Michael Merrigan - Local Election Manifesto

CARE LOCAL : ACT LOCAL : VOTE LOCAL

LOCAL ELECTION MANIFESTO Michael Merrigan – Independent Community Candidate

Supported by the Dún Laoghaire Community Association

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MICHAEL MERRIGAN Independent Community Candidate Supported by the Dún Laoghaire Community Association Local Elections 2014 – Dún Laoghaire A Chairde, In urging you to give me your Number 1 Vote on May 23rd I have set out, below, my main priorities, policies and objectives should I be elected to represent the people of Dún Laoghaire on Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

As a Community Activist in Dún Laoghaire for almost twenty-five years, I have seen how our hometown and its surrounding communities have suffered under the planning and social housing policies adopted by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council since its creation in 1994.

We were promised change and better representation in 2004 and again in 2009 by candidates from each of the parties – but, again they failed to deliver a fair deal for Dún Laoghaire. Instead we got little communication, very few constituency clinics but, of course, we got the ‘Parking Tax’ which has decimated businesses in Dún Laoghaire.

Our hometown has been almost destroyed by bad and inappropriate planning decisions – all supported by the major political parties. Our open spaces, our wonderful vistas and the general character of our hometown are constantly under threat.

We need change and that is entirely up to you on May 23rd – we need to give real and tangible expression to the meaning of local government enshrined in our Constitution.

Article 28A of Bunreacht na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland) deals specifically with LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Here is the first section which clearly places an obligation on the County Council to act in the interests of our communities.

1. The State recognises the role of local government in providing a forum for the democratic representation of local communities, in exercising and performing at local level powers and functions conferred by law and in promoting by its initiatives the interests of such communities.

This is the cornerstone of my commitment to our communities and to the residents of Dún Laoghaire in the furtherance of my policy objectives and initiatives below.

Please support our local communities by Voting No. 1 – Michael Merrigan, Non-Party.

Go raibh mile maith agaibh Mise le meas

MICHAEL MERRIGAN, MA, FGSI www.facebook.com/vote.merrigan.no.1

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CONTENTS

HOUSING • • • • •

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Emergency Social Housing Programme Legacy Debts from ‘Bin Tax Campaign’ Transparency and Accountability in Social Housing Allocation Town Planning – ‘Above the Shop Floor’ Residential Accommodation National Housing Strategy

ENVIRONMENT • • • •

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Protection of our natural heritage – ‘lungs of our county’ Marine and Coastal Environment Provision of ‘Green-Spaces’ & Biodiversity Town Centres as ‘Public Spaces’

BUSINESS • • • • • • •

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County Council and the Demise of the Local Economy Dún Laoghaire treated as a ‘Municipal Car-Park’ Dún Laoghaire BID Company & the ‘Parking Tax’ Integrated Local Economic and Community Plan Need to ‘Reimagine and Reinvent’ the Local Economy Dún Laoghaire as a ‘International University Town’ Commercial Rates

EMPLOYMENT • • • •

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Employment Initiatives in Dún Laoghaire County Council’s function in Job Creation Embargo on Recruitment in the Civil and Public Sectors Public Contracts and the Local ‘Live Register’

LOCAL PROPERTY TAX • •

Variation and Reduction of the LPT Residential Parking Permits and the LPT

COMMUNITIES • • • •

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Official Recognition of Local Residents’ Associations Public Consultation, Information and Local Plebiscites Protection of Local Identities and ‘Civic Cohesiveness’ Duty of Candour Required

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TRAFFIC & TRANSPORT • • • • •

Comprehensive Transport and Traffic Management Plan Traffic Audit and Public Consultation Pedestrian Routes and Cycle Ways – ‘Walk to School’ Local Taxi Forum – Taxis and our Public Transport System Strategic Policy Committee on Transportation and Taxi Drivers

TOURISM & TWINNING • • • • • •

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County Councillors Initiating Public Policy Framework for Public Participation in Local Government Independents Network – ‘Independent Thought – United Vision’

ACCOUNTABILITY • • •

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County Heritage Plans An Foram Oidhreachta (County Heritage Forum) Promotion of the Irish Language and Street Signs National Diaspora Centre

POLICY FORMULATION • • •

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Public Services – Privatisation and ‘Out-Sourcing’ Principle of Public Ownership and Right of Access Dogs Unleashed Campaign Local Authority Service Delivery Plan Dún Laoghaire Harbour and Dún Laoghaire Baths Fluoridation of the Public Water Supply

