KEEPING IN TOUCH DUBLIN WEST
JOAN BURTON TD Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Ireland is now in the process of successfully exiting the bailout, thanks to the sacrifices made by the public in getting the country back on track. Economic growth has returned and 3,000 new jobs are being created every month. Unemployment is continuing to fall, helped in large part by the reforms Joan has introduced in the Department of Social Protection to assist jobseekers back to work, training or education. The most recent figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the Live Register fell below 400,000 for the first time since May 2009. Significant jobs announcements in Dublin West, such as software company Symantec creating 400 new jobs in its new European Customer Management Centre in Blanchardstown, are evidence of the progress being made. "There are still far too many people on the Live Register, and unemployment will remain the most pressing challenge for the foreseeable future, but we are moving decisively in the right direction,” Joan said. Joan has highlighted three of the many ways the Department is supporting jobseekers.
TEMPORARY WORK ■ Rapid restoration of Jobseeker’s payments following periods of seasonal or temporary work: Where a person who is getting Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance takes up temporary work or avails of a short-term training course for up to eight weeks, the Department will temporarily suspend their claim so that it can be reinstated without delay when the work or training finishes.
TOP-UP PAYMENTS/FAMILY INCOME SUPPLEMENT (FIS) ■ Supporting families in work: Family Income Supplement (FIS) is a weekly tax-free top-up payment to employees on low pay with children. It helps families continue in work and build towards financial independence. At present, more than 40,000 working families with a total of more than 90,000 children benefit from the scheme. The Department spent €224 million on FIS in 2012 and this will increase to over €280 million next year.
JOBSPLUS ■ JobsPlus is the new wage subsidy scheme for employers where the State pays approximately €1 in €4 of the typical cost of hiring someone who has been on the Live Register for 12 months or more. See www.jobsplus.ie
FREE GP CARE FOR CHILDREN AGED 5 & UNDER In this year’s Budget, Labour secured funding of €37 million for the rollout of free GP care to children aged 5 or under. This is a commitment we made to help families cope in uncertain times. 250,000 children will benefit from this year’s Budget measure. Over time it will be rolled out to the entire population. It makes sense for people to have easy access to their GP so that problems are caught earlier. If serious illness can be stopped or managed before ending up in hospital, it’s better for the patient and cheaper for the Government. The wellbeing of the country will improve and this will reduce pressure at A&E departments. This reform will ensure that families don’t have to worry about finding a €50 fee for the doctor when one of their children gets sick. No parent should have to prioritise bills when a child needs medical care. This is one of the first steps to a universal health insurance system that is focused on need, not income.
www.joanburton.ie
JOAN BURTON INTRODUCES JOHN WALSH, LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR CASTLEKNOCK I am pleased to announce that John Walsh will be the new local representative for the Labour Party in Castleknock and Blanchardstown, taking over from Cllr Peggy Hamill, who is retiring. Both John and I wish to acknowledge Peggy’s hard work and dedication to our area over the last ten years. Born and raised in Glenville, John was educated locally in St Francis Xavier’s National School and Belvedere College. He is a graduate of Irish History and Education from Trinity College Dublin and is currently working as a lecturer in these subjects in Trinity.
Cllr Peggy Hamill
JOHN’S PRIORITIES:
■ Investing in schools: keep up investment in our primary and secondary schools in
Joan Burton with John Walsh Local Area Representative for Castleknock Blanchardstown Clonsilla
Castleknock and Blanchardstown to meet growing demand.
■ Jobs and training: promote job creation through public investment, more training places and support for local businesses and SMEs.
■ Protect our environment: improve the use of our local parks, canals and other amenities and prevent any return to reckless overdevelopment.
■ Enhanced amenities for young people: encouraging Council services to engage closely with sports clubs and youth organisations. ■ Tackling litter and illegal dumping – working with the Council to tackle litter and dumping which has become an increased problem in many areas. A great deal can be achieved at local level even in difficult economic circumstances and it is up to public representatives to present constructive solutions to local problems. John believes in working with local communities, residents’ associations and other public representatives to deal with concerns and problems for our area.
