MESSAGE FROM EAMON GILMORE TD

"I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet Keith Martin during the recent National Conference of Labour Councillors in Dublin. I have followed the work of Keith Martin on Westport Council with great interest and I know that the Westport Labour Party Branch is one of the most active of any party in the county.

"I look forward to the continued expansion and development of Labour in County Mayo which is, after all, the birthplace of T.J. O’Connell, who was Leader of the Labour Party between 1927 and 1932. I hope to get an opportunity to visit Westport over the coming months and meet not just the Labour Party branch but other groups and organisations in the area also.

"Labour’s place is up at the front, leading the way. We have seen great economic growth over the last 15 years, and the challenge is how to harness our economic success to make a better society and to end poverty; how to secure the future, economically and ecologically, for our children; how to make the public space safe and the public services more efficient; how to maintain the maximum number of families on the land and ensure the future of rural communities; how to get the best out of our natural resources; how to get climate change under control and how to put people first in this changing global century.

"The country faces many challenges. We have a renewed crisis in A&E units where the numbers on trolleys are as bad as ever. There are serious inadequacies in our cancer services. Violent crime remains a significant problem in both urban and rural areas. Unemployment is again increasing and many jobs in the construction sector are under threat because of the downturn in the housing market.

"The government and the Dail should be focused on dealing with these problems, but unfortunately government is preoccupied with the problems being faced by the Taoiseach in regard to his tax and financial affairs.

"The immediate political challenge for the Labour Party will be the local government elections which are now less than 18 months away. Labour had a very successful campaign in the local elections of 2004, but in the next election we will be looking to areas like County Mayo to win additional seats at all levels of local government. I want to urge all those who are concerned about social justice; who want to see better public services; who believes that Ireland can do better; to join with the Labour Party in Westport in building a better, fairer society."

To join the Labour Party in Mayo contact Keith on

086 0691182 or e-mail kmartin@cllr.westporttc.ie for more information.

Lottery of driving test results must end!

Here is a press release I am sending out on the huge differences between driving test results in Ireland. Amazingly Westport has the lowest pass rate in the country at 41%. There are also huge differences between the results of tests done by the Road Safety Authority and those conducted by the Private company SGS (the NCT people) under contract from the Dept of Transport.

It is a disgraceful situation and it needs fixing imediately. I think the people of Westport are being hard done by SGS in Westport especially when you compare it with SGS pass rate of 81% in Nenagh! Read on.

Labour’s Cllr Keith Martin has condemned what he calls the “lottery” system in relation to the pass rates for driving tests in Ireland which mean that currently Westport has the lowest rate of driving tests passes in Ireland.

Driving tests in Ireland are conducted either by the Road Safety Authority RSA or SGS Ireland the company that has been contracted by the Department of Transport to undertake driving tests on their behalf. SGS also run the NCT car testing service for the Government. The company established the National Car Testing Service in 1999 following the award of a ten year contract by the Department of the Environment.

Cllr Keith Martin says “The pass rate for driving tests in Westport, which is run by SGS and is based in their NCT test centre on the Lodge Road, is the lowest in the country at 41%. The national average for the SGS run tests is 62% the national average to tests run by the RSA is 52%. This is unacceptable as there is such a variance in the results. No one expects the same results but there is such a huge variance between Westport with 41% and 83% in Nenagh. The same standards must apply across the board and I fear that Westport’s drivers who are eager to gain a full licence are losing out in this lottery system.”

“New figures released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) for 2007 indicate that there are still huge regional variations in the driving test pass rates around the country and between RSA and SGS test centres in the same area.”

“For example in some towns there are also strikingly different pass rates between the RSA and the SGS centre in the same location. In Nenagh, for example, the RSA centre has a 43% pass rate and the SGS centre an 83% pass rate. In Carlow pass rates are 42% (RSA) and 57% (SGS), in Cavan 48% (RSA) and 68% (SGS), in Dundalk 56% (RSA) and 67% (SGS), in Monaghan 59% (RSA) and 76% (SGS), in Naas 50% (RSA) and 65% (SGS) and in Waterford 51% (RSA) and 69% (SGS).

“Highly variable driver testing pass rates were raised by the Comptroller and Auditor General at the Public Accounts Committee in a Value for Money Report last summer. But these latest figures continue to show what appears to be persistent and significant differences in pass rates around the country and at different test centres. Getting drivers quickly through the provisional driving and new learner driver system and on to full licences must remain a critical objective. However, there cannot be a system where it is almost a lottery as to whether a driver passes their test or not, depending on where they live and at which test centre they attend” concluded Cllr Martin.

Welcoming Fairtrade Producers to Westport

Today I had the honour of welcoming two Fairtrade producers to Westport where they gave a talk to local school children and toured some to the businesses stocking their products.

Click on the picture to view it full sized.

Meeting at the Mansion House

I traveled up to Dublin's Mansion House at the weekend for a Labour Councillor's meeting which started off with a coffee and a chat with Party Leader Eamon Gilmore TD.

