The Save Clondalkin Convent campaign got some extra time when the decision by An Bord Pleanála due on the 21st October was moved forward to 13th December. I am supporting this campaign as I believe the proposed Nursing Home is to big in proposed sixe and does not keep in design with the current church and convent. it will also destroy the look of one of our most know structures in Clondalkin.

I would appeal to and urge the Archbishop of Dublin and the Presentation Sisters to meet with the Campaign Committee.

I am committing as a survivor of an institution to continue my campaign for a state museum and memorial garden that would encompass all the survivors from all the institutions, I believe that the former Magdalene laundry on Sean Mc Dermot Street offers the most obvious place to facilitate both these and would also be able to cater for a centre for survivors to meet and get support. I will work with survivors to get this delivered.

I intend using my Bye Election campaign to highlight the above needs at every opportunity I get.

The Proposed Destruction of Rathcoole Woodlands would be Environmental Vandalism and is not something I could support.

At the September Clondalkin area meeting i spoke in relation to the Woodlands in Rathcoole and said the proposed development is contrary to the SDCC climate change strategy – I support a full Biodiversity study for this area and call on SDCC to look at re-arranging the proposal and prevent a climate change disaster , I am informed there is thousands of trees in the Woodlands , I know we need housing but we also must remember we have a climate change strategy that the full council has agreed . There will have to be a compromise and i will work with SDCC on finding this

Cllr Timmons says ‘’ I am delighted to announce that I will be contesting the upcoming by-election for Dublin Mid-West , I will not be littering the towns , villages and roads of Dublin Mid-West , I am putting a challenge up to other candidates running to do the same , There are many reasons not to do posters one is Our Local Tidy Towns groups do not want posters that destroy the look of our area for the few weeks they are up but more importantly than that is , if we are serious about Climate Change than we simply cannot buy more posters that take 400+ years to biodegrade. It time for everyone involved in Politics to stand up to Climate change and action speaks louder than words, the clock is ticking and now is the time to take action. Will we just talk about Climate Change or will we take real action? I suggest Politicians should be leading the way and going poster free. I 100% support the amazing work done by our local Tidy Towns in areas of Dublin Mid-West. I have listened to Climate Change activists and this is my gesture to say I have heard the voices of campaigners who are rightly saying we need to do more on Climate Change and Faster , we ultimately need a ban on all one use plastic’’

Corrugated plastic, commonly known as Corriboard is the material of choice for election posters. Like other single use plastics, they take 400+ years to biodegrade. For example In the 2014 local elections, 2038 candidates ran for 949 seats. An estimated 611,000 posters were erected with a combined cost of €3M with posters covering the equivalent area of 23 Croke Parks. This produced 366 tonnes of Co2, the equivalent of driving an average car non-stop for 592 days. In many areas, these posters were a safety and driving hazard, often obscuring important road signage. After 30 days of canvassing, the majority of these posters were sent to landfill.

Cllr Timmons says ‘’I will be reusing old posters in Friends and Families and shop windows but will not be purchasing any new posters or erecting anything in public areas where they have the potential to damage our environment.’’

Cllr Timmons says ‘’My campaign will focus primarily on Climate Change , Mental Health , Disability , Community Facilities and Infrastructure , Housing and Truth , Justice issues and Anti-Social Behaviour issues.’’

Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance for 2019 Set to Commence

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Ms Regina Doherty TD has announced that the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance will be made available again this year, and has urged families who are not automatically entitled to make an application before the end of September deadline.

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. I was very pleased to secure €56 million in Budget 2019 for this year’s scheme.

The income limits for this payment have been adjusted to ensure that the increases in social welfare payment rates introduced by Budget 2019 do not negatively impact on people’s entitlement to the allowance.”

The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is a nationwide scheme that provides a once-off payment to eligible families towards the cost of school clothing and footwear.

The allowance paid for each eligible child aged 4-11 on or before 30 September 2019 is €150 while an allowance of €275 is paid for each eligible child aged 12-22 on or before 30 September 2019. Children aged between 18 and 22 years must be returning to full-time second-level education in a recognised school or college in the autumn of 2019.

Funding of €56.3 million has been provided for the scheme this year. It will be automatically paid to almost 110,000 families in respect of approx. 200,000 children from the week beginning 8 July to allow families sufficient time to prepare for back to school.

Similar to previous years, the majority of payments will be paid with no application form required.  The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection is currently processing these payments and customers will receive written confirmation before the end of this month informing them of their automatic entitlement. The Department will issue payments totalling approximately €40.5 million to these families from the week beginning 8 July.

Families who do not receive notification from the Department of an automated payment by the end of June will need to make an application even if they received a payment last year – the application form will be available from 24 June in all Intreo Centres, via SMS (text Form BTSCFA followed by your name and address to 51909) or by sending an email to BSCFA@welfare.ie and on the Department’s website www.welfare.ie.

There is also an option to apply online this year at www.mywelfare.ie. Customers wishing to avail of this option need to have a Public Services Card and a verified MyGovID account.  Those who do not have a Public Services Card can make an appointment at www.mywelfare.ie to get one.

The closing date for receipt of applications for this year’s Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance is 30 September 2019.

The Department is also providing a dedicated phone link that will be open to answer enquiries during business hours 9.00am to 5.00pm.  Anyone wishing to make enquiries about this scheme can contact LoCall 1890 66 22 44.

Important:

To qualify for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, a person must be in receipt of certain social welfare payments or taking part in training, employment or adult education schemes and the total household income must be less than the amounts set out in the table below. All dependent children are taken into account for the income limits (including children who do not qualify for the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, because they are under the age of 4).