MORE SCHOOL INVESTMENT FOR DUBLIN 15 NEW CATHOLIC SCHOOL PATRON The Le Cheile Trust has been awarded patronage of the new Secondary School in Tyrellstown. The school is a co-educational Catholic voluntary school and will cater for 1,000 pupils. It is hoped the school will open to students in September 2014. When completed, the new facility will include specialised rooms for Design Graphics Technology, Home Economics, Physics, Chemistry & Biology, an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) unit, general purpose hall and a sports pitch.
FIRST EDUCATE TOGETHER SECONDARY SCHOOL Hansfield Educate Together Secondary School, Ongar co-educational and multidenominational school. It will cater for 1,000 pupils and be located in the Hansfield/Barnwell area, beside the new Hansfield Railway Station. The school is expected to open in September 2014 and include a full range of specialist classrooms, library and multimedia learning space, gym, fitness suite, music room and a special education needs suite.
MINOR WORKS GRANT & SUMMER WORKS SCHEME Minister Burton welcomes the allocation of over €70 million in funding to schools nationally in 2013/14. Over 28 million is being made available to provide a once-off minor works grant to primary schools in the coming weeks and will enable schools to undertake small scale repairs works without the need to interact with Department of Education & Skills. The Summer Works Scheme will be allocated €40 million in 2014. The scheme will be open to primary and post primary schools in the Free-Education Scheme, which have permanent recognition and are in non-rented accommodation. This scheme will allow schools to complete small scale building works such as gas, electrical and mechanical works; it also includes roof and window upgrades and structural improvements.
BOOK RENTAL SCHEME FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO HELP TACKLE COSTS An extra €5 million will be spent in 2014 on book rental schemes to ensure their availability in every primary school in Ireland. This will bring the total spend by the Department in 2014 to €20 million. The money is invested in school books, used to fund rental schemes and reduce the costs to parents. Labour in Government is now increasing this funding. Nearly one quarter of primary schools do not currently have book rental schemes, despite the fact that such schemes can reduce the costs to parents by up to 80%, bringing the average cost per child down from about €100 a year to just €20. To further help tackle back-to-school costs, Minister Quinn is announcing a new policy that will require all schools to give parents control over the cost of uniforms.
TYRRELSTOWN PARK
Cllr Mary McCamley at Tyrrelstown Park
After a wait of nearly 10 years, the new park in Tyrrelstown has officially been opened by Fingal County Council. Cllr Mary McCamley says the park is a wonderful achievement and a superb asset to the people of the Tyrrelstown area. She wishes to thank the Council, the local community and sports club for all their assistance and contributions.
Joan Burton with Cllr Michael O'Donovan
LEISURE & RECREATION My colleague Cllr Michael O’Donovan has informed me that work is well under way on improving facilities in St Catherine’s Park, beyond Westmanstown. Work is to be completed by April next, and will include a BMX track, playground, fishing lake and sports fields. Blanchardstown Library now facilitates the downloading of EBooks. You need to be a Library member (free of charge). Details are on the Library website.
EDUCATION Michael is a member of the management board of the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown, and is very pleased that our local third level college continues to be regarded as a centre of excellence. In a recent survey of university colleges by the Sunday Times, it was stated that "the strong focus at ITB on employability is paying dividends, working with the likes of IBM, Intel and Digiweb, ensuring that its programmes meet industry needs and resulting in a 98% employment rate for its graduates”. This Government is all about job creation and having a resource like the ITB in our area is helping many of our young people to obtain work. Michael is delighted to see that, according to a Department of Education study, the number of students staying in school to complete their second level education is at its highest rate ever. The report shows that the percentage of students who remain at school to sit the Leaving Certificate has risen to well over 90 per cent, one of the top retention rates in Europe. Labour market problems mean that for many young people there are more reasons to stay on in education, but these rates are also a reflection of many positive measures. The extra resources provided to 200 second level schools under DEIS and through the School Completion Programme have been put to good use. Michael said: “The fact that funding is being provided for 1,400 new teachers next year gives me great hope for the future of Education in Ireland.”
