After the chaos  experienced last winter when severe freezing weather rendered the City’s road and water infrastructure practically unusable, at our September Council meeting I questioned the Manager to find out what preparations have been put in place in case of a repeat in weather conditions this coming year. Please see the response below.

Q23.    COUNCILLOR EOGHAN MURPHY
Could the Manager please provide details as to what plans have been put in place in preparation for a possible repeat of the severe weather conditions experienced in December and January of 2009/2010, including:

• salt stock provisions;
• the identification of possible emergency salt stock provisions;
• road gritting plans;
• communication plans in the event of road closures, disruption to services etc;
• whether the question of liability has been resolved in relation to the maintenance or non-maintenance of icy footpaths by businesses/residents/Dublin City Council;
• water supply in the event of broken pipes due to freezing ground;
• and, communication plans for any possible water disruptions following any major leakages.

CITY MANAGER’S REPLY:

Roads & Traffic Department reply

Works to the value of €74,000 have recently taken place on the renovation of salt storage barns in order to provide facilities for the storage of up to 1,800 tonnes of salt, providing an additional 500 tonnes of salt in storage over the amount stored at the beginning of last year (i.e. 2009 to 2010).  This amount of salt will be built up in storage over the next two months.  In addition, plans are being assembled in conjunction with the National Roads Authority for the replenishment of this salt as it is being used throughout the winter period.

Road Maintenance Services are currently finalising the City’s winter maintenance plan for the winter period 2010–2011, which includes details of the various winter maintenance crew call-out procedures, salt spreading routes, appropriate salt spreading rates etc.

Communications of any road closures, disruption to services etc. will be implemented via the Roads & Traffic Department’s Traffic Control Centre’s existing communication channels.

In relation to the maintenance or non-maintenance of icy footpaths by businesses/residents/Dublin City Council, we have not been advised of any change in legislation making alterations to the current situation at this point in time. [What is the current situation? I’m finding it very difficult to get a concrete answer.]

Engineering Department reply
This reply relates to the last 2 bullet points above as these refer to water supply issues:

The age and condition of much of the City’s water supply system is such that it will continue to be vulnerable to bursts, particularly during periods of low temperature.  This will remain to be the case until old watermains are replaced/rehabilitated.  This work is in progress but will take many years to complete and is highly dependant on the availability of capital funding from Central Government to cover the cost involved. Except in exceptional circumstances, such as those which occurred in January/February of 2010, repairs are made quickly with little disruption to supply other than in the vicinity of particular bursts.  It is important to note that the City Council has responsibility for the public part of the system only and owner/occupiers have responsibility for the maintenance and repair of the supply system on their own property.

The impact of the cold weather event in 2010 was compounded when consumer demand rose dramatically thereby depleting stocks of treated water.  In the event of a repeat of these conditions, it would again be necessary to impose serious restrictions on supply.  Experience gained during that event will benefit us in dealing with future difficulties but there will always be a variance in the level of impact on consumers because of the nature of the supply network.

A lot of work has been done on communications since the events of early 2010.  The City Council now has a page reserved on RTE Television’s AERTEL service (page 629) where information can be made available to the public.  TV screens carrying only public service information have been installed in public offices. The website has been improved and now contains a large amount of information regarding water supply and how to deal with typical difficulties that might be encountered.  During water supply incidents, both planned and unplanned, press releases and other relevant information is updated regularly on the site.  The use of media, both written and radio/TV to convey information will be maximised, as for example during a recent

significant problem with a burst on a large diameter watermain in the city.  A media day was also organised recently where media representatives were presented with an extensive insight into the production of drinking water for the entire Dublin Region.  City Councillors also have relevant information, press releases etc. emailed to them and will also receive a text message on their mobile phones to alert them to the fact that an email has been sent to them. The City Council is committed to exploring all avenues that will help provide accurate and timely information regarding its activities.

Before I was elected to Dublin City Council I worked for an organisation that was not too dissimilar to it in make-up. We had a secretariat with an executive on one side, and members on the other. The members were there to make the big decisions, to steer policy and to act in an oversight role.

As part of the secretariat, we put transparency at a premium – in everything we did: budgets, policy, contracts, procurement; there was not a piece of information about the organisation, a public one, that a member could not attain. We did this to enfranchise members, co-opt them in to the process so that they would be more interested and involved. While they mightn’t always agree with everything we were doing at least they knew what we were doing and why.