ARTS & HERITAGE • • • •

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Community Tourism Initiative Coastal Plan Festivals and Events Youth Training Initiatives – Active Retirement Associations Tourism Brand versus promoting a County Identity Revitalising the Twinning Programme

PUBLIC AMENITIES & SERVICES • • • • • •

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Public Consultation Bunreacht na hÉireann – Article 28A Accountability, Transparency and Openness

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MY MAIN POLICIES & PRIORITIES HOUSING •

Social Housing must be prioritised and delivered – we cannot allow the thousands of families on the Council’s Housing Waiting Lists to be abandoned, deprived of hope and consigned to languish for years in appalling circumstances. The provision of social housing cannot be privatised by stealth nor can we depend solely on Charitable Housing Associations to provide the necessary homes for our people. An Emergency Social Housing Programme must be established to provide for our County’s needs for the next decade. We did it in the 1950s – now we can and must do it again!!

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To allow for mobility in the Social Housing Sector, the legacy debts incurred by families due to very bad ‘political advice’ they received during the ‘Bin Tax Campaign’ must be addressed in a sustainable ‘family friendly’ manner in order that they can regularise their tenancy status.

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The current allocation of social housing units needs to be more transparently accountable where equity of treatment is assured for all clients on the Social Housing Waiting Lists including the clients of Charitable Housing Associations.

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We must facilitate the acquisition and renovation of the upper floors of commercial premises in the Town Centre for the provision of social and affordable housing. Make the provision of ‘above the shop floor’ residential accommodation a requirement for all new developments or redevelopments along George’s Street, Patrick Street, Sussex Street and Lower York Road in the new County Development Plan.

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Ireland badly needs a National Housing Strategy with the objective of drastically reducing the numbers on Local Authority Housing Lists, eliminating homelessness and providing security of tenure and fair rents for tenants in the private rental sector.

Legislative reform is required which could ensure that empty dwellings held in private or corporate ownership (Commercial Banks & NAMA) are released into the private rental market through the introduction of an ‘empty dwelling levy’ on each unoccupied dwelling. This will prevent the stockpiling of empty dwellings as investment properties.

ENVIRONMENT •

The protection of our County’s natural heritage is crucially important as it impacts directly on the quality of our lives and the health and well-being of our communities.

As an essentially ‘urban county’ we must jealously guard our existing green-spaces from any further encroachment by developers, including the County Council, and from inappropriate or damaging developments surrounding these precious ‘lungs of our county’.

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Our marine and coastal environment is constantly under threat from inappropriate development and creeping privatisation. We must ensure that these wonderful amenities are protected as public assets for the enjoyment of the people.

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The provision of ‘green-spaces’ in our town and village centres and the use of ‘continental roadside plant troughs’ on sections of our main streets would enhance the appearance of these areas and facilitate biodiversity.

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We need, as a community, to reclaim the centre of our home-town of Dún Laoghaire as a public space where people can meet, relax and enjoy the ambiance of cosmopolitan town and this objective should be central to any Town Development Plan.

BUSINESS •

Business and trade in Dún Laoghaire has been severely damaged by the recent economic crisis, however, the County Council played a huge role in hastening the demise of many businesses through the imposition of high commercial rates and the operation of an aggressively policed and punitive Pay & Display Parking Scheme.

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The operation of a municipal car-park business by the County Council involving all the streets within central Dún Laoghaire and in the business districts of other towns is not, as is claimed, merely a ‘traffic management measure’. It is an aggressively damaging commercial activity that taxes and deters customers, destroys businesses and jobs, and ultimately it is self-defeating as it obliterates the commercial rate base for little return.

The ‘Parking Tax’ should be scrapped and replaced with a proper business-friendly traffic management scheme.

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The recent establishment of a Business Improvement District Scheme (BIDS) for Dún Laoghaire promises much but few believe that it has the capacity to deliver any of its worthy objectives without tackling the Council’s ‘Parking Tax’ which deters and severely restricts customers, destroys businesses and kills jobs. The new BIDS Company, when incorporated, cannot be permitted to become another costly quango benefitting the few and relieving the County Council of its economic and business promotion responsibilities.