Eamon and I discussed Westport and Mayo and how the Labour Party was building on old roots as Mayo was once a power base for Labour with TD and former Labour Party Leader elected from the county in 1927.

Thomas J. O'Connell (21 November 1882 – 22 June 1969) was an Irish trade unionist and politician, and was leader of the Irish Labour Party from 1927 to 1932. O'Connell was born near Knock, County Mayo. From 1902 to 1916 he worked first as a national teacher and then as a school principal. In 1926 he became general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation. In the June 1927 election he stood instead in the new five-seat Mayo South constituency, where he topped the poll, and he was re-elected at the September 1927 election.

Eamon will be coming to Westport this year as part of his tour of the constituencies and as a West of Ireland man he is well aware of the needs of Mayo for infrastructure, broadband and investment by the IDA.

Crime and Policing

Westport like every other town and village has a growing problem in relation to Anti-social behaviour and crime.

The extent of the problem in Westport was brought home to me in the report from the Superintendent of Westport which revealed that 50 burglaries were committed in the Westport district between the months of January and May. This is in stark contrast to a total of 58 burglaries for 2006.

There were 56 cases of Public Order offences between January to May 2007 and in the same period there were 56 cases of Criminal Damage.

I have also been contacted by residents in Cloonmonad and the Northwoods area whose quality of life is being disrupted by anti-social behaviour such as drinking, littering and noise from drunk and abusive persons.

I don't think enough is being done to combat this and I have asked the Westport Branch of the Labour Party to arrange a Public Meeting on the subject. Justice Spokesperson Pat Rabbitte TD has agreed to come and speak and when the rest of the line up and date and venue is confirmed I will let you know.

if only!.....Bush apologises for the Iraq War

An interesting video edited to make Bush appear to do the decent thing before he leaves office.

New Look site

I have updated my blog www.councillorkeithmartin.blogspot.com and jazzed up its image. I have also gotten a new address for the site www.councillorkeithmartin.com

Please let me know what you think. Image is everything, especially in politics!

Feburary Meeting

Just posted the report from our February Meeting up on the Branch's website www.westportlabour.blogspot.com

Still waiting on the decision of the Minister in relation to Mining near Croagh Patrick.

HSE forum members should resign!

“Resign, it’s a waste of time!” is Westport councillor Keith Martin call to the 40 councillors who sit on the HSE Regional West forum.

The Labour Party councillor says the councillors are wasting their time debating motions, passing resolutions and calling for action when the HSE executive are not obliged to carry out any instructions from the 40 members of the forum.

“It is a farcical situation whereby councillors are travelling to meetings from places as far apart as Limerick, Galway, Clare, Mayo, Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, North Tipperary and North Cavan to discus health issues only to be ignored by HSE staff. Its like a bad comedy and its time for the 40 councillors to cry halt to the farce and not attend these meetings until the Government returns to them the powers councillors used to exercise under the old Western Health Board.

“According to the HSE, ‘the objective of the Executive is to use the resources available to it in the most beneficial, effective and efficient manner to improve, promote and protect the health and welfare of the public.’ How this can be done by ignoring the public representatives, who know the needs of their constituents better than anyone, is beyond me.

“There are people lying on trolleys in corridors yet the HSE is not answerable to the councillors on its forums even on that issue. What purpose do these talking shops provide? Are they just forums for debate or to allow councillors let of steam at HSE officials?

Cllr Martin says he is “calling on the 40 councillors who represent the people of the west of Ireland on this farcical forum not attend the meetings until their powers are returned to them. My message to the councillors is, resign your positions en masse; it’s a waste of time going to meetings that have no powers to change anything about HSE local policy or procedure. Enough of the talking, its time for action.”

De Facto and the facts

I would like to reply to the points raised by columnist Liamy MacNally in last week's Mayo News in his De Facto piece entitled "Lights, Camera, Action".

Mr MacNally refers to the news that last year Westport's water contained eight times the recommended aluminium content and raises the issue over responsibility and the distribution of such information.

I can confirm for you that Westport Town Council is responsible for water supply to the town and under Better Local Government we pay Mayo County Council to run the service for us. Last month in the town's 2008 Budget we allotted the sum of nearly €300,000 for the public water supply.

With regard to the distribution of such information I can confirm I became aware of the issue of water quality through reading an article in the Irish Independent. At no stage was I contacted by either Westport Town Council or Mayo County Council to inform me of the situation and my subsequent query on the issue have been directed to a Mayo County Council Engineer (on the 6th February) but as of time of writing (13th February) I have received no reply.

I have been informed by Westport Town Council Management that the HSE has released a statement on the situation but I have not seen that statement published nor has it been sent to me.

With regard to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) it is unusual for the Dept of the Environment to instruct a town as small as Westport to carry out such an assessment and while I warmly welcome the move it does mean we have to re-set the start date for the drawing up of our Town Plan.

