No MAN leaves Westport in broadband "Stone Age" says Martin

Westport is being left behind towns such as Castlebar and Ballina and the Knock Airport/Kilitmagh area in terms of high speed broadband according to Cllr Keith Martin of the Westport Multi Agency Taskforce's Broadband and Film Promotion sub-committee.

 

According to the Labour councillor "Whereas Ballina and Knock airport/Kiltimagh have operating Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) delivering extremely high-speed broadband Westport has no such fibre optic cabling  which leaves the town with no broadband capability beyond 3Mbs.  (Castlebar has a inactive fibre optic cable route which could deliver a similar MAN service when activated.)

 

"Compare our 3Mbs with the 100Mbs possible with a MAN and you can see how far behind the others we are.  Any industry relying on extremely high speed broadband is going to make a bee-line for Ballina or Knock/Kilitmagh and not Westport.

 

"Without a fibre optic cable like those in Ballina or even Castlebar, Westport is going to find itself in a type of Broadband 'Stone Age' when it comes to meeting the needs of 21^st century business and industry." 

 

Cllr Martin says his committee has, since its establishment, been lobbying the Government for a MAN for Westport and made a presentation to Minister Dempsey on Westport's need for a MAN in 2006.

 

"At that time we were told our needs would be considered as part of a review of the MAN programme but there has been no progress since then. 

 

"I have written to the Department of Communications and the new Minister, Eamon Ryan TD, to outline once again, why Westport needs a MAN in order to compete for investment and industry with towns like Ballina and Castlebar and I have requested a meeting with his Department to discuss the issue.

 

"In addition to this request I have made a submission to the Department of Communication's review of Next Generation Broadband and the MAN programme calling for a MAN for Westport.  We must push for extremely high speed broadband if we are serious about making Westport a viable and attractive location for investment and industry for the future."

Urgent PR Undercurrent opens on Thursday

Water and what lurks beneath is the subject matter for UNDERCURRENT an exhibition of art by Westport artist Karen O'Reilly.   The exhibition opens this Thursday October 2nd at 6pm in Westport library.  The exhibition will be opened by journalist Liamy MacNally.

 

Of her work Karen explains that "living in a coastal town with the Carrowbeg river running through it and  being surrounded by waters of Clew Bay led me to explore  waters marine life and flora through my use of materials and processes. Initially my considerations of compositional elements are a motivational factor which may become obscured at a later stage as the piece becomes less representational as layer after layer the work is engulfed by creative freedom. Texture, tone and colour are the key to the final outcome of my work."

 

Karen O Reilly qualified with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art & Design at GMIT in 2006.  This is her first solo exhibition after exhibiting twice in group shows, first her graduation exhibition and secondly an exhibition hosted by Castlebar hospital entitled 'Turas' in 2006.

 

UNDERCURRENT is being exhibited as part of the 2008 Westport Arts Festival and will run at Westport library until Saturday October 11th.

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor

 

What's wrong with our local government?

 

Democracy is defined for me as a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" and the ultimate example of this should be your local council.  There is nothing more democratic than the people of a town or an area getting together to decide how they want their community run and who they want to run it for them.

 

However Ireland's system of local government is not designed to allow that to happen, where we are supposed to have a "local government" we have "local administration" from central government in Dublin.

 

Over the last eight decades, since the introduction of the Cork City Management Act 1929, which paved the way for a system of Town/County/City Managers with executive functions there has been a massive erosion of power and policy making from councillors. 

 

While the Act was supposed to professionalise the business of the council it has instead facilitated a powerful independent rival policy branch of full-time officials who are largely unaccountable to councillors in the day to day running of the council but who are accountable to central government.

 

The fact that the powers of the council are divided up into executive functions (ie powers of the manager) and reserved functions (ie powers of the councillors) should be cause for concern.  What other system of government would allow for unelected officials to have such powers?  Would An Taoiseach or the Minister for Local Government appreciate it if their Departmental Secretary had such powers?  So why is it good enough for local government?

 

The fact that the management have such powers sets them up as a rival policy and power unit within local government with a huge scope as reserved functions (ie powers of councillors) are written down and clearly defined, but executive functions (ie powers of the managers) are defined as "all those powers not defined as reserved functions. 

