Bin Refuse charges assistance

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 recent 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. Cllr Martin's proposal was not supported at the Budget meeting.

Cllr Martin had sought to retain a €10,000 provision for a waiver from Westport Town Council's 2007 Budget and use it to fund a waiver system to assist low income families and pensioners whose sole income was the state pension.

"I researched the issue and discovered that Limerick City Council, who privatised their waste disposal service, have retained a waiver scheme to assist those who have difficulties meeting their bin charges. I presented a copy of this scheme at the Budget meeting but there was no appetite from officials or the majority of councillors for this scheme, which I think is a shame. However the manager did give me an undertaking that cases of hardship would be assisted by the council."

Cllr Martin says he will be contacting organisations like St Vincent de Paul, the two churches and local charities to ensure that those who are in need of assistance with the refuse charges get help.

New Grants for disabled, mobility aid and older persons

There is a range of new grants available from Westport Town Council for persons in Westport with disabilities, mobility difficulties and older people under a revised framework of grants aimed at addressing the accommodation needs of these groups.

Following a reorganisation of the grants schemes by the Dept of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Westport Town Council will be providing three new schemes, a Housing Adaptation Grant, a Mobility Aids Grant and a Housing Aid for Older Persons Grant.

During our recent Budget meeting Westport Town Councillors have made a provision to fund 20% of the cost of these grants with the Dept of Environment making up the balance. This is a great step forward in providing assistance to those with disabilities, mobility problems or those with substandard housing and we anticipate a high uptake on the grants from eligible persons in the town.

For persons with a disability there is a Housing Adaptation Grants which allows for a maximum grant of €30,000 to cover up to 95% of the cost of works is available to persons with a disability to assist in the provision or adaptation of their accommodation. The types of works covered under this scheme are the provision of ramps, downstairs toilets, stair lifts, accessible showers and adaptations to facilitate wheelchair access.

Under the Mobility Aids Grant scheme a maximum grant of €6,000 to cover up to 100% of the cost of works is available to persons with mobility problems and the types of work covered by the grant included the provision of grab rails, access ramps, level access showers and stair lifts. This grant is provided primarily for mobility problems associated with ageing.

The Housing Aid for Older People Grant is a revised scheme which amalgamates the provisions of the existing Essential Repairs Grant and the Special Housing Aid for the Elderly Schemes previously operated by the HSE and now run under the remit of the council. Under this scheme a maximum grant of €10,500 to cover up to 100% of the cost of works. This scheme aims to make habitable the homes of older people from the age of 60 years upwards and covers structural repairs or improvements, re-wiring, repairs to/replacement of windows and doors, the provision of water, sanitary services and heating.

The schemes are to be administered for Westport Town Council by Mayo County Council and application forms are available at Westport Civic Offices on the Ballinrobe Road or directly from Westport Town Councillors.

Waiting game

Well we continue to wait to see how the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources will deal with the mining application for the area around the Reek.

We continue to wait to see what John Lightbulb Gormley will include in his white paper on Local Government Reform.

My budget proposals

I proposed at last night's council meeting that the public toilet on Mill Street be removed and that we locate a proper public toilet in Westport Leisure Park.

The current toilet costs us €34,000 a year and makes about €2,000. Westport Leisure Park cost us €195,000 to run last year. By relocating the toilet we could have saved €34,000 or over 1% in rates.

Sadly this option was no considered viable by the council.

I argued for an extra €5,000 for the Youth of Westport project and the Amenity Grants and this has been included in the budget.

My proposal for a €10,000 bin waiver was not supported but I have received assurances from the Management that cases of hardship will receive assistance under the relevant section of the budget.

Waiting for Gold Mining Decision

Westport must wait to know the outcome of the Government's decision on Gold Mining near Croagh Patrick. It is weeks since my motion was adopted by Westport Town Council and the closing date for observations on the proposed exploration licence was the 24 of December.

Any day now we can expect the Minister's decision. Until then we wait, in hope.

Westport United's new home

I warmly welcome the decision by Mayo County Council to grant Westport Utd planning permission for their new 15 acre site in Aughagower.

The club are planning five playing pitches, changing rooms and a car park.

It is fantastic to see the club begin to realise its potential with a state of the art campus just outside the town. Already the club has 13 teams at all levels and the new grounds will allow each to achieve their full potential.

I hope to see even more successes from the club in coming years.

