Make sure you get down to the South Docks Festival which runs from 16th – 20th July and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

St. Andrew’s Resource Centre has organised many events for people of all ages including Bouncing Castles, Variety Shows, Story Telling, Workshops, Dinner Dances and the South Docks Festival Parade.

For more information, you can contact St. Andrew’s Resource Centre on 01 6771930 or you can view the brochure here.

Due to the redevelopment of the site in Ranelagh, my constituency office is now closed. I am currently in the process of moving in to a new office, which I hope will be up and running in the Village from the 1^st of September.

In the meantime my office in Leinster House will be functioning as normal.  If you need to talk to me at any time please do get in touch. You can contact me in any number of ways:

You can call me on (01) 618 3324, email me on eoghan.murphy@oir.ie, social media me through Facebook, Twitter (MurphyEoghan) and LinkedIn, or write to me at Leinster House, Kildare St, Dublin 2.

I look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

Eoghan

This is an update on the flood defence works that are currently underway along the River Dodder. This progress refers to the schedule of works as outlined by Minister of State Brian Hayes and the OPW earlier this year. If you require any further information, please do get in touch with with my office.

Marian College

The works to the right bank at Marian College are now complete and the path is now open.

Lansdowne Road

The original date for completion of the works on the left bank of Lansdowne Road is the third quarter of 2012 and it is still expected that works will be completed in that timeframe.

Emergency Works

Most of the emergency works as previously outlined will be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2012. These include:

– River emergency maintenance and reconstruction of Licensed Vintners embankment

– Construction of concrete wall upstream of Licensed Vintners, structural investigation

– Reconstruction of flood wall at Sweepstakes development

However, the reconstruction of the 2 meter high flood wall from the railway to Beatty’s Avenue is a substantial amount of work, some 250m in length, and will, most likely, continue until the first quarter of 2013.

The wall on Anglesea Road near the RDS is being monitored and will be repaired if it deteriorates further. Otherwise, it will be repaired as part of major works to take place, estimated for 2014.

Phases upstream of tidal section of Dodder

We understand from Dublin City Council that the draft Part 8 and Environmental Report will be completed this month and submitted to the City Planning Departments for comments.

Dublin Flooding Initiative

This is a matter for Dublin City Council, but we understand the Report is at draft Final Stage, programmed to be completed at the end of this month and to be presented to a subsequent Strategic Policy Committee meeting.

Financial Expenditure

The Office of Public Works has profiled expenditure of between €1M and €2M for each of the next four years.

The National Transport Agency have provided funding of €450,000 this year to Dublin City Council to progress works in three areas of the city, one of which is Ringsend and Irishtown.

A review of the traffic management issues was undertaken in Ringsend/Irishtown by the South East Area Engineer and the Sustainable Transport Unit to identify traffic issues in the area.

A number of issues were identified and the NTA agreed to fund the proposed measures, if required:

•       Dermot O’Hurley Avenue/Fitzwilliam Quay – Road closure.

•       Cambridge Road – Footpath build outs at school warden crossing point.

•       Strand Street/Pembroke Street – Modify island at junction and implement one one way system in conjunction with allowing two way traffic on Chapel Avenue. In addition provide directional signage for Ringsend Park and Irishtown Stadium.

•       Irishtown Road – Upgrade existing and provide new dished crossing, upgrade pedestrian refuge islands and bollards.

The Ringsend/Irishtown Traffic Plan will be on display in Ringsend Library, Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 4 from Thursday 12th July until Friday 20th July 2012, and we would like to invite all members of the community and local businesses to view these plans and make any comments they feel necesssary.

Library opening times are as follows:

Monday, Wednesday : 12.45pm – 4.00pm and 4.45pm – 8.00pm.

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday : 10.00am – 1.00 pm and 2.00pm – 5.00pm.

Sundays : Closed.

A Dublin City Council Representative will be available to offer assistance and answer questions on Thursday 12th July from 2.00pm – 5.00pm and on Monday 16th July from 5.00pm -8.00pm.

Dublin City Libraries will celebrate summer in Dublin with a range of events and activities for children, with particular emphasis on the build up to the Tall Ships Festival taking place in August.

For the first time since 1998, Dublin will welcome back the Tall Ships Races as final host port: up to 100 Tall Ships will sail into Dublin for a four day festival and celebration from 23rd – 26th August.

Dublin City Libraries Summer Programme, Down by the Sea, will focus on all things maritime to celebrate this event. This nautical programme will include drawing workshops and events on the marine environment, seabirds and sealife, astronomy, history, storytelling and crafts.

The Children’s Art in Libraries programme includes a series of art workshops which will encourage children to create their own paper pop-up boats and moor them in a magical paper Dublin – children are also encouraged to enter the “Message in a Bottle” writing competition. Admission to all events is free but booking may be necessary.

For information on all children’s library events, click here.

The first ‘Greenway Walk’ is taking place this Thursday, 5th July. Anyone who interested in going along should meet in front of Marian College at 6.30pm. The walk will depart from the New Bridge and make it’s way to Clonskeagh and back again in time for an illustrated talk on the River Dodder in the Sandymount Hotel at 8pm.

For more information on the walk and other events scheduled for this Summer, click Greenway Walk Poster.

Salesforce.com will be holding an exclusive #dreamjob recruitment evening in Dublin on the evening of the 5th July 2012 at The Morrison Hotel. If you would like to find out more information about the event, you can register at www.salesforce.com/eu/openday.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, made the announcement this morning (Thursday 28th June) along with the company’s EMEA Chairman Dr. Steve Garnett.  This is to meet the demands of the company’s continued growth in Ireland. The company is immediately looking to hire qualified professionals in sales, marketing, IT and customer support functions.