 

However, it should be remembered that a majority of the council can overturn almost any executive function but it is my opinion that management should only carry out the decisions of the councillors and not exercise independent executive functions. 

 

While our system of local government is based on that of the UK there are huge differences in the powers of Irish councils compared with those in the EU.  For example health, welfare, policing, water, waste management, public transport, education and roads are all powers usually covered by local authorities throughout the EU, but not in Ireland. 

 

Another problem is the fact that central government keeps removing functions from Town Councils like Westport instead of adding to our functions.  In the last ten years all of Westport Town Council's staff have ceased to be employed by us and are employed by Mayo County Council instead, imagine the power that gives the County Manager over Westport Town Council?

 

Examples of the transfers of powers are:

Water Services transferred from Town Councils to County Councils.
National Roads transferred from Local Authorities to National Roads Authority.
Environmental Licencing and Monitoring transferred from local authorities to Environmental Protection Agency.
Health Services transferred from Regional Health Boards (with local authority members) to Health Services Executive.
Waste Management transferred from Town Councils to County Councils.
Planning powers for major infrastructural projects transferred from local authorities to Bord Pleanala.
Setting of speed limits within town boundaries transferred from Town Councils to County Councils.
Taxi licencing transferred from Town Councils to Taxi Regulator
Landlord registration transferred from Town Councils to County Councils.
County Managers have been replaced by Directors of Services as Town Managers. 
Housing functions and powers including housing of Travellers transferred from elected members to County and City Managers.

Contrary to its commitments under the Maastricht Treaty to empower local government Ireland has moved to transfer powers further from citizens by transferring powers from Town Councils to County Councils and from County Councils to County Managers and from county level to new non elected bodies such as the National Roads Authority and An Bord Pleanala.  In addition, a range of new non elected bodies have been established at local and national levels with new powers and functions e.g. City and County Development Boards, Leader Groups, Environmental Protection Agency and the Health Services Executive.

 

Finally the idea that the leadership of councils can be handed around like the chairmanship of a sports club must cease!  Civic leadership and a strengthening of democracy can only take place when towns and communities directly choose their own Mayor.  The idea of a rotating chairmanship of Westport Town Council and Mayo County Council must cease as the "muggins turn" system provides for disjointed leadership of greatly varying quality. 

 

Directly elected mayors with real powers and functions would be a powerful counterbalance to the powers of City/County Managers and would strengthen local democracy.  Directly elected mayors would be directly answerable to the electorate and with real powers and responsibilities could respond to local needs and accelerate progress.

 

Only when the citizens can choose their mayors to provide leadership and elect councillors who have the range of powers to govern effectively will we have a local government "of the people, by the people, for the people".

 

Yours sincerely

Keith Martin

Councillor

Westport Town Council

33 Pairc na Coille

Westport

Co. Mayo

 

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WESTPORT LOCATION FOR MAJOR GERMAN TV FILM.

Westport Town is one of  the many  beautiful Mayo locations which will feature in  the film "Heart's Desire", currently being shot by the German TV company, FFP New Media GmbH,  according to Cllr Keith Martin, Mayo liaison officer with the Irish Film Board.

The film will broadcast on TV in Germany in November, to an audience of over eight million people, and will later be shown in many countries throughout the world. The project is supported by Failte Ireland and is being assisted by Westport Town Council and Mayo County Council.

"This is great news for Mayo as filming for this project stretches from Foxford to Silver Strand and from Delphi to Achill Island and Clew Bay. Also featuring in the film are highlights of Mayo such as Turlough House, Westport House and Westport Town.  This feature film is a huge boost for Mayo's tourism as it will reach an audience of millions and show the real beauty of our county.

This film is built on the success of the earlier production 'Return to the River' which was also filmed in Mayo.  Like all productions coming to Westport and Mayo there has been huge support from Westport Town Council and Mayo County Council.  These productions would not be possible were it not for the support of the Westport Town Council and the Town Manager and his staff who have worked tirelessly to assist the filmmakers."

Cllr Martin works with the Irish Film Board, Westport Town Council and Mayo Co Council in promoting Mayo as a film location.  According to Cllr Martin Westport is the most film friendly town in Ireland and the level of support and co-operation supplied by Westport Town Council is second to none.