I joined the Council with a personal bias against the proposed incinerator for Poolbeg. I’m from Sandymount, I still run along the causeway regularly, and so my opposition against such a big facility in my part of town was there from the get go. It was visceral, instinctive. Arguments relating to capacity, location cost etc, however sound, came after the fact.

And yet I walked on to the Council with an open mind. I was here to govern responsibly for the City and if a compelling case could be made in favour, if I could be convinced that this was the best way forward for Dublin, then I would support it, confident that I was doing the right thing for everyone and not just pandering to my own personal and local biases.

It has been more than 12 months since I was elected. The incinerator is not yet built. And nothing that I have read, heard or discussed in that time has given me any confidence that this is the right way forward. The complete lack of transparency regarding the contract is astounding. Are we as public representatives not to be trusted? To whom does the City Council answer if not us? Certainly not the people and it appears not even the government.

The lack of clarity, to the extent of secrecy, surrounding the incinerator contract is grossly undermining people’s faith in their city council. There have already been court cases, which have come out negatively for the Council. There have been articles in the paper making claims, which if founded, are very damaging to the Council and completely undermine the process to date. The poison from this episode may well infect others.

What’s going on here? Why don’t I as a Councillor have the full facts surrounding a facility that is to be built in my City and in my area, which I have responsibility for? A facility that is extremely important to the future of the City and country (in one way or another), that has cost serious money to date, and, if all is to be believed, could potentially land tax payers with an open-ended liability for the next 25 years if certain waste targets are not met.

Something is rotten in the State of Dublin. And I’m not happy about it.

The annual Irish commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place yesterday in Merrion Square. The event was organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and I was asked by the Lord Mayor to formally open the ceremony. Before my election to Dublin City Council I worked in the area of nuclear weapon disarmament, both in Ireland and abroad, so it was an occasion of particular relevance to me and I was honoured to be there on behalf of the citizens of Dublin. Below you can read my brief remarks at the commemoration.

***

Welcome and thank you for coming.

It seems to be a facet of humanity, of human history, that we are determined to learn by our mistakes – by making mistakes. We must lack the capacity of rational or reasonable forethought because it is through error that the great lessons of our race are learnt.

But perhaps the greater tragedy behind this fact is that there are those among us who do not learn at all. In the corridors of power, in many countries, today, people are making arguments for the possession of nuclear weapons, for the acquisition of nuclear weapons, for the retention of nuclear weapons, and even for the use of nuclear weapons.

Good ideas have their time. But bad ideas, unfortunately, have many. And with every step that we take away from 6 August 1945, the opportunity for this particular bad idea to come to the fore again increases.

That is why we are here today. That is why it is so important. I’m too young to remember the attack on Hiroshima. My parents are too young to remember it. My grandparents remembered it, but they are dead. What then when all our grandparents are dead, and our parents and ourselves. What then of this most important piece of our history – so important in fact that our future histories depend on its remembrance.

We must remember. Because in remembering this horrific event, in reminding the world that it happened, we hope to see that it can never happen again.

That hope is not enough on its own unfortunately. Much else needs to be done. We need a test ban treaty. We need a fissile material cut off treaty. We need greater transparency over existing stocks. And we need a realistic and time bound plan for getting to zero, for the elimination of every nuclear weapon from this earth. And what we need, as Irish people, is for our government to reassert its moral authority again and to distance itself from our European allies – two of whom are weapon possessors – when it comes to this most important issue. We once led the world on the necessity of nuclear disarmament. Unfortunately, no more. We need to find that voice again, that courage and that commitment.

But for today at least, we recall this terrible memory, this most shocking of human acts, and we hope together that the world may never witness another like it.

Thank you.

This week we concluded the second stage in the process of making a Dublin City Development Plan for 2011-2017.

In December we put the first draft out to public consultation and the public gave their views on the draft. After the cut off date, the City Manager gave his views on the public submissions and made a number of recommendations. Councillors then submitted motions to amend the Draft Plan based on the public submissions and the Manager’s recommendations. The Manager then came back with a report and recommendations on those motions. And on Monday night, the debate on all of this began. (Still with me?)

The Development Plan has always been foremost in my mind since my election in June 2009 – it is likely the most important thing we will do as a Council collectively. I have taken this responsibility very seriously and have spent hundreds of hours pouring over documents, researching, meeting interested parties and talking with experts.

When we came to debate the first proposed draft before Christmas (which would eventually become the Draft Plan that went out to the public), I came away from that process with a bad taste in my mouth. It didn’t live up to my expectations of the range of debate I thought we would have around various issues.

