Two elections are taking place in our constituency.

For Dublin, we are being asked to select our three candidates to represent the region in the European Parliament.

In Dublin Bay South we are being asked to pick fourteen people to represent our communities on Dublin City Council.

The purpose of this post is not to ask you to vote for a particular candidate or party (though of course I have my preference!), but to ask you to please do all that you can to make sure that your family and friends remember to go out and vote.

As you know, these elections are important, and so it is equally important that as many people as possible have their say and play their part in the democratic process. Every vote counts, particularly when it comes to local elections. As few as ten votes could be the difference between someone getting elected or missing out. You know ten people – you could make that difference.

It’s not easy to put yourself forward for election and I think we are fortunate to have such a strong selection of candidates standing across the constituency, and in Dublin, representing every party and none. They’ve done their part – now we have to do ours.

Polling booths open at 7am and close at 10pm. And while it would be helpful to have your voting card, a photo-ID licence or passport should suffice.

The very best of luck with your vote!

If someone you know still doesn’t think these elections are important, the following links may help change their minds;

– breakdown of how Dublin City Council spends your taxes

– what are the European elections all about?

The closing date for receipt of consultation responses is 16th May 2014.

The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) will act as economic regulator of the public water sector and of Irish Water.

Today it has published three papers for public consultation. These are the first set in a series of consultations on the Water Charges Plan and a consultation on Irish Water’s Customer Handbook.

The first two papers focus on the principles of water tariff design and tariff structures for domestic and non-domestic customers. The third deals with proposals for the obligations to be placed on Irish Water regarding customer protection measures.

The titles and outlines of the three papers are as follows:

– Domestic Water Tariff Principles and Proposals – this paper concerns a set of proposals from Irish Water regarding the principles of design and structure of domestic water tariffs;

– Interim and Enduring Non-Domestic Water Tariff Proposals – this paper concerns a set of proposals from Irish Water regarding the principles of tariff design and treatment of non-domestic water customers;

– Consultation on the Irish Water Customer Handbook – this paper considers the obligations that the CER is proposing to put on Irish Water with regards to customer service.

The tariff papers will feed into a further consultation in June on the final Water Charges Plan which will include the actual levels of costs and tariffs. The consultation documents are available at www.cer.ie.

Each paper contains contact details for where written submissions should be sent. The closing date for receipt of consultation responses is 16th May 2014. Please note that the CER may publish all responses to consultations unless marked as confidential.

More than 50 people will be employed over the next 12 months

Recruitment starts immediately

SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading online questionnaire platform, today announced that it will open an office in Dublin, employing more than 50 people in the first twelve months of operations to support the company’s many existing Irish and European customers.

New employees will join the existing international team that is relocating to Dublin from the company’s Lisbon office.

SurveyMonkey is trusted by millions of companies, organisations and individuals around the world to gather the feedback they need to make better decisions. These customers use SurveyMonkey’s online and mobile platform to create, send and analyse questionnaires on any given topic.  Beyond market research, some of the most popular uses of the product are to gauge customer satisfaction and conduct employee performance reviews.  SurveyMonkey’s robust analytics engine enables at-a-glance data analysis to make smart, fast decisions.

The company will be hiring for a wide variety of roles ranging from account management to customer support.  Recruitment starts immediately and job positions can be found online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/job-listings/

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland has launched their nationwide search for people who have innovative ideas and new solutions to solve some of Ireland’s social and environmental problems.

The annual competition, now in its tenth year, has backed 169 social entrepreneurs to date and invested €5.4 million in direct funding to projects in areas ranging from community and active citizenship, education and learning, environment and sustainability and mental and physical health.

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland is the country’s largest and most active funder of social entrepreneurship and is this year providing €420,000 in funding to nine social entrepreneurs. A further €180,000 worth of support will also be made available to successful applicants, ensuring that they are equipped to scale and grow their organisations in order to impact as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

Closing date for entries to the 2014 competition is 5pm on Monday, 28th April. Following a multi-stage review process, the winning nominees will be announced at a ceremony in November 2014.

For full details on the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Awards Programme, and to access the application form itself, please visit www.socialentrepreneurs.ie

The government has awarded almost 36 million to schools across the country to improve and upgrade existing school buildings under the Summer Works Scheme.

56 projects have been approved in Dublin across three categories (Gas, Electrical & Mechanical), including the following schools in your area:

• Muckross Park College in Donnybrook – Mechanical
• St Clare’s Convent on Harold’s Cross Road – Electrical
• Ringsend College on Cambridge Road – Electrical
• Rathmines College in Dublin 6 – Electrical

Funding awarded under round 2 of the Summer Works Scheme will be announced over the coming weeks when processing of applications has been completed.