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I strongly believe in the necessity of bringing together the voluntary, community and business organisations under the auspices of the County Council in a meaningful consultative process leading to the formulation, approval and implementation of an Integrated Local Economic and Community Plan.

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The economic model, upon which, business and trade in Dún Laoghaire has developed over the past few decades is no longer sustainable. A Town of small to medium-sized retail outlets stretching the length of the main street and many of the side-streets is gone forever. It was destroyed by bad planning decisions, disastrous traffic management schemes and the County Council’s preference for out-of-town shopping centres. We need to reimagine and to reinvent our Town’s economic future looking towards sustainable options provided by the hospitality, leisure, services, tourism and education sectors.

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The feasibility of establishing a European campus of a major Chinese University in the Town of Dún Laoghaire should be explored. Such a facility has the enormous potential to attract new businesses and support services to the Town. It would boost the Town’s economy in a sustainable manner as a new ‘university town’ attracting students directly from China and from the huge Chinese diaspora in Europe. The County Council’s role in attracting foreign direct investment is facilitated by the Local Government Reform Act, 2014.

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The Commercial Rates charged by the County Council should be cognisant of the current economic circumstances facing businesses in Dún Laoghaire. Instead of imposing crippling commercial rates on struggling local businesses, a more businessfriendly investment model should be adopted offering a range of options and initiatives

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aimed at sustaining and developing local enterprises and encouraging new businesses to locate in Dún Laoghaire.

EMPLOYMENT •

Employment initiatives in Dún Laoghaire are greatly hampered by a number of factors directly in the control of the County Council, including the ‘Parking Tax’, high commercial rates and the absence of an Integrated Local Economic and Community Plan.

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Customers for our local businesses means jobs for local people. Local people working in Dún Laoghaire increases the local spend within the towns of Blackrock, Dalkey and Dún Laoghaire. The County Council has a function under the Local Government Reform Act, 2014 to implement measures and initiatives aimed at sustaining, facilitating and creating employment in the County. Special incentives should be considered for companies expanding or creating employment within our town centres, especially in Dún Laoghaire.

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The current government’s embargo on recruitment in the civil and public sectors is counterproductive and damaging front line services. This embargo should be lifted for the lower grades in the civil and public services, especially in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, to provide meaningful and sustainable job opportunities in the County.

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The inclusion of a requirement in all public tenders for contracts placed by the County Council that at least 50% of all newly recruited workers, where possible, be sourced from those on the Live Register within the County should be considered as a special temporary employment activation measure.

LOCAL PROPERTY TAX •

The rate of the Local Property Tax in Dún Laoghaire can be varied by up to 15% the County Council under Section 20 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act, 2012. I will work to maximise the reduction for households in Dún Laoghaire.

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As the funds collected by the County Council in the ‘Parking Tax’ are allocated to the same general functions as the funds collected by the Local Property Tax, I believe that a rebate in the LPT should be available to households forced to purchase Residential Parking Permits from the County Council at €45.00 per annum. This is simply a matter of the necessary equitable treatment of households throughout the County.

COMMUNITIES •

Dún Laoghaire is home to many diverse and vibrant communities, most represented by residents’ or community associations, all of which add to the wonderful cosmopolitan nature of our County’s capital. The work of these residents’ and community associations should be officially recognised by the County Council through registration and the establishment of a biannual consultative forum for community representatives to discuss matters of policy and planning impacting on local communities.

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Communities need to be fully informed and consulted on County Council’s decisions or policies that may impact on the quality of life, services or amenities enjoyed by the residents in these communities. Therefore, a meaningful consultation process, including the holding of local plebiscites, should be considered for all major developments which may impact on communities or areas.

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I strongly believe that the local identities of our various communities need to be recognised, respected and protected by the County Council and that public signage should be utilised to promote and celebrate our many and varied local communities.

Attempts by successive County Managers at promoting a ‘civic cohesiveness’ and single identity for the County of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown should not be at the expense of our long-standing local identities.

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A duty of candour should be expected of all public officials in relation to matters affecting the interests of the communities within the County.

TRAFFIC & TRANSPORT •

The failure of the County Council to formulate, adopt and implement a comprehensive and effective integrated transport and traffic management plan for the greater Dún Laoghaire area has frustrated business and residents groups for years. This disjointed approach by the County Council has seen the inappropriate location of small roundabouts, chicanes, speed bumps, traffic lights and, in some cases, ignoring the real danger spots for pedestrians and especially, our most vulnerable, the elderly, infirm and our children.