It is the one outstanding quality of the Council in my opinion – we have real debates. But with the Development Plan time simply didn’t allow it: there was too much to get through in too short a time.

Who’s to blame? You could blame the legislation, which sets the timelines, but it’s bigger than this – it cuts to the very core of how we govern locally in this country. But that’s for another day.

That feeling of being burned by the process hadn’t gone away when this second stage came along. While I spent just as much time in preparation etc, I just wasn’t as passionate about it, I wasn’t feeling it. That bothered me but that’s where I was. I expected to be let down by the process again.

In three nights and some ten hours we moved through over 900 motions. Very impressive time management and a compliment to the preparation that the officials had done before this week.

In a way, this stage was good because we didn’t waste any time on those issues that didn’t need any more. When someone had a point to make, they made it succinctly and we moved quickly to a vote. Which worked – certain things have been thrashed out enough at this stage. However, at the same time, those issues that did need more time – greater discussion and debate – didn’t get it. And that was frustrating. But that was how it went.

Any change that has been made to the first draft that went out on public display previously will now be put back out to the public at the end of August. Only the changes though (‘material alterations’), not the draft plan as a whole.

I’m confident that, for the most part, those things that need more time – height and, in particular, issues around Z15 land zoning – will get it in the final analysis some time around November/December when we once again debate and sign off on the plan. We will have more time then as there will be fewer issues before us and as it is the last stage we will be sure to get it right. We will be sure that we adopt the right plan for the city, I’m confident of that.

Was I happy at the end of it? Not entirely. One issue, concerning public consultation at the next stage on all the height provisions in the plan, kept me from voting on a compromise height motion that I thought was heading in the right direction. I didn’t want to vote against it but I was left with little choice when a simple amendment that would have ensured full consultation was defeated. That’s democracy I suppose. They had the votes without me.

Overall though, some good things have been done, progress has been made on the earlier draft, and I am looking forward to the next stage.

Yesterday I was elected Chairperson of the South East Area Committee (SEAC) on Dublin City Council. The SEAC is made up of the ten Councillors from the South East Inner City and the Pembroke-Rathmines electoral areas. We come together formally every month to take decisions in relation to issues facing Dublin South East. It’s easily the most important committee that I sit on as it is where I get most of my work done, so to be elected Chair after only one year on the Council was really quite something for me.

It’s times like yesterday where the contrast with my former job in Vienna really comes home. I used to be a bureaucrat, an international civil servant, working for a secretariat that served an organization of governments. We had many meetings and conferences and I was integrally involved in each being the speechwriter for the head of the organization (as well as some of the more senior representatives).

One of my key roles was drafting speaking notes for the Chairperson or President of the session. These were scripted in such detail that the direction of the meeting and any given issue that might arise was almost predetermined before the meeting began. And whether it was my boss, the Foreign Minister or his/her Ambassador in the Chair, it went according to the notes.

These speaking notes would be drafted over a couple of weeks as pre-meetings, phonecalls and emails between relevant parties gave indication to positions and likely outcomes. If there was ever a wobble in a meeting – something unexpected, which is really quite rare in diplomatic circles – it would be adjourned and discussions would take place in an ante-room. I’d sit there drafting new speaking notes as I followed these discussions so that when plenary resumed a couple of hours later we were back on track and the meeting itself, the official part, ran like clock work.

It was really quite something. For the big ones (the 3-5 day sessions), a couple of months work might go in to them, so that once the opening session began, your job was pretty much done.

And then, in a relatively short time, I went from there to here, elected on to Dublin City Council. What struck me first was that I was meant to speak in meetings. A bizarre concept for someone like me whose primary role in a meeting was always to listen, take a few notes, be seen not heard, and assist my boss accordingly (whisper in the ear, passing of a note). And I still forget that sometimes when I’m in a meeting – that I’m expected to speak, to voice an opinion on almost everything. I’d rather not, would rather reserve my opinions for those things that I actually have opinions on, but there you go. If you’re a politician and you’re not talking I guess you’re wasting your time (or, crucially, not important). Well that’s how some people see it anyway.

But what struck me yesterday though, as I assumed my first chairing duties, was the other aspect of my so-called meeting room life that had changed. If international meetings are predetermined, then Council meetings are very much free will. This is not to criticize the people who run them or what they are as meetings but just to realize their nature. It’s a very different world from the boardrooms of the Vienna International Centre, where a poorly chosen word stated in official plenary could have quite serious consequences. I suppose that’s because of both the remove of diplomacy, where the Ambassador is just that, but also because his/her words are those of a nation and therefore can never be taken lightly.