The National Transport Authority’s new National Journey Planner has gone live on www.TransportforIreland.ie today (June 27, 2012).  The service is designed to help people plan personal journeys, door-to-door, anywhere in Ireland, using public transport and / or walking.

There is also an App available for Android now, with the iPhone App coming very soon.

The service is national – covering all 26 counties, plus stops from ROI services in Northern Ireland. It is multi-operator, with bus, rail, tram, taxis and ferries included along with private operators as well as the CIE companies.  It’s scope includes  9,600 bus stops across Ireland, 750 different routes, 152 train stations, and route and timetable information from 120 different transport providers.  It gives fully mapped-out route information, printable timetables and details of overall journey times all in one place.

The “Advanced Settings” feature allow you to set your own preferred walking time and speed, your willingness to make interchanges between services, or any preference for one travel mode over others.

The site is being updated and coming soon are:

Real Time Passenger Information inputs

Rural Transport programme / demand responsive services.

Fares information for your journey.

A Cycle planner.

A special feedback channel has been set up on www.TransportforIreland.ie and feedback from members of the public is encouraged which will be used to fine tune the service.

Fine Gael Councillor Naoise O’Muirí was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin at the Annual Meeting of Dublin City Council last night(Monday 25th June). He was first elected to represent the Clontarf Ward (North Central Area) of the City Council in the Local Election in 2004.

Fine Gael Councillor Clare Byrne was elected Deputy Lord Mayor. She has represented the South West Inner City Ward since her co-option to the City Council in 2007 and following her election in 2009.

Below is the Lord Mayor’s acceptance speech and you can find more information on his website here.

A chairde,

I want to start by thanking my friends and colleagues in Fine Gael and Labour for nominating me for the position of Lord Mayor tonight and for all who voted for me; it is a huge, huge honour and privilege for me and my family and I will work long and hard this year to repay the trust you have placed in me.

I want to commend Andrew Montague for all his hard work over the last 12 months – Andrew I think you really put your unique stamp on the Mayoralty during your term.  I also want to commend Maria Parodi on her work and her excellent contribution as Deputy Lord Mayor of the City.

Finally I want to congratulate Claire Byrne on her election as Deputy Lord Mayor and I look forward to working with you this year Claire.

Now I’m going to briefly set out my priorities for the coming year – they are as follows:

1. I want to lay the foundation blocks for Dublin to become a truly leading City in all things Digital for young and old. This will involve Digital Startups, Digital initiatives within Dublin City Council and pushing the agenda for Digital Citizens. DCC is likely to take a major role in managing the Digital Hub and we will use this and initiatives like the free WiFi programme as the vehicle to drive this agenda forward.

2. In my view Dublin has long been under-promoted as a premier tourist destination; it is not good enough to turn on RTE and watch ads promoting other regions in the country and nothing for Dublin. It is not good enough to sit in an Irish hotel in New York and see media promoting other regions in the country and nothing for Dublin. With Dublin Tourism being subsumed into Failte Ireland I think we have a unique opportunity to put the right structures in place now to ensure that Dublin is well-promoted at home and abroad; this is an area I will take a big interest in.

I intend to invite all the Mayors of Dublin to Dublin for the Gathering 2013 – from Dublin South Australia to Dublin Texas and everywhere in between.

I will also seek to build better civic links with London (a former stomping ground of mine);  the capital city of our largest trading partner and home to so many of our Irish diaspora.

3. But most of all as my third priority I want to be seen as a “happy warrior” for the City, doing as much as I can in practical terms to try and make our city a happy home for all; a great community in which to live and to raise a family;  a city welcoming of everybody irrespective of colour or creed.

I intend to organise and participate in sporting activities and other events for the enjoyment of all.

I hope to build on last year’s New Year’s eve festival and turn it into the Lord Mayors Fiesta.

I believe we should launch a major initiative around the City to turn derelict sites into allotments or ecoparks for citizens with cooperation from NAMA.

I will ask businesses in this City to participate in a Corporate Social Responsibility Exchange organised by the Mansion House – where they will pledge sponsorship, support and other resources to community groups in need.

Tá suim ar leith agamsa sa nGaeilge agus beidh ár dteanga dhúchais in úsáid go laethúil i rith mo théarma mar ard-mhéara. Creidim féin i bpolasaí dhátheangachais agus beidh fáilte i gcónaí roimh dhíospóireacht agus cumarsáid ar bith tri Ghaeilge.

Finally friends, my background is in engineering so like all engineers when I am not fiddling with lambda-coefficients in equations  I work off lists – so the following is my list of what is in and out for this term:

Accountable public officials are in, Elitism and the elite are out; tolerance and mutual respect are in beating up on the poor, the weak and those on social welfare is out, hand-wringing and procrastination are out;  “just doing it” is in.

Receding hairlines and thinning hair are not only in, but are being deemed de rigeur by Manager’s Order until July 2013.

Excessive waffle and verbage in the Chamber are very definitely out – any offender in this area will be sentenced to a day of house arrest with Bono AND Bob Geldof. You have been warned!

Once again, can I thank you all for your support tonight.

Go raibh mile maith agaibh.

Naoise O’ Muiri, 25.6.12

The Coca-Cola Thank You fund is a €125,000 fund which has been set up to support community and voluntary groups seeking to promote active lifestyles throughout Ireland.

The fund was set up last year and, after a total of 600 applications were received, 15 grants were were awarded to support initiatives in the area of Youth Programmes, Environmental Projects and programmes supporting active lifestyles.

This year the focus is on “active lifestyle programmes”. Ten projects will receive €10,000 each and the outstanding overall winner will receive €25,000.

Interested applicants have until 6th July 2012 to apply and full details on the application process can be found here.