I was delighted to attend the St. Raphaels Art Exhibition in the Celbridge Manor Hotel. The Students of St Raphaels Special School had a fantastic display of Art on show which displayed their brilliant talent. The Art Exhibition was in aid of a bus for the school. There was a great atmosphere and it got excellent support from the community. Lots to see and do tonight, really enjoyed it and my chocolate cake……!!! Well done to everyone for organising a great event.
Local Fianna Fail TD, Frank O’Rourke, has been informed by Kildare County Council that street sweeping for towns in North Kildare is to be extended into weekends and will include Maynooth, Celbridge, Leixlip and Naas.
‘In recent months, weekend street sweeping has been requested by tidy town committees, local businesses and community groups for the towns of Maynooth, Celbridge, Leixlip and Naas.’
‘Together with these groups, I have made representations to Kildare County Council and asked them to consider extending the street sweeping into the weekends.’
‘Groups like the tidy towns and local businesses put in considerable efforts into keeping these towns clean and deserve great credit for their work. Putting in place a weekend street sweeping programme for these towns will provide assistance to these groups and give recognition to the valuable contribution they make to our community.’
‘As I understand it, the environment and transport departments of Kildare County Council are working together to agree how this programme can be best implemented, which I hope will commence in early 2017,’ concluded Deputy O’Rourke.
Local Fianna Fail TD, Frank O’Rourke, has been informed by the National Transport Authority (NTA) that Dublin Bus will shortly be submitting formal proposals for changes on the Lucan Road corridor which will include additional off peak services to the Glen Easton area.
‘Additional services are required for the Glen Easton area and I have raised this matter with both the NTA and Dublin Bus on a number of occasions.’
‘I am delighted that Dublin Bus will be shortly submitting proposals for changes to Route 66 which will improve the service to Glen Easton,’ stated Deputy O’Rourke.
‘We are making progress with additional Sunday service for Maynooth and Celbridge Route 67 commuters, an improved bus service for Kilcock is now in place, we have a Park and Ride for bus commuters planned for Kilcock, improved rail services for those using the Kildare line with the opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel, and the Kilcock and Naas rail commuters now have a fairer fare structure, and I have received assurances from the NTA that it will seek tenders for the Naas to Blanchardstown service, serving Clane, Rathcoffey and Maynooth, in the first quarter of 2017.’
‘I am now confident that additional services for Glen Easton will be provided once the NTA receive the formal proposals from Dublin Bus,’ concluded Deputy O’Rourke
OH WHAT A NIGHT was an excellent show and one I really enjoyed. Well done to the students from Salesians College and St. Wolstans on their fantastic performances. The talent on display was amazing . Great credit to everyone involved in putting off such a wonderful production. Looking forward to the next one already…!!! Well done to all the students and teachers.
It has been confirmed to me that Dublin Bus will operate a new Sunday service on the 67 route from 27/11/16. The new service commences at 8.15am and operates every 30 mins until 20.50, and then reverts back to an hourly service. This is excellent news and an issue I have been working on and pursing for some time on behalf of the people of Celbridge, Maynooth and the public transport user. I will continue to work on your behalf with regard to the outstanding issues on the 66 and 67 routes. Thanks to everyone for raising this important issue with me.
Local Fianna Fail TD, Frank O’Rourke, has welcomed the opening of the Phoenix Park rail tunnel for commuters using Hazelhatch and Sallins rail services, as further public transport improvements are planned.
‘Seven new morning train services will come from Hazelhatch/Sallins to Dublin from Monday 21st of November next with eight going in the opposite direction during evening return peak hours,’ stated Deputy O Rourke after meeting with the NTA last week.
‘‘The new service will connect Hazelhatch in Celbridge and Sallins/Naas with Dublin Connolly and Grand Canal Dock. It will serve all stations between Newbridge/Hazelhatch and Parkwest, Drumcondra, Connolly, Tara Street, Pearse and Grand Canal Dock. The Irish Rail website has all the details of the new services. This service is an excellent addition to the current service and opens up the City Centre for Kildare commuters.’