As Councillors we are agents for ourselves primarily, though representing a Party (most of us), and that freedom to act and speak and to make decisions expresses itself in the conduct of our meetings. We don’t have to worry about communiqués from the capital. If a mistake is made it is easily corrected. And if you by accident offend someone else in the room, no harm, a cup of tea afterwards can smooth things over. The other aspect is that decisions are not predetermined and things actually get decided in the room (incomprehensible in those big set-piece meetings). You could never script an area committee meeting, they are far too varied in detail and personality.

I tried drafting my own speaking notes over the weekend in an attempt to steer the meeting in the direction I assumed it would go. It was fun, to step back in to that role and to enjoy an irony of sorts – drafting my own speaking notes (finally). But no chance.

It didn’t quite descend in to chaos, but it certainly wasn’t easy. And while I used to, in my arrogance, view some chairpersons as puppets of the Secretariat, I do have a new found respect for anyone who must sit at the top of the table as it were and try and steer intelligent people through important work.

The script has been abandoned. But the show goes on.

On Thursday evening last I was invited along to the old folk’s summer ball in Dublin South East. It was taking place down on Pearse Street in the evening and though I really didn’t have time to go along (motions for the second stage of the development plan were due the next day) i’m conscious that it’s important to be out and about with your constituents at these kinds of events. So I jumped on a Dublinbike and popped down (stopping in to a friend for a quick bite and catch up on the way).

This will sound cheesy, but these are the types of events that keep me going.

A packed hall. About 180 older people from around the community having a great night out. The Garda band. And a small team of dedicated Council staff running the show. A very positive vibe to a very positive event. And for me it’s very much what community is all about. People helping people. People working for something bigger than themselves. Everyone benefiting.

But what really did it for me, on top of this, was the fact that I got to pitch in. No standing around, making chit-chat, posing, canvassing for votes. I got to actually do something tangible and immediate in terms of helping out. I got to serve the food. Well, the sausages portion of the meal anyway.

We dished out 180 meals in record time. A colleague from Labour who was there did the same and there was about 8 of us scrambling around the hall getting the plates out to the tables and then following up with coffee etc. It all went very well and we worked up a sweat and had a great laugh doing it. Happy out.

Did it help me get any votes? Probably not. Does that bother me? I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. Maybe it should bother me. I mean I probably should have been canvassing the room, shaking hands and giving out free pens like one of the local TDs was.

Or then again, maybe no harm in not worrying about that for once, seeing the bigger picture, and not being such a bloody politician.

Maybe.

On Wednesday 30 June, the following areas will likely experience problems with the water service: from Strand Rd to York Rd and surrounding areas, including Ringsend Park, Pigeon House Rd and parts of Sandymount.

Essential maintenance is due to take place from 7am until 5pm, during which you may notice a reduction in water pressure or no water at all.

If this is to change at all I will keep you updated here. If you’re experiencing problems and your area is not listed above please do get in touch and let me know.

086 086 3832

info@eoghanmurphy.ie

A few weeks ago we had an all day meeting on parking in the City.

When I told my friends the night before that I had to leave the pub early because of an important meeting the next day they were impressed. Until they asked what it was about. Cue much laughter.

But parking, and car use in general, is actually very important. It’s important to residents, who can never find a space outside their house or on their road. To the City Council, as a revenue stream. To businesses, as a convenience factor. To citizens, as a mobility issue.

Parking is an element of the transport matrix and so is very much related to ease of movement. How we get from place to place in a City, and the ease, economy and comfort with which we do so, is very much linked to ones standard of life.

Since my election many individual issues had raised their head, some specific, others more general and this meeting was the first (of many I hope) to look at the wider strategic issue. We looked at some short term solutions and longer term ones and below is an exploration of two of them:

Short term – parking on footpaths

Parking on footpaths: unlike some European cities, this is illegal in Ireland. You can’t put any part of your car on a footpath. This poses quite a problem as Dublin is a medieval city and many of its roads are too narrow to accommodate on street parking while also allowing a smooth flow of traffic. So, in a typical Irish solution, the Council allows it to happen on certain roads if no one is making too much of a fuss, turns a blind eye and tells the clampers to stay away. But, if the clampers get 3 complaints, they have no choice. And people who have been parking on the footpath without fear suddenly come home one day to find €80 worth of metal on their wheel. One Councillor is pushing for a change in the law so that lines can be drawn on footpaths to indicate that cars can park on them, but only within the designated spaces. I suppose the idea is to bring some order to chaos and take a practical approach. Not everyone supports this though, particularly the National Council of the Blind in Ireland. From here we’re going to get a consultant to review what is done in comparable European cities. I wonder how much that’s going to cost.