There is, to my knowledge, no statutory obligation for us to carry out the SEA and we are doing so as a result of an instruction of the Dept. In response to my questions at the meeting when this issue was first raised in late 2007 I was told that the SEA will cost approximately €20,000 to carry out and that the Westport Town Council must carry this cost. Nevertheless I think it will prove to be a valuable tool for both development and conservation and I welcome it.
With regard to Planning enforcement, councillors have no powers over planning at all. We have no input into either applications or enforcement. While we can zone lands we do not have a say in actual applications and thus any discussion of applications at council meetings is merely discussion.

With regard to the issue of the "phantom" CCTV cameras which were erected around the town I can confirm that again councillors were not informed about them. I do know that the erection of such cameras in such a manner is contrary to the Data Protection Acts and to good government. Any and all such filming, even on a trial basis should be done in an open and informative way with the citizen and their councillors informed every step of the way. Following this episode I requested the minutes of the special Town Council committee that was established to look into CCTV proposals for the town only to be informed to request them from the Gardai. Why I would have to seek the minutes of a Town Council committee from the local Superindent is questionable.

Ultimately it is the weakening of the role and powers of local councillors which is at the root of the matter. At the recent special meeting of Westport Town Council on the issue of restoring power to councillors I proposed Directly Elected Mayors with executive powers as the solution to these problems. Cathaoirleach Cllr Declan Dever expressed his concerns that the council with a €5.5 million budget could not afford such a Mayor. In light of the above matters I ask can we afford NOT to have such a Mayor?

The People's business

Today when people refer to the "The Republic of Ireland" they are usually talking about our soccer team but not so long ago our country was always described as a republic.

It is a shame that we seemed to have dropped this description because it should serve to remind us of the type of country we aspire to be.

In recent decades the perception has formed that republican meant anti monarchist or even anti British and I think this has lead to use of the term 'republic' being dropped in offical circles.

While many politicans and political parties have wrapped themselves up in the term republican along these lines the word Republic means so much more than these narrow definitions.

The word republic is derived from the Latin 'res publica' meaning the 'people's business' and a republican government while spurning monarchy, embraces the involvement of the people in public affairs.

A republic is a nation which derives its power to rule from the consent of the people and that's worth remembering and respecting.

Mining in Mayo

News reaches me that the Minister for Natural Resources is almost ready to make a ruling on the Reek Gold mining issue.

Lets hope Eoin Ryan gets it right and protects the Special Area of Conservation, the Holy mountain of Croagh Patrick and the scenic area that make up the huge area applied for under the exploration by Mayo Gold.

I do not believe that it is anyone's best interest; except the mining company’s, to open this area up for mining.

I hope the Green Party Minister agrees!

SEA for Westport

One of the more unexpected events of recent has been the instruction from the Dept of the Environment that Westport must carry out an Strategic Enviornmental Assessment SEA as part of our new Town Plan.

I welcome the move as I believe there is a lot of merit in the suggestion but my concern is that this is an assessment as opposed to a survey. Basically this means that the company hired to undertake the SEA will only use existing data to compile their report.

My concern is that there are senstive areas like the Railway Line Walk wetlands which have not been properly surveyed and thus there could be "blindspots"int he SEA.

There is a public submission process involved and this will give everyone their say in the SEA so we will just have to wait and see.

N5 to Bohola from Westport

Another no-show at the February meeting (is there a pattern) was Joe Beirne the County Engineer who was to give us a presentation on the proposal to run a new road to Bohola via Castlebar.

This plan would superceed the new N5 planned to link up Westport and Castlebar. At the moment the NRA are investigating the route and consulatants have been appointed.

I am sceptical of this approach. If it was viable why wasn't adopted years ago instead of going to all the trouble of planning out the new N5 route and sterilising all the land on the new route for all these years.

Of course this also means that the by-pass roads so badly needed by the town will be postponed even futher as the NRA have made it clear that they will not build these until the new N5 is in place.

Watch this space but don't hold your breath!

Irish Rail and Westport

For the third time in as many months Irish Rail failed to make a presentation at Westport Town Council's monthly meeting.

As I said at the meeting this showed nothing but contempt for our town or worse that we were being ignored altogether.

In 2005 Irish Rail promised us that new rolling stock would be ont he Westport line by the end of 2007 and that we could look forward to five services to Dublin.

Instead the service has deteriated and there is still no guarantee of getting hot food on the train.

I remember in the 1980s my father writing angry letters to the Mayo News about the state of the Westport line.

Nothing has changed. I seconded the motion at our February meeting for a meeting with the CEO of Irish Rail on this issue as I was fed up with going to meetings expecting Irish Rail to update us on the situation.

Three times in a row they failed to show up. As I said at the meeting, 'Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!"

The time for presenations is over and we are going to demand answers from the Organ Grinder and not the monkey!

January meeting of Westport Labour Party

Well the Branch have just posted the minutes of the January meeting up on our website www.westportlabour.blogspot.com and you can read them there.

We have just held our AGM meeting and will be posting the report from that meeting up very soon.

If you have any questions about membership of the Westport Branch of the Labour Party please do not hesitate to drop me a line or give me a call.