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End of the day at the office

Sunset over clew bay

Path from Quay school to town to be repaired

Looking down

Hole in the path

Looking up

As you can see from the photos above the path from the Quay School into town has been in a bad way for some time.

I took the issue up with the Town Engineer last year and am delighted that work will commence on the path this year under the roadworks budget.

It's Official Westport is a fairtrade town

Westport receives its Fairtrade Town status

This is a pic of me with my fellow Westport Fairtrade Committee members and Westport's Leas Cathaoirleach Cllr Dave Keating at the celebrations of Westport's achivement in becoming a Fairtrade Town.

But, are you happy? Make a Change!

If you think things need to change too, why not vote for Labour in May?

You can find out more information about the Labour Party and what we stand for by checking out our website – http://www.labour.ie/ – and you can find out who is your local Labour candidate by clicking here.

Spread the Word
If you think Pat is talking your language, tell your family and friends. If you like you can forward this website via email by clicking here – that way, others can hear for themselves what Pat means by change and what his five Commitments for Change are.
The more people who want change - the better quality of life for all of us.

Join
If you'd like to take your commitment further and join The Labour Party, we'd be delighted if you click here.

Out and about

Will the real slim shady please stand up!

Pictured here are both of Labour's two Keith Martins. The one on the left is a Westport Town Councillor and the one on the right is Parliamentary Assistant to Ruairi Quinn TD. The photo was taken at the 2007 Labour Party Conference in the Helix, Dublin.

Cllr Keith at the conference

That's me under the arrow at the 2007 Labour Party Conference.

Labour's Tax Cut- good news for everyone

Wow,

I am just as shocked and happy as anyone else, except Brian Cowen et al, at our party's pledge to reduce the standard rate of tax by two percent to 18%.

That is great and will make a difference to low income earners like me. It will mean a lot of money back out of my wages.

The average industrial wage at present is about €32,000. It is likely to rise to just under €34000 by the end of 2007. The FF/PD tax plan which would only cut the higher rate of tax gives nothing to workers on or below the average industrial wage.

We are proposing to help everyone by lowering the lower rate. As a nation we can easily afford this cut as the Government this year ran a surplus of €2265m – so they were €5,190 million better off than expected in the Budget for that year. It is a normal part of the Budget process to include a tax package, to a greater or lesser extent – the income tax package in Budget 2006 cost just over €1250 million. This makes the 2% cut readily affordable.

Pat Rabbitte promised a fairer society and I think his proposed tax cut is the right way of going about it.

Labour Health Survey

Westport Labour Branch hit the streets of Westport last week on a bright but chilly Saturday to take up a survey on Westport's Health Service needs and on the people of Westport's experiences of the Health Service. There was a great response and some heart breaking stories. This have now been sent to Party HQ to be studied and should paint and interesting picture of the state of Westport's health care facilities and needs.

You can take part in the survey, which is nationwide by clicking here and filling it out on line.

St Patrick's Day Parade 2005

An old pic from my first St Patrick's Day Parade.

No to Knock military flights

I am delighted to see the board of Knock Airport ruling out the US military flights or fueling at the airport here in Mayo.

The airport is a great success in its own right and while the US has been good to Ireland, in its own way, its foreign policy and invasion of Iraq is disgraceful. Its continued blockading of Cuba, while it trades with China, its condemnation of Chavez while it props up dictators all over the world and the untold death and destruction in Iraq make helping, aiding or even facilitating the US military a repellent idea.

The board has said it would only ever facilitate military flights if they were for humanitarian purposes. In a statement, it said that any flights involving US military personnel "would have to have the support of both the Government and the United Nations". The board said it believed firmly that any military operation, not supported by both the Government and the UN, was "not compatible with the mission and aims of the airport".

Just a point in it

The alternative coalitions are polling neck and neck, according to the latest Irish Times /TNS mrbi survey which shows a decline of five percentage points in the combined support for both Government parties since December. Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are now just one point ahead of the Fine Gael-Labour alternative.