More detailed information on this is available here.

The Commission for Energy Regulation has published a paper on its Water Consultation Plan – this summarises the expected timelines for water-related public consultations prior to the introduction of water charges in October 2014.

Consultations cover, inter alia, Irish Water’s plan for water charges; customer protection in the new water service sector; the principles to be applied to non-domestic tariffs; and the calculation of connection charges.

For more information on these consultations; click here.

The Department of Finance and the Trinity Economic Forum are seeking economic policy proposals from third level students who have a vision for Ireland’s future. Participants will submit a proposal on one of two economic policy topics and the winner will be offered a summer internship within the Department of Finance.

This is a very cool opportunity for students to help create policies that will shape the country’s future. Click here for more details about the policy topics and application procedures.

The Sean Moore Community Awards for ‘exceptional community service’ are open for nominations. These awards are open to any person, or organisation, from the Dublin 2, 4 or 6 areas, who have made an exceptional contribution to the community. A nominee could be a good neighbour, a long serving youth/community leader or a resident’s association leader.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Clanna Gael Fontenoys on 20th February 2014.

If you or your organisation knows of someone who deserves this award, send your nomination outlining the reasons why your nominee should receive an award to the following address by Friday 7th February:

The Chairperson

Panel of Judges, Sean Moore Community Awards,

c/o News Four,

Community Centre,

Thorncastle Street,

Dublin 4.

Funding of €32.5 million has been allocated to 200 sustainable transport projects in the Dublin region. These projects are at various stages of design, planning and construction and will see improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and those using public transport.

• Ranelagh Village Improvements:  Pedestrian Crossing at Chelmsford Road, the need for which was identified in a recent transport study of Ranelagh Village (€30,000)
• Expansion of DublinBikes: Completion of construction of the east-west expansion of the scheme (€600,000)
• Pedestrian Improvements (Charlemont Bridge at Canal Road): Construction of two north-south signalised crossings for pedestrians at the Ranelagh Canal Bridge (€50,000)
• Safety Improvements to Grand Canal Cycle Scheme: Design and construction of necessary safety improvements to the existing two way Grand Canal Cycle Scheme from Grand Canal St. to Portobello (€40,000)
• Grand Canal Cycle Route (Blackhorse to Portobello): This section of the overall Grand Canal Cycle Route will link to the new infrastructure from the west at Blackhorse and from the East at Portobello, providing a continuous route along the Grand Canal in the DCC administrative area, and on through the SDCC area. Preliminary design, Part VIII planning, detailed design and preparation of Tender Documents in 2014 (€100,000)
• City Centre High Density Cycle Parking & Strategy: Feasibility Study to assess the possible introduction of high density cycle parking at locations across City Centre (€40,000)
• Wayfinding Project 2013: Expansion of the Dublin Docklands Wayfinding scheme along the city’s historic radial routes and market streets and limited infilling of the existing scheme. Closeout of scheme finances (€50,000)
• Renewal of Road Markings on Bus and Cycle Lanes: Renewal of end of life road markings to protect investment in bus and cycle infrastructure. Including bus cages as identified by Dublin Bus (€100,000)
• Bus Priority at Traffic Signals: Deployment of IT systems and hardware to reduce bus delays through traffic signals, using Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) Technology (€200,000)
• Pedestrian Improvements (Kimmage Road Lwr at Mount Argus Park): Construct upgrade to this existing pedestrian crossing including dishing of kerbs, installation of tactile paving and upgrade of push button units (€70,000)
• Strategic Traffic Study: Finalisation of a collaborative study between NTA and Dublin City Council to review traffic management in the central area of Dublin City, & development of proposals based on agreed priorities for the City over the coming years (€200,000)

The Government has announced that the Early Learning Initiative in the Dublin Docklands has been awarded 1.2 million in funding to develop programmes to help break cycles of child poverty in the area.

This funding is part of the Area Based Childhood (ABC) programme that was announced as part of Budget 2013 and follows a commitment in the Programme for Government to adopt an area-based approach to child poverty. The programme, co-funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, has a total funding allocation of €30 million that will support projects that draw on best international practice and existing services to improve outcomes for children in areas of disadvantage.

The Early Learning Initiative focuses on addressing the problems of educational underachievement in marginalised communities. Investment in evidence-based early intervention is key to improving long-term outcomes for children in these areas. To read more about the ELI, see here. 

For more information on the ABC programme itself, click here.