Sunday, 18 April 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Friday, 12 March 2010
Northwoods paths to be repaired
-- Post From My iPhone
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Withdrawal of SNAs may breach Constitutional requirements of Dept. of Education
Cllr Keith Martin says Minister Batt O'Keeffe may be in breach of the Government's constitutional obligations if he removes Special Needs Assistants from St Anthony's and St Brid's schools for children with special needs.
Cllr Martin has written to the Minister pointing out the Dept. of Education's requirements under the Constitution to provide free primary education to all children.
According to the Labour Councillor the Constitution insists that the state must provide education and the facilities necessary for education. Cllr Martin says this includes the education of children with special needs until they reach the age of 18.
Cllr Martin says "Article 42:2 of the Constitution states clearly that 'the State shall provide for free primary education and shall endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private and corporate educational initiative, and, when the public good requires it, provide other educational facilities or institutions with due regard,'."
According to Cllr Martin "This can only be interpreted as obliging the state to make available 'reasonable' facilities and help which is required to educate the children of St Anthony's and St Brid's. Special Needs Assistants are a 'reasonable aid' to the children's education and as such the Minister is constitutionally obliged not to remove them from the schools.
"I have written to the Minister to remind him of his Government's constitutional obligations to provide for these children, to remind him of his commitment to protect the most vulnerable in society and to warn him that he leaves his office open to action in the Supreme Court if he withdraws these vital Special Needs Assistants from our schools.
"We cannot and will not turn our backs on these vulnerable children and we must ready ourselves to fight these cuts all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary."
Cllr Keith Martin086 0691182
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
3 SNAs to go at St Brid’s Special School in Castlebar.
Cllr Keith Martin says he has learned that St Brid's Special School in Castlebar is to loose 3 of its 13 Special Needs Assistants in June. St. Brid's Special National School, Castlebar, Co. Mayo caters for almost 25 children with severe/profound and moderate learning difficulties and children with autism and who require care on an almost continual basis.
This week the school has been informed, informally, that they can expect of cut of 3 Special Needs Assistants by the Department of Education.
Cllr Martin says he is disgusted by this double blow to special needs education in Mayo with cuts also threatening St Anthony's School.
"I am disgusted and appalled at the proposal for cuts at both schools and I have requested that the Labour Parliamentary Party take this issue up with the Minister in the Dail.
"Special Needs Assistants are not just class-room helpers, they are trained and experienced in their work and they cannot be withdrawn from special schools willy-nilly just to help Batt O''Keeffe and the Government balance their books"
"In the case of St Brid's school those Special Needs Assistants feed some children through tubes into their noses or stomachs, this is complicated and detailed work which cannot be done by a teacher or a volunteer. What's more some of those children require total supervision at all times from a Special Needs Assistant as they are totally dependant on others for their safety and well-being.
"This FF/Green government promised it would protect the vulnerable when dealing with the country's finances. Its seems to me that in the case of St Brid's and St Anthony's that they are specifically targeting the vulnerable as a 'soft touch' to save money.
"I want the Minister to answer this question, 'If St Brid's needed 13 Special Needs Assistants when the finances were good then how do these children require less help in a recession?'"
"The Minister must reverse this policy of cutting SNAs immediately. I am sickened and upset at this and my heart goes out to these children and their parents. Parents who are only asking that their children receive an education. Is that really too much to ask in Ireland in 2010?"
Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182
Allotments on the news!
I praised the efforts of the Westport Allotments Association in driving the issue forward and mentioned that I have been pushing for allotments since early 2008 as a councillor and as someone interested in availing of the scheme.
The closing date for expressions of interest from landowners expires tomorrow and then we will see where we go from there.
I will keep you all posted!
-- Post From My iPhone
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Warm welcome for Allotment call
Cllr Keith Martin has warmly welcomed the publishing of an advertisement seeking land for the provision of allotments by Westport Town Council.
According to Cllr Martin this "is the first step towards realising the aim of a Municipal Allotments scheme here in Westport and there is sure to be great interest in the scheme.
"This scheme, when established, will allow Westport's citizens to develop sustainable and local foods for their own consumption and allow for food security and the combating of climate change through greater self-sufficiency. Allotments are also a logical response to recent food price inflation."
"Allotments will be ideal in Westport because of the large number of flats and apartments without any gardens and the number of houses with tiny gardens will mean that there are a large number of people who will welcome the opportunity to grow their own vegetables.
"But allotments are about so much more than growing your own food or flowers, allotments are also about exercise, teaching children about growth and nature, social interaction with neighbours and getting out of the apartment and having your own small bit of outdoor space on the ground.
"I called for an Municipal Allotments Scheme in my first submission on the Westport Town Development Plan back in May 2008 and have worked with the other councilors to ensure that it was adopted as council policy in the current 5-year Development Plan which is now in effect. This is another step forward in making Westport a greener and more sustainable town and it is to be warmly welcomed and a fine example of councillors responding to the needs of their constituents."
The Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux (OICTJF), a Luxembourg-based organization representing three million European allotment gardeners since 1926, says allotments allow a better quality of urban life through the reduction of noise, the binding of dust, the establishment of open green spaces in densely populated areas and provide meaningful leisure activity and the personal experience of sowing, growing, cultivating and harvesting healthy vegetables amidst high-rise buildings and the urban jungle.
Other benefits according to the OICTJF are
for children and adolescents a place to play, communicate and to discover nature and its wonders;
for working people relaxation from the stress of work;
for the unemployed the feeling of being useful and not excluded as well as a supply of fresh vegetables at minimum cost;
for immigrant families a possibility of communication and better integration in their host country;
for disabled persons a place enabling them to participate in social life, to establish contacts and overcome loneliness;
for senior citizens a place of communication with persons having the same interests as well as an opportunity of self-fulfillment during the period of retirement.
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Faithfully
Cllr Keith Martin
086 0691182