Boots are coming to town

It seems that UK retailer Boots are coming to town. The Pharmacy chain will be locating in the Tesco shopping centre on the Ballinrobe road.

While welcomed by consumers Boots will not be welcomed by the town's existing pharmacies but while Boots might have the advantage of lower prices (on some items) they will not be able to compete with the likes of Tom Tracey on customer care, local knowledge and general welcome.

Personally I have never understood the attraction or hype associated with Boots. Two for one offers are unnecessary when all you want is one item!

Still they are welcome to town and I hope they will generate lots in job creation and rates!

Dual Carraigeway to Bohola from Westport

On Westport Town Council since I was elected we have lobbied for a new N5 section between Castlebar and Westport because the existing road is not up to the job anymore and pales to a back road when compared with other sections of road in east Mayo.

Castlebar is the county town and Westport is the tourism capital of Mayo and there is more than enough traffic on the road to justify the new road.

While we have plans drawn up and routes selected there has been no progress however out of the blue comes a proposal from the NRA to build a Dual Carraige way from Westport to Bohola.



View Larger Map

If you zoom in on the above map you should get an idea of where I think the road would go.

As you can see it will also link the town to Castlebar. If it is a real proposal then I think it has a lot of merit as from Bohola we can link up with the already improved roads in east Mayo.

However even if everything went right from today it would be 2011 or 2012 before they lifted a shovel on the site and according to Joe Beirne the County Engineer there will be no major road projects in Mayo for the next two years.

It looks like Mayo as the third largest county in the country will only get 1% of the NRA's budget for next year.

That's a damning statistic that hints at the continued neglect of the west.

Cllr Keith Martin has condemned the decision by Irish Rail to increase rail fares this week (Wednesday 9th January 2008). The "Student Return" fare the "Family One Day" and the "Family Monthly" are 4 euros, 6 euros and 8 euros more expensive respectively from today (Wednesday).

Cllr Martin says that public transport is the key to reducing pollution and car use and that the increase by Irish Rail is an incentive for more traffic on the roads, more carbon pollution and less use of the train service.

Cllr Martin points out that students will be badly hit by the increase as a student coming home every week will pay an extra €120 a year. Cllr Martin says this increase will discourage regular visits home by students and create extra hardship for those less well off in third level education.

According to Cllr Martin "families will also be discouraged from taking the train by the extra fare increase on their day or monthly return trips. We will see more families taking the car instead of the train as the price of family monthly return ticket to Dublin is now €128!"

"Low income families who rely on public transport will be hardest hit by these increases. Those with cars will be discouraged from using the train service at a time when we need to reduce carbon emissions and reduce the number of cars on the road. Irish Rail should be making train travel cheaper not more expensive."

70 week delays for Mayo

Labour's Cllr Keith Martin has condemned the fact that Mayo has the longest delay in the country for cases to be heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Cllr Martin says it is disgraceful that 35 people in Mayo are being forced to endure a wait of 70 weeks for their case to be heard.

The Employment Appeals Tribunals deal with disputes about redundancy, unfair dismissal, maternity leave, the payment of wages and working times.

Cllr Martin says Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister Micheal Martin is not doing enough to eradicate the long delays and backlogs.

"In Dublin the wait is only 16 weeks or four months while here in Mayo the delay is one year and four months. Its just not good enough. Having to go to a tribunal to get justice at work is stressful enough without having to wait nearly a year and a half to have your case heard. These cases should be dealt with within weeks not years and I have written to the Minister and called on him to immediately put the resources in place to cut Mayo's waiting times."

Sincerely  Keith Martin  Mobile        086 0691182 e-mail        newseditor@ireland.com 

Should we limit the number of Bookies in Westport?

Kilarney Council are looking at capping the number of Betting shops in the town. With a population of 13,000 they have 11 shops.

Westport has five with a population of 5,000 so our saturation of bookies is actually worse than Kilarney's. I expressed my concerns in relation to this matter last year at a council meeting.

Now with the town plan to be reviewed is it time to look at capping or limiting the number of bookie shops in town or should we allow market forces to determine the numbers?

2008

Happy New Year to you all.

A lot of issues to get through this year. This month we will be setting out our town budget for the coming year. Issues like bin waivers, setting the rate and the cost of the public toilet have to be dealt with.

Later on this year we also have the new Town Plan and of course the elections for the Cathaoirleach.

Lots to do and I will keep you posted!