2024 Rolestown & Rural Broadband update

Rolestown – Kilsallaghan – St. Margaret’s– Rivermeade – UPDATE

Council and European elections are on Friday 07 June and hopefully you have received your Polling Card by now. You do not need your Polling Card to Vote, as long as your name is on the election register (check voter.ie) and you bring identification, then you are permitted to vote. Thank you again for your massive support in the last Council elections and I am asking for your vote again so that I can continue to represent you for another 5 years.

There are a number of on-going issues that I continue to work on for the area regarding Dublin Airport and the daa, Roads, Road Safety, Footpaths, better Public Transport, Housing and Broadband and please do not hesitate in contacting me if there are any other issues that you want me to concentrate on.

Regarding the Thornton Hall site, I have raised residents’ concerns with the Community Engagement Team of the “Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth” and I have asked them to arrange a meeting with residents to ensure that these concerns can be adequately addressed. Please do not hesitate in contacting me regarding this issue and I can raise any additional concerns that you have with the Department.

Please do not hesitate in contacting me by Email or Phone (details below) if I can be of any help on any issue. Please also sign-up to my

local news email service (select the third or fifth option on the list as appropriate): https://bit.ly/darraghbutleremail

Should the distribution of this leaflet over-lap with the Blanchardstown / Mulhuddart Local Election Area, please Vote Number 1 and 2 in order of your choice for Councillor J.K. Onwumereh and former Councillor Lorna Nolan. For the Castleknock Local Election Area, please Vote Number 1 and 2 in order of your choice for Councillor Howard Mahony and Eimear Carbone-Mangan.

Just to note that for the next General Election, you will be part of the new 3 Seat Constituency named “Dublin Fingal West”, that includes the electoral divisions of: Airport, Balbriggan Rural, Balbriggan Urban, Ballyboghil, Balscadden, Clonmethan, Dubber, Garristown, Hollywood, Holmpatrick, Kilsallaghan, Lusk, Rush, Skerries, Turnapin. I will continue to work with Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Dublin Fingal West) and Minister Darragh O’Brien T.D. (Dublin Fingal East) to ensure that you are properly represented at both Council and Oireachtas level.

Currently the Council is planning to have a detailed overall plan and related environmental assessments available for planning approval during 2025.

On Friday 07 June (7am to 10pm)

Please Vote Number 1 for Councillor Darragh BUTLER and Number 2 for Councillor Brigid MANTON.

Please Vote Barry Andrews MEP – Number 1 for Europe.

Broadband - Overview

• Ireland’s digital connectivity strategy sets ambitious targets, which include providing a gigabit network to all households and businesses by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030.

• Through the national broadband plan, all sectors will be provided with the connectivity needed to fully exploit digital opportunities, leading to more balanced regional development, while supporting the green transition.

National Broadband Plan in Rural Ireland

• National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is rolling out a broadband network. The intervention area covers in excess of 1.1 million people living and working in more than 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms, along with 672 schools.

• Already, more than 243,000 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection.

• NBI is connecting about 4,000 homes each month and expect to have passed more than 300,000 premises by the end of 2024.

• The nature of the plan is 100% coverage, meaning by the end of 2026, 100% of the premises in the intervention area in rural Ireland – 560,000 houses and 1.1 million people – will have access to fibre broadband if they want it.

• There are crews working in every county in Ireland - the plan was devised in such a way that, rather than go from one county or province to the next, the whole county would be worked on at the same time.

Should you have any questions or any issues regarding the above, please can you email me at darragh.butler@cllrs.fingal.ie and I will raise with the appropriate authorities.

Swords Cultural Quarter – Including New Library and Theatre

A major milestone in the Swords Cultural project was reached in November 2023 when the tender document was published. This is great news for Swords and a lot of time and effort has gone in to get to this stage. Please note that this includes a Road Closure for the section of Seatown Road next to the SCQ development (from the Council Building to St. Colmcille’s Drive) for the duration of the two-year construction phase.

This new Civic and Cultural Centre will include a new County Library, new Theatre with seating for 165 people (similar to the new Theatre at the Irish Arts Centre, Hells Kitchen, New York (pictured), new Art Gallery and Exhibition Space, new Maker Space to encourage creativity, new Studios and Rehearsal Rooms for the Arts, new Archive and Reference Library and a new Café. It is hoped that construction will commence in 2024 with the new building due to open towards the end of 2026.

Cllr. Darragh Butler

COUNCILLOR ON FINGAL COUNTY COUNCIL

Please continue your preference for: Cllr. Brigid Manton

Working with:

Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Dublin Fingal West) and Minister Darragh O’Brien T.D. (Dublin Fingal East)

Get in touch:

Fingal County Council, County Hall, Main Street, Swords 087 95 95 378 darragh.butler@cllrs.fingal.ie

Please scan the QR code to contact me or follow me or to join my newsletter email list. www.bit.ly/darraghbutler