Town Manager Peter Hynes welcomed the selection of Westport as a base for filming saying , " This kind of exposure and marketing for both Westport and for the County at large is extremely valuable and will help to promote Mayo as a visitor destination in a way in which formal advertising cannot. It represents a vote of confidence in Westport and in the ongoing investment of time energy and resources by Westport Town Council."

According to Cllr Martin Keane, Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, "The film is a great asset to our town and I welcome it for the employment it will provide in tourism and for the investment which the filming itself makes in Westport and in Mayo.I am proud that Westport will feature greatly in the film as we have a beautiful tidy town and it will be great to see it showcased all over the world. I hope that it will attract many of those people to come and visit us in Westport. They will be most welcome."

The film is based on a story by Rosamund Pilcher, a British author of romance novels and mainstream women's fiction. Her books are especially popular in Germany due to the fact that the national TV station ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) has filmed more than seventy of her stories for TV. These TV films are some of the most popular programmes on ZDF. Pilcher and ZDF programme director Dr. Claus Beling were jointly awarded the " British Tourism Award "  in 2002 for the positive effect the books and the TV versions had on tourism.

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Eircom appeal re mast

Eircom have appealed Mayo County Council's decision to refuse permission for a 15m support pole to carry 3 no. radio aerials with all association equipment at Killadoon, Aillemore, Co. Mayo.

 

Cllr Keith Martin who originally made an observation on the application has now made a submission to An Bord Pleanala in support of local residents of the area. 

 

In his observation to An Bord Pleanala Cllr Martin says the application by the phone company for a 15m pole should be refused as it impinges on the integrity of the nearby ring fort and standing stones of Killadoon. 

 

The case will be decided at the lastest on the 15th December.

Cllr Keith Martin - Mayo's Film Commissioner

 

Cllr Keith Martin has served as the liaison officer with the Irish Film Board since his appointment by the Irish Film Commissioner Naoise Barry in late 2004. 

 

After his election Cllr Martin sought out a meeting with the Irish Film Board with the aim of establishing a Film Commission Office for Mayo and shortly after contacting the Board he was invited to meet with the Film Commissioner on the set of Kerry Katona's series 'Showbands' which was being made in Co. Galway.

 

Following the meeting Cllr Martin became the "de facto" Film Commission for Mayo and has been of assistance to many productions scouting Mayo for locations and assisting those filming here in Mayo.

 

On more than one occasion he has had to put his local knowledge and connections to the test and once at very short notice was able to rustle up a horse in Westport for a film production in Achill at a couple of hours notice!

 

All of this work is done on a volunteer basis, though Cllr Martin has been supported by Mayo County Council and Westport Town Council whenever he has requested assistance.

 

The long term goal for Cllr Martin is to set up a film office in Mayo County Council and he has held meetings and lobbied for such an office for the past four years to no avail as of yet - but he does not plan to stop.

 

A small success for Cllr Martin has been the establishment of Ireland's smallest film office as Westport is only town or borough council to have its own dedicated film office, which aims to promote Westport as a venue for filmmakers and assist productions here in the town.

 

To date Cllr Martin and the film office have assisted 12 productions since 2004 in Westport and Mayo and Cllr Martin estimates the value of these productions to the county to be in multiple of millions.

 

Currently Cllr Martin is preparing Westport Town Council Film Office's website for launch.  A database of local filmmaking talent, locations, accommodation and suppliers will follow as the office establishes itself.

 

Cllr Martin hopes the success of the Westport Film Office and the success of films like Return to the River and Heart's Desire will spur Mayo County Council on to establishing its own dedicated Film Office.

 

 

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Gold Mining update

Anti-Mining Cllr says Gold Company full of hot air

 

Cllr Keith Martin, who opposed the recent proposal to mine for gold in west Mayo, says the announcement by Mayo's Gold that the company was "actively and seriously considering'' a legal challenge to Minister for Natural Resources Eamon Ryan's decision to decline prospecting licences amounted to nothing more than "hot air and a refusal to face the facts of the matter."

