progress the chronic issues on the Curragh Plains with Secretaries General of both his Departments. He promises to achieve progress by December 2015. It was agreed I would announce the Minister’s agreement at an upcoming Council meeting and to the media see https://www.facebook.com/FionaMcloughlinHealy/posts/938111839534813

Feb 2015
Shortly after announcing the outcome of my discussions with the Minister and his agreement to get both Departments working on an issue which typically had fallen in the gaps between the two stools depts – I found it difficult to contact the Minister (either at his office or on his mobile which he had been happy to take previously)

March 2015
I continue to work with local residents and advocates for the Curragh Plains to keep a focus on the ongoing issues on the Curragh Plains with a video showing the destruction and littering of the Plains see https://www.facebook.com/FionaMcloughlinHealy/videos/969786363034027/

April 2015
Local TD announces his plans for a Consultation Forum to address the ongoing destruction of the Curragh Plains. See http://www.martinheydon.com/…/minister-told-consultative-f…/

August 2015
Journalist Barry White helps us highlight all of the ongoing issues but also the potential of the Curragh Plains in a detailed article in the Sunday Business Post . The article provides information about a Tourism Trail App for the Curragh Plains that myself, and local resident and Curragh Plains advocate Mark Weld have been working on with the Heritage Officer in Kildare County Council see https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1625050991101009&id=100007883718408

October 2015
The TD announces that The Minister has agreed to accept his proposal that The Curragh Forum be set up to address the chronic issues on the Curragh Plains. Although public assurances had been given by me as agreed by the Minister in January, his subsequent decision to default on that agreement was not communicated to me. I had serious reservations that a talking shop was being set up to dilute what could have been achieved through the Secretaries General of both Depts being directed by the Minister to make progress in a defined period of time. See the announcement of The Curragh Forum
http://www.martinheydon.com/…/minister-coveney-confirms-cu…/

April 2016
6 months later the TD announces The Curragh Forum has had its first meeting and deems it a success. See http://www.martinheydon.com/…/04/curragh-forum-up-and-runn…/

November 2016
I write to the TD asking for an update on The Curragh Forum. He sends me back a letter with an update from then Minister for Defence, Paul Keogh in which the Minister states
‘ it is expected that during 2017 substantial progress will be made in a number of areas including updating and enforcement of Bye Laws, development of an educational programme and development of Curragh Facilities’ ( letter is attached below – note zero meetings went ahead in 2017! 😒)

May 2017
A full year later following continued complaints re littering and damage done by vehicles to the Curragh Plains I successfully propose that an invite be extended from the Council to The Curragh Forum to meet with the MD Cllrs
http://fmcloughlinhealy.ie/council-extend-invite-curragh-f…/

October 2017
I ask for a update from the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District Manager who is Kildare County Council’s representative on The Curragh Forum on the Forum’s response to our invite to meet. The MD manager asks that we wait until The Forum meets in November to get a more current update. The Forum also includes representatives from, Department of Defence, Curragh Race-course, Curragh Racehorse trainers, Gardai and the military. See http://fmcloughlinhealy.ie/update-response-curragh-forum-u…/

January 2018
Having had no response or update from the Curragh Forum for the December Council meeting – I submitted yet another motion asking for an update regarding The Forum. see http://fmcloughlinhealy.ie/update-response-curragh-forum-u…/

It was finally revealed during the discussion of the motion that the Curragh Forum did not meet ONE TIME during 2017!! As I stated at the meeting, what has happened or not happened with The Curragh Plains is an example of the worst type of politicking around what is an important and urgent issue. While I acknowledge the complaints of my fellow Cllrs who called out the Forum as a talking shop designed to prevent rather than deliver progress on the Curragh Plains, I place the fault firmly at the foot of the public representatives who set it up. It seems there is no formal structure, no Chairperson, no work schedule for The Curragh Forum. No matter how proactive or invested the representatives – this talking shop was designed to fail.

It has been incredibly difficult to make progress on protecting this unique resource we have at our doorsteps. But it is worth being vigilant about promises made and not delivered when they have such significant environmental, social and economic consequences for our community.

I will keep asking for engagement with the Curragh Forum until progress has been made. I welcome any support you can give me to focus attention on the Curragh Plains. If you feel strongly like I do please email your concerns and/or any solutions you might have to the Council’s representative on the Forum tmcdonnell@kildarecoco.ie

https://www.facebook.com/FionaMcloughlinHealy/posts/1811843322161656

#CurraghPlains #TheCurraghForum #loveTheCurragh #ManageTheCurragh#protectourenvironment #nomoretalkingshops #YesIAmAngry

My first motion at today’s (17th January) Municipal District meeting, ‘That the council facilitate the follow-up previously discussed at this municipal district regarding the Kildare Town swimming pool fund, in order to help the trustees in any way we can access the monies donated by the community for the community.
Here is the report issued by : Mr T McDonnell, Director of Services, Housing and Corporate Services. ‘It was previously advised to the members that it is a matter for the trustees to determine how funds should be allocated, and that the council has no role in the matter.

My second motion at today’s (17th January) Municipal District meeting, ‘In light of the persistent littering and destruction of the Curragh Plains, together with the failure to realise the tourism potential of this unique site, that the council provide an update on the invite extended by the council to the Curragh Forum to brief councillors on actions taken over the last 2 years since its inception together with any plans for the future.

Here is the report issued by : Mr T McDonnell, Director of Services, Housing and Corporate Services. ‘The invite was forwared to the Department of Defence, who are the statutory body in relation to the operation and management of the Curragh. In relation to the work of the Curragh forum, a meeting was held last week, when the Department updated organisations on the works undertaken by them in 2017, including issues associated with legislation/traffic/signage/parking/encampments/sheep and land management.