The park has 4km of pathways and hundreds of new trees planted, including a very visually impressive avenue of poplars. The lake is particularly remarkable, containing an island planted with willow. There will also be a children’s playground, with work starting on this project before the end of the year. The park will also have four football pitches and they will be located near the new all-weather pitch. There will also be a cricket pitch adjacent to the lake. Cllr McCamley said that she was delighted to see the park open and wishes the residents of Tyrrelstown the very best of enjoyment in the years to come as the park settles and matures.
GREEN FLAG FOR ST BENEDICT'S I was delighted to visit St Benedict’s National School, Ongar, for Europe Day earlier this year, where Emer Costello MEP and I raised their first Green Flag. St Benedict’s joins 14 other schools in Dublin 15 that have had a Green Flag either awarded or renewed this year. The aim of the Green Schools programme is to encourage students to be more aware of sustainable development and the environment through classroom study and practical activities. The lessons learned in school will also encourage students to be more environmentally aware at home and in their community. Principal Noreen Behan highlighted how one simple initiative can make a big difference: each student was asked to take their own hand towel with them to school so that they would not have to use paper towels. At a school with over 300 students, this can make a big difference. The school also established a special Green Schools Committee which included 22 pupils from juniors up to fifth class, which oversaw the Green Flag effort.
BLANCHARDSTOWN PRIMARY CARE CENTRE Joan Burton has welcomed the announcement that the HSE will be opening the new Blanchardstown Primary Care Centre, which is located in Grove Court Complex – beside Fingal County Council’s offices next to the Blanchardstown Shopping Centre. The centre will offer a wide range of health and social care services to the Dublin 15 and the wider North West Dublin Area.
TAX INCENTIVES FOR HOME RENOVATIONS Budget 2014 introduced a home renovation tax incentive scheme. This will essentially make it cheaper for you to carry out renovations to your home – or what Revenue calls your “principal residence” – between now and the end of 2015. It will work by giving you a tax credit on renovation work which costs between €5,000 and €30,000. Tax credits reduce the amount of income tax you have to pay, so after the work has been carried out and you claim the credit, you will see the benefit in your take-home pay.
HOW IT WORKS:
The HSE completed the process of moving a broad range of services into this new facility which includes social care services, public health nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, psychology, social work, clinical nutrition and dietetics and a community mental health team. Over the coming weeks two local GP practices will also be moving their surgeries into the new centre.
The credit will be calculated at a rate of 13.5% on all expenditure over €5,000 up to a maximum of €30,000. So, for example, if you had work carried out costing €5,000, you would get a tax credit of €675. If you had work carried out costing €30,000, the tax credit would increase to €4,050, which is the maximum.
Joan said: “The Primary Care Centre will be a great asset to all people living within Dublin 15. It is a modern, spacious purpose built centre which will provide a broad range of health services to the local community and underlines this government’s commitment to community based health care.”
■ Extensions
The Blanchardstown Primary Care Centre is the first purpose designed structure for Primary Care within the Area, and is an example of the high standards that are envisaged in the future developments of Primary Care Services within the area including those due to be built in Corduff, and Ashtown / Navan Rd.
■ Plumbing
Qualifying Works Include:
■ Renovations ■ Window-fitting
■ Tiling For more information see www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/reliefs/hri
YOUR LOCAL LABOUR TEAM
To contact Joan John Walsh Castleknock Area
Cllr. Mary McCamley Mulhuddart Area
Cllr. Michael O’Donovan Emer Costello MEP Mulhuddart Area
Mobile 087 6486228 jmwalsh1@eircom.net
Mobile: 087 6501441 marymccamley@gmail.com
Mobile: 087 220 7798 michael.odonovan@fingalcoco.ie
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Call her on 6184006 (office hours)
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Email her: joan.burton@oireachtas.ie with any query or your views on current local and national issues
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Write to her: Joan Burton TD, Leinster House, Dublin 2
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Visit her web site www.joanburton.ie to keep up to date on her activites in the Dáil and in Dublin West.
Phone: 01 874 6109 emer.costello@europarl.europa.eu
WORKING FOR YOU
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