 

Cllr Keith Martin, who led Westport Town Council's opposition to the mining in support of organizations like Mayo Environmental Group and Westport Tourism, says that Mayo's Gold has failed to accept that the environmental and tourism costs of mining far outweighed any amount of gold extraction.

 

According to the Labour councillor "The Donegal mining company wanted to mine 10,000 ounces a year from Cregganbawn alone.  According to the Dept of Natural Resources there are 6g of gold per ton of rock to a depth of 80 metres.  When you take into account that one once is equal to 28g you can see how much rock will have to be mined and to what depths to meet this target."

 

"This is large scale mining yet the company keeps referring to a "small scale project" and a "tourism mine".  The company's website refers to "Geo-Tourism".  This is a cynical attempt to portray this as an environmental project.  These are nothing but weasel words designed to soften opposition to the project which is to be used as the thin end of a wedge to establish a full size mining operation close to Croagh Patrick."

 

In the local media Mayo's Gold has been talking about the seven dwarfs and a tourism mine while in the national papers they were talking about raising €25 million to set it up. That's some seven dwarf mine that costs €25 million! They expect to find a possible yield of €3.4 billion so you know that this is a serious operation designed to bring in whole-scale Gold mining by the back door into an environmentally sensitive, culturally and religiously important area with a massive tourism value as it is."

 

"This proposal to mine in the environs of Croagh Patrick and through 135 townlands of Mayo would be an environmental and tourism disaster for Mayo.  The Minister has weighed up the pros and cons of allowing this company from Donegal to mine in Mayo and has come to the correct, reasonable and understandable decision that mining would not be suitable here.  For Mayo's Gold to suggest that the decision was in someway incorrect is nothing more than hot air and a refusal to face the facts of the matter."

 

 

 

Sources

 

Sunday Business Post - Gold company considers action against minister

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=35920-qqqx=1.asp

 

Dept of Natural Resources Report of gold amounts in Ireland

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/03E171C9-4C17-46F0-8A9C-9B73F416CD4B/0/golda4pd.pdf

 

 

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

The decision by the Belorussian government to declare a worldwide ban on the sick children of Chernobyl travelling abroad can only be described accurately as "grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented".

 

Yours sincerely

 

Cllr Keith Martin

Westport Town Council

 

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My observation to Bord Pleanala

An Observation on PL 16 230477 Eircom Mast Killadoon, Aillemore, Co Mayo

I wish to make the following observation in relation to this planning application.

The proposed mast is within the curtailage of the Killadoon Megalithic Standing Stones (Menhirs) and would have a negative impact on these historic monuments.

The height of the mast means it would tower over the site of the standing stones and detract from their impact and integrity as part of the landscape.

The location of the mast directly adjacent to the site means that it would not be possible to minimise, through planting etc, the impact of the mast on the standing stones.

The history and impact of the standing stones is well documented and the value of the stones from a heritage and tourism aspect would be greatly damaged by the mast.

The residents of the area are very proud of the standing stones and the Community Council has even removed buildings from the area which were encroaching on the stones and detracting from their integrity and impact. The construction of the mast would be a retrograde development in this light.

In the interests of proper planning and development I submit that this application be refused as it impinges on the integrity of the nearby standing stones of Killadoon.

Blogging

I never really thought it would come true.  I never thought it would really happen.  Even when the Labour Parliamentary Party said that Fianna Fail were going to let us drift into a recession without a hand on the tiller I never really believed it.

 

A slow down maybe, at worse a stop to growth.............but a recession and above all one that could be avoided or minimised by a bit of leadership---That I did not believe would happen.  But it has.

 

44% rise in unemployment and a €5 billion shortfall.  Where is the Taoiseach?  Is Nero to fiddle while Rome burns.  Somebody provide some leadership fast.  Please!

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

The decision by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to publish the payment details of the EU subsidies given to every farmer in the country has more to do with the IFA's behaviour in the run up to the Lisbon Treaty than it does to freedom of information.

 

In my opinion the Government have decided to punish farmers for their less than full support for the recent referendum.

 

There is a huge difference between having information on grant payments available from the Department of Agriculture where there is a record of enquiries, as opposed to the wholesale publishing of such information on the internet where it is available without any check on who is using the information and why.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Cllr Keith Martin

Westport Town Council, Westport, Mayo.

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