Reform at last

Labour's Cllr Keith Martin has warmly welcomed the proposals published in the Government's Green Paper on Local Government Reform.  Cllr Martin who is listed in the paper as a contributor to the submission process says Minister John Gormley aims to give power back to the country's 1,500 councillors, who lost their role in relation to controversial facilities such as incinerators "as they would not toe the line with central government policy."

 

Cllr Martin says "Its is a great shot in the arm for councillors all over the country to see such plans at last.  Local Government Reform has been promised for decades but at last we are seeing the beginning of real change.

 

"In my opinion these reforms do not go far enough but they are a start.  It is excellent that there will be a scaling back of the powers of officials and a return of power to councillors but more should have been done in this area.

 

"I warmly welcome the introduction of spending limits at local level.  Spending limits insure a level playing field for candidates and often more established candidates and those backed by business interests have enjoyed tremendous resources in election campaigns.  Spending limits mean an end to that and it is a great step forward for local democracy."

 

According to Cllr Keith Martin it is inevitable that Westport Town Council will be headed by a directly-elected Mayor within the next five to ten years following reforms announced by Minister for the Environment John Gormley.

 

The reforms pave the way for a directly elected mayor for County Mayo under the Green Paper's proposal that all cities and counties should ultimately have directly elected mayors and also that key gateways such as Limerick, Waterford and Sligo should have revised structures of local government.

 

"While there are no plans to introduce directly elected mayors for towns at this stage it is proposed to re-examine the issue of such Mayors for town councils after an analysis of the city and county Mayor system.  This will inevitably mean that Westport will be have a directly-elected Mayor within the next five to ten years and I am throwing my hat in the ring for that election campaign today!" concluded Cllr Martin.

Ireland ranks19th out of EU 27 in terms of broadband for schools

A new report on internet use published this month by the European Commission shows Ireland is still lagging behind our neighbours in Europe. 

Cllr Keith Martin says that it is very disturbing that these new figures show that Ireland ranks19th out of EU 27 in terms of broadband for schools.

"We should be training our children in internet technology if we are to provide the skilled workforce capable of competing for investment and employment in the future.  It is shameful that the internet is not widely available in all our schools.

"The report shows that in the last five years, the internet has had a big impact on public services across the EU, in particular on education and health. However, Ireland is falling behind in our connectivity in schools and also in health. Broadband penetration in GP practices in Ireland amounts to around 45% as compared to 90% in several EU countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The benefits from e-health include the ability to receive results from laboratories electronically which could have enormous benefit to the patient.

"In terms of internet usage Ireland is only on the EU average. This is a long way from the government's objective in 2002 which committed Ireland to becoming one of the top ten of OECD states for broadband connectivity. 

"The situation is worst in rural west of Ireland were the lack of enabled exchanges means most people living just outside of towns like Westport, Castlebar or Ballina have no access to broadband at all."

No national waiver for bins

Cllr Keith Martin says it is very disappointing that Minister John Gormley has refused to bring in a waiver to assist the elderly and low income families with refuse charges.

 

Cllr Martin says "The lack of a national waiver scheme is leading to unfairness and inequality amongst poor households because whether or not you get a waiver from waste charges depends on where you live in the country. If you live in one county you and qualify for your Council's waiver, you pay no waste charges. But if you live in another part of the country, where no waiver operates, you can be faced with waste charges of up to €500 a year.

 

"Research by Combat Poverty and MABS (Money and Advice Budgeting Service) has confirmed that not being able to avail of a waiver scheme puts a significant financial burden on low income households. Added to this burden is the fact that there is great variation in the amount charged for waste collection in different counties. Some pensioners are liable to pay up to two weeks of their pension on their annual waste charges."

 

But it is not all bad news as Cllr Keith Martin says that cases of hardship in relation to bin charges due to the removal of the waiver system by Westport Town Council will be assisted by Westport Town Council under its 2008 Budget despite the fact that the council have dropped its wavier scheme following the privatisation of the service.

 

At the 2008 Budget meeting of Westport Town Council, Town Manager Peter Hynes, gave a specific undertaking to assist cases of hardship in relation to bin charges in response to Cllr Martin's proposal to retain a Bin Waiver Scheme.

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Constituency Council meeting

We will be holding the first meeting in 2008 of the Mayo Constituency Council of the Labour Party tomorrow night in Westport.

We are also setting up a website for it on www.mayolabour.blogspot.com

The meeting is open to all members of the party or those wishing to join.

We will be meeting in Henehan's at 8pm and there will be a good discussion and lots of plans to be made; and of course light refreshments!