‘As a councillor, and now as a TD, I continue to fight for improved public transport services for our commuters. We have seen improvements to the Kilcock Bus Services, we now have a proposed Park and Ride for bus commuters in Kilcock. We have ensured that Kilcock rail commuters are now included in the shop hop zone from a rail fare perspective.’
‘In quarter one of next year, the NTA have informed me that tenders will be sought for the provision of an orbital bus route linking Naas, Clane, Rathcoffey, Maynooth and Blanchardstown. Having a regular and reliable public transport service will attract more public transport users. I will continue to fight for improved services,’ concluded Deputy Frank O’Rourke.
The continued high costs of motor Insurance is unacceptable and requires urgent Government action, according to Local Fianna Fail TD, Frank O’Rourke following a meeting with Michael McGrath TD, Fianna Fail’s Spokesperson on Finance.
‘I welcome the establishment of the Cost of Insurance Working Group, and I believe that it is making progress. This group had to report to the Minister for Finance at the end of October and over the next two months will agree on an action plan, which must lead to a reduction in Motor Insurance.’
“Tangible and practical measures must be identified by the Working Group to help alleviate the pressure motorists are under at the moment. As I said again recently in the Dail, there is little point in reducing Universal Social Sharge (USC), if motor insurance premiums go up by a multiple of the reduction in USC.’
‘Ratings agency Standards and Poor’s predicted further premium increases of between 10% and 15% by the middle of 2017. This is on top of the estimated 40% increase in premiums over the last year or so.’
“Whatever the Working Group puts forward in its action plan, it must have practical measures that help reduce premiums in the short term as its priority.”
“We have seen ridiculous increases in the cost of motor insurance over the past year. It comes up at my weekly clinics and is causing significant financial pressure on drivers, and their families.”
I was delighted to be invited to attend the Kildare Garda Youth Awards tonight in Punchestown.
Congratulations to all the award winners and in particular Mickey Hickey from Celbridge, Lauren Cleeves from Leixlip and Stephen Farrell from Kilcock.
It was excellent event organised by the Garda and sponsored by Newbridge Silverware. Anne Doyle as usual was an excellent MC. Brilliant night and well done to all involved.
Local Fianna Fail TD, Frank O Rourke, has welcomed the announcement that Prosperous will benefit to the tune of €100,000 under the €10m Town and Village Renewal Scheme which was launched earlier this year by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD.
‘On Friday last, Minister Humphreys gave the go ahead for projects in 6 towns in County Kildare, mostly in South Kildare, but Prosperous has secured nearly 1/3 of the overall allocation for Kildare.’
‘As I said in July when the scheme was launched, many smaller towns in Kildare suffered significantly during the economic downturn and are still suffering from the aftermath. I know from discussing with Business and Community groups in towns like Kilcock, Clane, Prosperous and Johnstownbridge, that this scheme has the potential to bring benefits to the towns, and I want the scheme to be renewed next year, and other towns to be considered.’
‘This scheme, taken together with schemes like the Shop Front/Town Centre Improvement Grant Scheme which financially assists and supports business owners to improve the appearance of their shop fronts/commercial properties, are key to revitalising our towns and villages.’
‘The €100,000 allocated for Prosperous out of a total of €380,000 for Kildare, has been allocated for landscape enhancement, playground and car park in Prosperous,’ concluded Deputy O’Rourke.
It is truly regretful what has happened in recent days in the playground, but we cannot allow a small minority to undermine the benefit this playground has for so many children and their families. I have contact Kildare County Council, along with my colleague Cllr Michael Coleman, to have the appropriate and necessary repairs carried out as soon as possible.
The Council confirmed they had contractors onsite today to start repairs and reinstate the fence sections. The surfacing will also be repaired imminently. The Fire Engine will be replaced either before Christmas or early in 2017 depending on funding.
I have also been contacted by local volunteers who are available to lock and unlock the playground daily which is great news.
This is a very positive combined response from all concerned to the recent issues. I want to thank those involved in getting the playground back to a usable state for their continued support and input. I hope you find this update positive and useful, and the playground will be open to “Play” very soon.