The total household income includes a person’s main social welfare or Health Service Executive payment and any other income they may have including wages (before tax, but excluding employee PRSI and a standard travel allowance of up to €20 per week), maintenance, savings and investments.

Savings and investments (including property, but not the family home) are assessed as follows:

Any income a family gets from Child Benefit, Rent Supplement, Working Family Payment, Guardian’s Payments, Blind Welfare Allowance, Rehabilitation Training Allowance, rehabilitative employment (up to €120 per week), Domiciliary Care Allowance, Mobility Allowance is not counted.

Income Limits for 2019 are:-

*Limit is increased by €37 for each additional child.

Just completed my donations and elections expenses statement for Local Election 2019 as per the 1999 Act – the record is as follows for my campaign.  

– I spent €1006.98 of my own money and received €1346.67 in voluntary donations (Go fund me and cash donations) making a total spend of €2353.65 for my 2019 campaign.

Very Glad to second a Headed Item at July Council meeting calling for a Library to be built in Rathcoole – plans will now be drawn up and presented at October Council meeting – i have been years calling for a library that would serve Rathcoole , Newcastle , Saggart and Brittas

Plans are being developed for 1160 housing units in Killnarden , Rathcoole , Belgard North and Clonburris made up of 29% social , 46 % affordable , 12% affordable rent and 13% private – early stages but welcome news that plans will be brought to council in October.

South Dublin County Council have proposals that can deliver up to 4,500 new homes to the area. The total investment envisaged under the ambitious housing plan is in excess of €1 billion.

The lands discussed at Monday’s Council meeting included:

2,600 new homes at the recently approved Clonburris SDZ scheme,

1,000 new homes at Kilcarbery in Clondalkin,

500 new homes in Killinarden, Tallaght,

250 new homes in Rathcoole, and a further;

150 new homes at Belgard Square North, Tallaght.

Some progress being made

Works to improve security of water supply may cause interruptions in parts of South Dublin this weekend

(3 July 2019) Irish Water and South Dublin County Council wish to advise customers that essential works to improve security of water supply will be carried on a trunk water main in Rathcoole Park this weekend. As a result of these planned works there may be disruption to the water supply in parts of South Dublin from 9am on Thursday 4 July until 5pm on Sunday 7 July.

Customers in the following areas may experience lower water pressure for the duration of the works: Aerodrome; Greenogue; Newcastle; Ballynakelly; Newcastle Village; Peamount Road; Baldonnel Business Park; Milltown; Baldonnel; Kingswood Business Park; Citywest Business Park; Brownsbarn; Kingswood Heights; Embankment Road; Rossfield; Jobstown Park and surrounding areas.

Irish Water has worked closely with the Dublin Local Authorities to minimise the impact of these works. The network will be managed to ensure water supply is maintained to customers albeit at a lower pressure than usual.

Irish Water is encouraging customers to conserve water while these essential works are underway. We are urging customers to conserve water by not running taps needlessly, taking showers instead of baths and to postpone using dishwashers and washing machines where possible. Water supply to hospitals will be prioritised and water tankers are on stand-by and are ready to be mobilised if needed.

These essential works form part of the €35 million euro construction of a new strategic water main that will provide water connectivity between Leixlip and Saggart safeguarding the future water supply for homes and businesses in South Dublin.

Speaking about the works, William Mc Knight, Irish Water said, “This project will improve the resilience of the water supply network in the Greater Dublin Area and will help to safeguard the water supply to homes and businesses. The works this weekend are being planned so as to minimise the impact to the public and we are urging customers to conserve water during this time.”

Irish Water and South Dublin County Council wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused by these essential works. Our customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1850 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please see the water supply and services section of our website.

COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS

SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Roads Act 1993, Section 75 

Temporary Closure of Roads in Grange Castle/Clondalkin Area

To facilitate the 10k Road Race, South Dublin County Council has made an order to temporarily close Roads in Grange Castle/Clondalkin Area on Sunday 21st July 2019 from 10.00 am to 12.30 pm.

In order to facilitate the 10k Road Race, it is proposed to close the following roads from 10.30 am to 12.30pm.

• St. Johns Grove Clondalkin.
• The access from St. Johns Road West onto Fonthill Road South.
• Tower Road Clondalkin.
• Old Nangor Road from its junction with the Tower Road to the Community Centre access.
• New Nangor Road from its junction with the Ninth Lock Road to its junction with Fonthill Road.

In addition the south bound carriage way of the Grange Castle Road (R136) will be closed from the Lynches Lane Roundabout to the Corkagh Park Roundabout between 10.00am and 11.15am.

The Fonthill Road South will be closed to traffic from the Cherrywood Roundabout to the Boot Rd/ Convent Road between 10.15am and 12.00 noon.

The Ninth Lock Road will be closed to northbound traffic (i.e. towards Ronanstown) from the Grand Canal to Orchard Lane between 10.30am and 12.30pm. During these times there will be no access to/from Michael Collins Park, St. Patrick’s Road/ Park.

Convent Road Clondalkin will be open to south bound traffic (i.e. away from Clondalkin Village) only from its junction with St. Bridget’s Road to Clondalkin Main Street between 10.30am and 12.30pm. There will be restricted access to/from St. Anthony’s Avenue, St. John’s Road and Moyle Crescent during these times.

In addition to the above closures traffic on the route may experience delays at any time between 10.00am and 12.30pm.

Emergency Access will be maintained at all times.