Farmers can seek water waivers

Mayo’s farming families who cannot meet the cost of large water bills as a result of financial hardship should contact Mayo County Council with a view securing a waiver according to Cllr Keith Martin.

Cllr Martin says that according to billing guidance issued to local authorities in December 2006 by the Minister of the Environment, where personal hardship arises, an approach may be made directly to the local authority seeking a waiver of the water services charges on personal hardship.

No Gas for Golf Course Road

04 KEITH MARTIN FORMAL PORTRAIT, originally uploaded by CllrKeith's.

No Gas for Golf Course Road.

Cllr Keith Martin says he is very disappointed that the gas network, which is currently being installed in Westport by Bord Gais, will not service the Golf Course Road area.

Cllr Martin, who is a resident of the Golf Course Road, says “it is a great pity that for the want of a couple of hundred metres of piping that the 200 houses on the Golf Course Road will not be able to avail of the gas network. It is the largest section of the town to be excluded from the network and I think it is a pity that we won’t have the choice of switching to natural gas to power our homes.

“In addition to the four housing estates on the Golf Course Road you have an industrial park, a printing business, a community building and the new Gaelscoil, which are all potentially major customers for the gas network. I think the planners have overlooked the importance of the area and its potential for gas usage.

Cllr Martin says he will lobby Bord Gais to include the area in the current scheme but says it is unlikely that the Golf Course Road will receive gas connection under the current works.

More filming for Mayo

Cllr Keith Martin, Mayo Liason of the Irish Film Board, has announced that shooting will take place soon on Achill Island for a new docu-drama film, which will deal with a dark event in Ireland’s famine period.

Entitled ‘Summer of Sorrow’ it tells the extraordinary untold story of Ireland’s forgotten Famine refugees, the poor and starving immigrants who went to Toronto, Canada seeking a new life but instead found only exploitation and death.

Cllr Martin says “the programme has been commissioned by RTE, History Television Canada and The History Channel and will use drama re-enactments, interviews and filming in present-day Ireland, Canada and the United States to tell the story of the 38,000 sick, weak and desperate famine refugees from Ireland who for six months between May and October of 1847, flooded into Toronto in the hope of survival and a better life.

“Genealogical research will be undertaken in order to trace present-day relatives of those who died, and of the surviving refugees who went on to make major contributions to the history of the United States and Canada.

“There will be three days of filming drama reconstruction in the deserted famine village on Achill Island and there has been casting for extras and actors in Westport. This is just the latest success we have had in attracting filming to Mayo and we have worked very closely with the producers to make it happen.”

According to Producer Rachel Towell ‘Summer of Sorrow’ “takes viewers inside one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 19th century, a story that reveals the heroes and the villains, the opportunistic and the saintly, the tragedies and triumphs of this extraordinary time.”

Cllr Martin, who also heads up the Westport Film Office of Westport Town Council,has also announced that a major film company are currently scouting locations in suitable villages in south Mayo and that he and officials from Mayo County Council were working closely with the producers to promote Mayo as a location for film making.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

There is a lot of scaremongering, from both sides, in the run up to the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

The No side say we will loose our neutrality and be drawn in 'battle groups' against our will if we Vote Yes.

The Yes side say we will loose investment, goodwill and support from other EU countries if we Vote No.

Terms like 'Lulas' are bandied about by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern while Libertas target individuals like Lucinda Creighton in an attempt to make them the bogeyman of the issue.

With all this negativity during the prelude to the campaign I would urge your readers to seek out independent information which is available from the Referendum Commission on the Lisbon Treaty.

Your readers can contact the Referendum Commission by writing to them at

The Referendum Commission, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, by phoning them on (01) 6395695, by e-mail at refcom@ombudsman.gov.ie, or by visiting their web site at http://www.refcom.ie/.

The only thing that matters is the facts and I would urge all your readers to seek them out before coming to a decision.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Keith Martin

Labour's "Yes to Lisbon" Campaign Westport

33 Pairc Na Coille

Westport

Co. Mayo

Green Party's planning proposals "an attack on local government"

Labour’s Cllr Keith Martin says the Green Party’s proposals to reduce the number of planning authorities in the country is a step backwards and an attack on the autonomy of town councils and their ability to develop their own areas.

In its submission to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on Local Government Reform the Green Party proposes that “only city and county councils retain planning functions in regard to development control. This would reduce the amount of Planning Authorities from 88 to 33”.

Cllr Martin says this is a step backwards for local government as the accepted principal for good local government was “government and decision making which takes place at the lowest possible and practical level.