Long term – car clubs

The long term solution to parking problems in our residential areas is less car ownership. Which means more public transport usage, better public transport etc. But public transport often does not have the flexibility that one requires to their journey or doesn’t suit the purpose of the trip. Enter car clubs. I’ve been harping on about these for a few months now and you can read more about it in other blog posts. Very basically, it’s about bringing cars in to the public transport matrix, much like the Dublinbikes. There is interest and there is a pilot scheme operating down in Cork and at the moment I’m trying to find out what obstacles need to be negotiated here in Dublin and how. At our meeting we got to discuss this a bit and I learnt the following:

• It’s not currently possible under Irish law to have residential only parking on a street because our streets are public property. This same law prevents us from designating certain parking spaces as ‘car club only’ because that’s viewed as private use. I suppose this is the same reason that the electric car juice points around town do not have ‘electric car parking only’ designations;
• Private streets do still exist down in the Docklands so something may be possible there;
• In Cork, the scheme is (mostly) operating on Council owned land;
• Could we use DCC owned land here? There are 300 spaces in the Wood Quay car park, with two and a half thousand staff working there. 75% of staff in the Council travel by public transport so they’re doing pretty good as it is and there may not be capacity to reduce the number of available spaces further (I disagree);
• What about another DCC site like Drury Street car park? According to operators of car clubs, for them to work they need to be visible, on the street, and you need 24hour access;
• The Council has written to the Minister for Transport requesting that the legislation be amended to allow car club cars to park on public streets.

The Minister for the Environment announced today that he is to order an independent review of how planning laws and policies have been implemented in Dublin City Council. He sites specific and major complaints about decisions made by planners which have prompted the review.

This is a very serious matter – of particular relevance to me as an elected official involved in making the new development plan for the City, but also someone who sits on the Council’s Planning Strategic Policy Committee.

When I was elected as a representative the very first thing I did was to establish exactly my functions as a Councillor in relation to planning issues, given the importance of planning and development to the City.

Councillors are responsible for making the development plan & planners are responsible for implementing it. Though the public is given the impression that we have influence over individual planning decisions, we do not. And rightly so.

But only if we can be fully confident in the operation of that process in accordance with the policies we have set forth and in full consistency with the Planning Laws.

The Minister does not seem to have that confidence and that is very worrying.

At a meeting of the planning SPC today I will be asking the officials the following:
• when were they made aware of this investigation;
• whether they are aware of the “specific and major complaints” that prompted the Minister to target DCC for investigation;
• how the officials intend to respond;
• to what degree the elected members will be kept informed of any problems/solutions raised in the course of the investigation.

It is crucial that when it comes to planning, Dublin City Council is beyond reproach. The timing is all the more important given that we are about to enter in to the second stage of the making of a new Development Plan for Dublin.

The government today announced that the new parking levy on employers (€200 per parking space in the city centre) will come in to effect this summer.

Effectively this is an indirect congestion charge from central government, but one that presents a great incentive for the City Council to get moving on bringing car clubs in to the City.

Car clubs would run in a similar manner to the existing and successful Dublinbikes scheme and would allow members to share the use of publicly available cars in a convenient manner without taking on many of the burdens/costs/waste associated with car ownership, including car parking charges and levies.

A motion I previously had on the introduction of electric car club schemes was debated by the Council earlier this month. It was agreed that the issue would be sent to the Traffic and Transport Strategic Policy Committee for report. This may end up in unnecessary delays though.

But why wait? What greater incentive do we need? We should take advantage of this new congestion charge and move to introduce car clubs now. I’ve already been contacted by a number of organisations that want to move on this but we’re standing in the way.

We know that tens of thousands of people drive in to work every day, in both the private and the public sector. For big organisations such as Dublin City Council who are based in the very centre of the city, this new levy is going to be another financial burden we cannot afford – we can’t even afford to keep public swimming pools open, things are that difficult.

Bringing in car clubs on to the city’s streets however, even on a pilot basis in certain areas, could save the Council a lot of money. With the use of publicly available cars, Council staff who need access to cars as part of their daily work would no longer need to bring their own cars in to the City.

Think then if these savings could be spread across the City, to every government department and to private businesses – the potential savings for the taxpayer are huge, as well as the benefits to the environment and in decreasing congestion problems.