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A traffic management audit is required to assess the effectiveness of the current situation in the greater Dún Laoghaire area. This audit should include a meaningful public consultation process involving all road users, business groups and residents’ associations.

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An integrated transport and traffic management plan should include designated cycle routes and cater for the long established pedestrian routes linking the Town Centre with its environs to provide for safe crossing points as required along such routes. These initiatives are especially intended to increase the use of bicycles and to encourage the development of a ‘walk to work’ and, importantly for prevention of childhood obesity, a ‘walk to school’ culture in the greater Dún Laoghaire area.

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The local taxi service is an essential part of the public transport system for the greater Dún Laoghaire area, however, our local taxi drivers are daily encountering problems with the inadequate number and the location of the rank spaces provided by the County Council. These issues should be resolved by the establishment of a structured dialogue between County Council officials and the local taxi drivers. I propose the establishment of a Local Taxi Forum consisting of County Council officials, An Garda Síochána and representatives of the local taxi drivers.

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The local taxi drivers should be represented on the County Council’s Strategic Policy Committee on Transportation in recognition of the role as an integral part of our public transport network.

TOURISM & TWINNING •

In 1998 I was a co-founder of the Community Tourism Initiative involving all of the community, voluntary and business sectors in Dún Laoghaire. This community initiative developed and organised events aimed at encouraging tourists based in Dublin City to ‘DART Along Dublin’s Riviera’ and to visit the towns and villages along the coast. This Community Tourism Initiative created the “Blue Cap” voluntary community tourism guides concept which has been adopted widely as ‘tourism ambassadors’ throughout Ireland.

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In January 2001 I published a wide ranging proposal for inclusion in a comprehensive ‘Coastal Plan’ stretching from Booterstown to Sandycove, with suggestions for its continuance onwards to Bray. It is available to read on: http://www.dunlaoghaire.com/coastalplan/main.html

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The Community Tourism Initiative organised festivals and parades in Dún Laoghaire and, in the spirit of the community initiative, I proposed and helped organise the ‘Bratacha 2013 – Festival of Flags & Emblems’ held last year as part of The Gathering.

It is now an annual community event.

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I propose the re-establishment of a vibrant Community Tourism Initiative and to place it on a permanent footing to work alongside Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Tourism Company and to expand the activities of the initiative to include youth training opportunities, active retirement programmes and special community events.

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The promotion of tourism should not be confused with the promotion of the ‘County’s identity’ which has a quite different objective surrounding civic cohesiveness and the promotion of the Local Authority itself. This has hampered tourism promotion in the past, dissipated community and business endeavours, and is wasteful of scare resources.

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I propose revitalising the County’s twinning initiatives to foster sustainable community and business based links with towns and cities in the European Union and around the world. The County’s ‘officially twinned’ links with the County of Ynys Mȏn (Anglesey) in Wales / Cymru and Brest in Brittany / Breizh have been neglected for years. A friendship agreement signed in 2008 with Izumo in Japan has not, as yet, been fully explored for its tourism and trade potential.

PUBLIC AMENITIES & SERVICES •

The quality of the provision of public services and the up-keep of public amenities has been severely eroded during the years of ‘fiscal adjustment’ or ‘austerity’. This was also accompanied by a drive to hive-off such functions to the private sector or to commercialise the delivery of services. This has greatly has already occurred in the refuse services, water services, social housing maintenance services and it is stealthily creeping into the provision of social housing. ‘Out-sourcing’ fragments and erodes the accountability for the delivery of vital services for the community. This trend must be halted and, where possible, reversed in the public interest.

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The principle of public ownership and right of access to amenities and services should be the cornerstone of public policies underpinning the provision, delivery and maintenance of public amenities and services. Therefore, all policies and plans formulated by the County Council in respect of public amenities and services should be measured against this principle prior to their adoption. Existing policies and plans should, where necessary, be amended or revised to ensure compliance.

