The National Transport Authority (NTA) have come up with proposals to ease the worsening traffic issues in the Merrion Gate area, likely to become more acute as the frequency of the DART  increases. They want to hear your thoughts on this.

The aim of the proposals is to deliver benefits to bus and rail passengers, cyclists, pedestrians, and all road users.  A bridge for vehicles would be built along with an underpass for pedestrians and cyclists.

The plan would allow for the completion of the East Coast Trail including a two way cycle track from the city centre to Blackrock and also suggests a boardwalk along Sandymount Strand.

Read an RTE article on the topic here.

You can see the full NTA plan and give your feedback here. The closing date for submissions is 16th December 2016.

My thanks to everyone for coming to the public meeting yesterday, and to Minister Simon Coveney for a very impressive run through of the #RebuildingIreland plan.

We had a full house with lots of interaction from the crowd.

For more info on the programme go here.

Go here to see some pictures from the event.

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20 October 2016

Next Tuesday, 25th October at 8am, I will be hosting a breakfast seminar on the Government’s Action Plan for Housing. It will take place in Pinocchio’s Restaurant, below the Luas Station in Ranelagh Village.

The purpose of the meeting is to hear from Minister Simon Coveney on the details of the Housing Action Plan, which aims to deliver an increase in the number of homes available, improve the rental sector, address the needs of those in emergency homeless accommodation and accelerate the provision of social housing.

Please come along to enjoy a coffee and hear about the plan. I look forward to seeing you there.

You can find out more about the Rebuilding Ireland programme here.

There is lots going on in the constituency to celebrate Hallowe’en this year: laser light shows & music in Donnybrook; a Dracula Festival & pumpkins in Ringsend; fancy dress & competitions in Sandymount and; ghost stories & face painting in Terenure. Plenty of spooky fun for all!

Go here to see all of the events.

Recently I visited the Rinsgend Sea Scouts on Pigeon House Road. It was great to get a tour and find out about their interesting history and the activities that they run today. If you are interested in signing up your kids, you can find some information on the link below.

While I was there I was shown that the path leading to the Sea Scouts on Pigeon House Rd was overgrown and unusable. I brought this up with my Fine Gael colleague, Cllr Paddy McCartan to see if we could get this sorted. You can see the before and after pictures here. My thanks to Cllr McCartan for his help on this.

Next Tuesday, 25th October at 8am, I will be hosting a breakfast seminar on the Government’s Action Plan for Housing. It will take place in Pinocchio’s Restaurant, below the Luas Station in Ranelagh Village.

The purpose of the meeting is to hear from Minister Simon Coveney on the details of the Housing Action Plan, which aims to deliver an increase in the number of homes available, improve the rental sector, address the needs of those in emergency homeless accommodation and accelerate the provision of social housing.

Please come along to enjoy a coffee and hear about the plan. I look forward to seeing you there.

You can find out more about the Rebuilding Ireland programme here.

In September I visited the Graving Docks and got a tour from the CEO of the Docklands Business Forum, Alan Robinson. To be honest, I wasn’t aware of the potential resource here before. Following on from this visit I will be meeting with NAMA and Dublin City Council to discuss what the options are for using the site.

I asked for your suggestions on this and got some interesting ideas back:

• Create a maritime museum, potentially mooring an historic vessel there
• Build housing on the land
• Make it a Docklands heritage site
• Preserve it as a wilderness / bird watching area to attract interesting insects and wildlife
• Build a playground
• Create an amphitheatre for performance space
• Keep it green and build on stilts

Thank you for your suggestions, if you have any further ideas please drop me an email. I will keep you updated as things progress.

Some important news for the area:

A site has been purchased by the Department of Education in Sandymount from Rehab to accommodate Shellybanks Educate Together (ET) primary school and a new post primary school.

The contracts were due to close at the end of July but the conveyancing requirements were finally met at the end of last week. Now that the contracts for the site acquisition have closed, the Department have officially informed the patron in relation to Shellybanks ET.

The Rehab group have a licence agreement to remain on the site for the next 2 years. It is not envisaged that this will impede the progression of the building project for the schools. The next step is for a design team to be appointed.

Note the site is also intended to accommodate a post primary school (the new post primary school to serve Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8) which is due to open in 2018. The patronage process for this school is underway and once this has been completed, the relevant patron will be informed of the proposed location of this post primary school.

The development of the site will be subject to planning permission being obtained. Officials from the Department have had preliminary discussions with officials from Dublin City Council to inform them of the proposed use of the site for 2 schools, and we will continue to work closely with them throughout the process.

Go here to see more information on local schools.

The Irish Hospice Foundation want to hear from the public about their experience of death, loss and bereavement in order to find out how to best facilitate people at the end of their lives, and how to help those dealing with their loss.

They are asking you to take a 5 minute survey here. They are also running an informal event next Monday, 17th October from 11am to discuss people’s experiences of death and loss. Full details on this are here.

The façade of Donnybrook Garda Station is in much need of cleaning and restoration – it has been discoloured and coated with dirt by years of heavy traffic moving through the village.

Last year, after a number of years of lobbying, we received a commitment from the Office of Public Works (OPW) to power clean the exterior of the station in the first half of this year. This hasn’t happened yet and so we have been keeping the pressure on to make sure that it does happen.

You can see my most recent correspondence on this here.