During my time representing Dundrum on the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council, I was proud to be appointed to the Council of Europe. Speaking at the Council, particularly on the question of how to build participative, inclusive and sustainable cities and towns, was a privilege. A short video of one of those speeches is available to view here.
I was pleased to recently have the chance to address the Seanad Public Consultation on the Future of Local Democracy. I hope the TDs & Senators take note of the arguments I and other councillors made for stronger local democracy and citizens’ rights.You can watch the video of the Seanad session here.
The closure of Taney Playschool due to lack of funding is a huge loss to the local community and distressing for the parents who se children attend there.At my request, Independent Senator Victor Boyhan has pressed Minster O’ Gorman for an urgent and immediate increase in the funding for the Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE). The capitation funding is wholly inadequate for play schools like Taney that cannot offer after school or other services, and are depending on the ECCE programme funding.Senator Boyhan has also asked that officials of the [...]
I was asked recently what I felt that the key issues for Dundrum are. It's an excellent question so I'd like to give my thoughts on that here. Over the last twenty years or so, the Old Shopping Centre and Main Street have lost so many small independent retailers. Dundrum needs revitalisation and a thriving day and evening commercial community. A big part of this is the redevelopment of the Old Shopping Centre. It is now two years since the Planning Application for this was submitted to An Bord Pleanála. While the developer's [...]
As part of Budget 2024, the Government signed off on a package of €257m for an Increased Cost of Business (ICOB) Grant as a vital measure for small and medium businesses. If you run a small or medium size business, applications are open now and will be open until 1 May 2024. I know times are hard from many small businesses across our community, so any assistance from this scheme is very welcome. You do not need to wait until the deadline to apply and applications are already being processed. If you [...]
Do you have a full understanding of the proposed new Planning Bill going through the Oireachtas?Are you aware of the extent to which this Bill if enacted, will weaken the role of local planners and centralise even further the power of the Minister in respect of local planning? Are you aware of the proposals that will limit citizens’ participation in the planning process? In light of the radical shift in planning law that the new Planning Bill would bring, why is there no government information campaign to raise citizens’ awareness about the [...]
I am looking forward to addressing the Seanad Public Consultation Committee on the future of Local Government next Thursday morning, April 25th. Watch this space for a link to the event.
Imagine Dundrum had a very large attendance at our Public Meeting on Wednesday 27 April and Information Clinic on Saturday on the subject of the proposed redevelopment of Dundrum Village. It was wonderful to see so many people engaged in the future of our community, and I was delighted to speak at this meeting in my role as Chair of Imagine Dundrum. For anyone that couldn't make it on the day, a link to the talk is here: https://fb.watch/cK8MwGvXhu/ The Dundrum Area meeting of councillors takes place tomorrow evening Tuesday at 5pm [...]
A Public Meeting will be taking place on Wednesday April 27th to which everyone is very much invited. The subject of this meeting will be nothing less than the future of Dundrum Village, or, more specifically, the Hammerson-Allianz plans for the the redevelopment of the old Dundrum shopping centre. The voice of the people of the community of Dundrum should be heard on matters that will shape their future. The people of Dundrum should have a say in what kind of place Dundrum will be like to live in, in two, five, ten years [...]
I am delighted and privileged to have been elected by my colleagues as one of four Councillors to represent Ireland on the Council of Europe. I will be a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. I will be serving on the Governance Committee of the Council which deals with effectiveness and inclusiveness of local government throughout the Council of Europe member states including citizen participation, trans-frontier co-operation, and related matters. I look forward to sharing the best of Ireland’s local government practice and bring back the learning from [...]
On Monday, March 8th, I am looking forward to co-chairing the Second National Local Government Women’s Network Forum tomorrow to mark International Women’s Day, from 11:00am – 1:00pm, where we celebrate women in local government. If you would like to register to join this free event, you can register here. The theme for the online event is #wechoosetochallenge where we will be discussing what women bring to the role of the councillor; how women can bring new vision and ideas to local government and local leadership; and how women can challenge themselves and [...]
I was privileged to be elected in 2019 as Vice President of the Association of Irish Local Government, the national representative body for Ireland’s 949 councillors. The mission of the Association is to represent and support the role of our elected councillors and to be a strong voice for local communities through effective local government. It has been a particularly busy year, in spite of the constraints imposed by Covid-19 restrictions. We addressed several important national policy issues, including the plans for Directly Elected Mayor for Limerick, the Review of Traveller Accommodation, [...]
Imagine Dundrum has been campaigning for several years now for investment in public realm Dundrum Main Street. We have looked for all the redundant poles to be removed, that make life hard for wheelchair users and visually impaired people. Wider pavements, planting, and general upgrade had been long overdue We are delighted that these improvements are happening, even if the pressure has come from social distancing requirements arising from the Covid-19. Disalbed parking is of better quality too. The one way system is resulting in changes that will take time to [...]
Imagine Dundrum has talked with people with disabilities, families and advocates about their experience of Dundrum Village. We asked what would make it a good place to live, visit, spend time. We spoke with people who are wheelchair users, people with visual impairment, family members and people with learning disabilities. The overwhelming feedback was that Dundrum Village at present is an inhospitable place. The difficulties people spoke about ranged across narrow and cluttered pavements, walking routes, traffic, lack of accessible toilet facilities. For wheelchair users and visually impaired people, the Main Street was [...]
I would like to wish a warm welcome to the changes to Dundrum Main Street starting today, Monday 10th of August. As a result of these changes, pedestrians and cyclists will have more space and more safety as part of the Council’s mobility interventions to respond to Covid-19. The new one-way system through the village and the redirection of some buses to the by-pass is aimed at traffic calming. We will have much needed improvements to the streetscape in the village, with new seating and planting which we hope will make [...]
At the moment, very welcome work to support social distancing in Dundrum is being undertaken by the Council. As part of this work, there is an opportunity to make some simple changes that will benefit those of us who need it most. For all of Dundrum's many strengths, it is an inhospitable place for people with disabilities, according to the visually impaired people and wheelchair users with whom Imagine Dundrum has spoken. The street is badly cluttered with street furniture, much needed bike-racks are present but positioned in ways that [...]
The first exciting news is that Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is to make a formal application for government funding under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund for a new Civic Centre in the heart of Dundrum. Imagine Dundrum welcomes this big step towards a development we have campaigned for over four years! Since coming together in 2016, Imagine Dundrum has campaigned strongly for a Civic Centre for Dundrum, emphasising the contrast between its status as the second major town in the County and its lack of civic, cultural and community facilities [...]
The rich tapestry of Eavan Boland’s poetry has been revisited and proclaimed in the weeks since her death, and especially her celebration of motherhood, marriage, domestic life. For me, her sense of place, and in particular her place in Dundrum makes her our poet in a special way. Eavan brought her deep sense of history as well as her lived-in present, and prescience about the future when she wrote about Dundrum. In the beautifully crafted prose piece in ‘A Poet’s Dublin’, she paints a vivid picture of an older Dundrum village, [...]
The Good Neighbour Zero Waste shop in old Dundrum Centre is taking orders for collection or delivery, will deliver anywhere in South Dublin. Details on their order service here. They will also fill any clean and dry containers dropped in before 2pm every day.