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The management our public parklands, beaches and seashore areas in a manner that facilitates their continued enjoyment by all sections of our community is a primary objective of the County Council. This includes dog owners and therefore, I would propose the establishment of a public consultation process involving the regional local authorities with the objective of achieving a sustainable resolution based on international best practice to the issues raised by the Dogs Unleashed Campaign. A single Greater Dublin Regional Policy on this issue is required to cover all public spaces. Where there is a local issue, for example, in a parkland area which is used by a

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reasonably well defined community, local consultation with the option of a local plebiscite may offer a more appropriate and more sustainable resolution to any dispute •

The County Council should formulate and adopt a draft Local Authority Service Delivery Plan in accordance with Section 50 of the Local Government Reform Act, 2014 and do so through a meaningful public consultation process involving local communities and other stakeholders.

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Any publicly funded proposed development of Dún Laoghaire Harbour and/or Dún Laoghaire Baths should be as public amenities and any such development should be in the interests of the local communities and should be restricted to publicly accessible heritage and leisure facilities to be held in public ownership.

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Although the issue of the fluoridation of our public drinking water supplies is now a matter for the Department of Health, Department of the Environment and Uisce Éireann (Irish Water), the serious health concerns raised by experts and home and overseas requires urgent attention. I propose to ask the County Councils around Ireland to adopt resolutions in support of the establishment of a public consultation process on this issue.

ARTS & HERITAGE •

In 1996 I established a County Heritage Forum (An Foram Oidhreachta) and brought representatives of all of the heritage, environmental, local historical, genealogical, arts, cultural organisations in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown together to explore the possibility of formulating a ‘County Heritage Policy’. The forum’s proposals on the need for County Heritage Plans and the appointment of County Heritage Officers became government policy which was implemented nationwide over the next decade.

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I propose the re-establishment of An Foram Oidhreacha (County Heritage Forum) placing it on a permanent footing as a voluntary body with a research, public education, campaigning and consultative role. This will establish a structured formulation, implementation and oversight role for the heritage and arts sectors in the County Council’s multiannual Arts and Heritage Plans.

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I strongly support the promotion of the Irish language in the County and the correct usage of the language on our road signs and in the provision of the Irish language versions of place-names and street-names. An audit of the incorrect usage of the language on road-signs should be carried out with the assistance of the community and these signs should be replaced with the correct Irish language versions.

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I support the bid by Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to have the proposed National Diaspora Centre based at the Carlisle Per in Dún Laoghaire and that this facility should also include an Irish Institute of Genealogical and Heraldic Studies containing a Centre for Diaspora and Migration Studies as proposed by the Genealogical Society of Ireland.

POLICY FORMULATION •

Our existing County Councillors have generally abdicated their policy formulation functions to County Council officials and, although they may amend the policies before voting to accept them, they rarely, if ever, initiate policy through their own research or produce draft policy documents. In 2007, as a member of the County Council’s Strategic Policy Committee on Culture, Community Development & Amenities, I

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presented a detailed heritage policy document on the Place-names of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown. This was the first time that a member of the SPC presented a policy document as such normally emanated from County Council officials. Abdicating policy formulation to County Council officials is not a practice that serves the interests of our communities.

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The County Council must adopt a Framework for Public Participation in Local Government under Section 46 of the Local Government Reform Act, 2014 and therefore, mechanisms can and should be established to ensure that the local communities are treated as full stakeholders in the development of the County and in the provision of services by the County Council.

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Like a number of other Independent candidates, I have signed up to the principles underpinning the new Independents Network covering Equality, Democracy, Community, Sustainability, Solidarity and Human Rights aimed at building a new politics in Ireland. The full text of the document ‘Independent Thought – United Vision’ can be downloaded from http://www.independentsnetwork.org/

ACCOUNTABILITY •

The current controversy over the building of the new Central Library & Cultural Centre has highlighted a very serious and fundamental flaw in the operation of our planning laws which didn’t provide for any meaningful public consultation on this development which currently costs circa €36 million of public funds. It is reported that many of the County Councillors who voted for this project in November 2009 and, at the same meeting, voted against deferring the decision pending public consultation, are now allegedly attempting to blame others for the development. This is totally unacceptable.

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Article 28A of the Constitution of our Republic clearly places an onus on the County Council and its elected members, the County Councillors, to promote by its initiatives the interests of our communities in Dún Laoghaire. The elected representatives of the people should be prepared, at all times, to demonstrate that their decisions and actions are in the interests of local our communities.

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The various initiatives above are designed to ensure accountability, transparency and openness in the delivery of local services; to provide for public accessibility to information and to facilitate meaningful public consultation on matters affecting our local communities, our environment and the future of Dún Laoghaire.

“Reclaim Our Future”

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