“The current system whereby each local authority determines its own planning decisions works and is the most accessible to the local population and councillors. Removing Westport Town Council’s planning department and placing planning in the hands of Mayo County Council removes yet another vital function of local government from Town Councils and flies in the face of the Green Party’s stated aim of strengthening local government.”

Cllr Martin concluded “I don’t pretend that planning decisions are perfect but removing the planning powers from our council and handing them to the County Council is no solution, all it does is add another layer of bureaucracy to the system and increase the distance between the citizen and the decision makers.”

Read the Green Party's proposal here

Mayo Farmers must be protected from Brazilian fakes

Cllr Keith Martin, who is chairman of the Westport Farmer’s and Craft Market, says that news of a meat processing company that was convicted of passing Brazilian beef off as Irish produce, highlights the difficulties faced by farmers here in Mayo and Ireland in trying to compete with imported beef.

Cllr Martin’s says while he welcomes the fact that this case ended up in a conviction, the fact that this is only the second such case of its kind highlights the lack of enforcement that there is in this whole area.

Cllr Martin also says that 'substantial transformation’, whereby a primary product can enter Ireland, be processed in some way and subsequently branded, quite legally, as an Irish product should be made illegal because consumers are “being duped into buying what they perceive to be an Irish Product.

“At a time when increased consolidation of the agrifood sector is driving the market, we must not forget the importance of ensuring that consumer interests are maintained. We must also continue to ensure that the protection of consumer health lies at the core of agriculture and food policy. People must trust that what they are eating is what they wanted and not some import being passed off as Irish.

"Between 2005 and 2006, the agrifood sector accounted for 163,400 jobs, or 8.1% of the working population. Irish agrifood exports accounted for more than €8billion. This is too important to be allowed to continue. The government must act now to ensure consumer confidence in the meat industry and to protect the farmers who are producing an internationally recognised quality product.”

Objection to Mobile Phone Mast in Killadoon, Louisburgh

Cllr Keith Martin has lodged an objection to the proposed Eircom mast at Killadoon, Louisburgh. Cllr Martin says the area is a enviornmentally sensitive and of great historical and heritage value. In his objection to Mayo County Council's Planning Office Cllr Martin says the application by the phone company for a 15m pole carrying three radio aerials should be refused as it impinges on the integrity of the nearby ring fort and standing stones of Killadoon.

Observation on planning application 08290

TO CONSTRUCT A 15M SUPPORT POLE TO CARRY 3NO. RADIO AERIALS FOR USE BY THE EMERGENCY SERVICES TOGETHER WITH ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT FOR A NEW NATIONAL DIGITAL RADIO SERVICE AT THE EIRCOM EXCHANGE

In the interests of proper planning and development I submit that this application be refused as it impinges on the integrity of the nearby ring fort and standing stones of Killadoon and is within the designated Special Area of Conservation.

Sincerely

Councillor Keith Martin

33 Pairc na Coille

Westport

Keith welcomes new Trains to Westport Station

The first of the new rolling stock was welcomed into Westport by Councillor Keith Martin who also welcomed Disability Access Campaigner Tom Chambers who had ridden the train down from Hueston Station. The train arrived into Westport station at 4.10pm on Wednesday.

According to Cllr Martin the trains are "very welcome to Westport and mark a huge leap forward in the quality of public transport for the West of Ireland. I would press Irish Rail to add extra services, especially an 'Early Bird' service which would allow people from Westport to reach Dublin early in the morning to conduct their business. These trains are state-of-the-art and very disability friendly and it is a great day for Westport to see them roll into town.

The train was also welcomed by a lone piper.

Health Action Day 29 in Westport

The Westport Branch of the Labour Party take part in the Health Action Day on the 29th March 2008.

Keith in the News

New Crime Measures

Labour’s Martin to contest Mayo County Council seat

Public drinking by-laws upheld by High Court


Westport on track


Fairtrade fornight

New site mooted for Westport Gaelscoil


Westport broadband is disgrace

Go-ahead for 43 new homes in Westport


Refuse service demise lamented in Westport

Achill to be location for film shoot


Popular Westport pond walk to be resurfaced in 2006

Tourism kiosk is set for Westport

Row erupts in Westport over plans for civic offices


Dunnes linked to Westport garden site plan

Burglars are wreaking havoc in Westport town


Shadow of Bertie hovers over Westport Town Council debate


Gaelscoil given green light for Westport school

Opposition mounts over bridge plan


Affordble housing project runs into a ‘snag’


Five-hour rates meeting ends with 2.75% hike in Westport

One in four Mayo houses are empty

Secret of the Cave, filmed in Achill, released in United States

Calvin Klein brings scent of glamour to Louisburgh