€5 million Pilot Project for JCMH

Community Voice Exclusive Report

A major new initiative, that could have far reaching implications for the treatment of respiratory illnesses, has been approved for James Connolly Memorial Hospital (JCMH). The government has approved the sum of €5 million for a Respiratory Pilot Project which it is hoped will commence in the hospital in the autumn.

The announcement was made by Minister of State at the Dept. of Health and Children, Brian Lenihan TD, who told Community Voice, "this is a major development for the hospital and one which will see it become one of the foremost centres of excellence for the provision of respiratory care in Ireland.

According to Dr. Conor Burke, Consultant Respiratory Physician at JCMH, the new project has huge implications for the efficiency of future health care management. "For too long we have been putting too many resources into processes and not enough into patient care. If we can deliver on this project we could have a whole new system of health care."

The Pilot Project, developed in JCMH and approved by the Departments of Finance and Health, has a set out a number of specific criteria.

Patients will be guaranteed prompt consultant access - less than one month for routine referrals and fast track appointments, where necessary, within three days. GPs will have guaranteed access to consultants via telephone and e-mail for at least one hour every day. In addition there will be a daily ward round in the Casualty Department by a Respiratory Consultant.

The net result of these steps will be to ensure that patients will be seen to at an early stage of their illness and will lead to a dramatic reduction in the need for hospital admissions. In addition it will also ensure that patients are dealt with at the highest level of medical competence i.e. at consultant level.

The knock on effects of this project for the entire hospital service could be immense. According to Dr. Burke, "every winter there is a huge bulge in the numbers presenting at casualty with respiratory problems and it is estimated that up to 40% of all admissions at that time are due to respiratory problems."

By seeing patients early at out-patient and casualty level, hospital beds and casualty trollies will be freed up for other patients. In addition it will mean that elective surgery, so often affected by lack of beds at that time of year, will be able to proceed as normal.

According to Minister Lenihan, "the money now being made available will fund nine additional new staff at the hospital. The new staff will comprise 3 Consultants, 3 non Consultant Hospital Doctors, a Specialist Nurse, a Laboratory Technician and an administrative staff member."

The Minister particularly emphasised that the pilot project will ensure that "there will be a reduction in the length of time that respiratory patients have to stay in hospital, thus freeing up casualty beds for other patients. There will be early clinic spots available for them, allowing for early discharge. It is expected that the length of stay for these patients will be reduced by 20%," he said.

Dr. Burke also quoted from discussions with local family doctors, "who tell me that a prompt outpatient service will reduce their casualty referrals by 70%!"

The employment of the three new Consultants will be referred to Comhairle na nOispidéil for approval in the next few weeks and all parties are confident that the new consultants will be employed by the autumn in time for the next "bulge" in respiratory problems presenting at the hospital.

Dr. Eamon Leen, Chairman of the Hospital Consultants' Group, was delighted by the news of the Pilot Project. "This is a marvellous project," he said. "It is a major development that will allow the development of James Connolly as a major hospital. We unreservedly welcome this announcement."

Obviously the setting up of this project raises questions about the opening of the new hospital wards and in particular the new A&E Department at the hospital. "The Government will be making key decisions in the coming months on health spending and I can assure you that James Connolly Hospital will be at the top of the list. In addition this is a very valuable project for us to have in place for the opening of the new A&E Department.," said Minister Lenihan.

On the question of suggestions made during the recent election campaign that the proposals contained in the Hanly Report will be a threat to JCMH, the Minister said "this new project clearly signals that James Connolly Memorial Hospital is firmly on the map as a major hospital and is not being downgraded. Under the Government's proposals, with the abolition of the Health Boards, JCMH will be placed on the same footing as the other Dublin hospitals and will be funded through the Hospitals' office of the new health service executive," he said.

Praising the Minister for his assistance in bringing the project to fruition, Dr. Burke said "this is a bottom up project developed by doctors and nurses. We have had numerous meeting with officials of the Departments of Health and Finance but we would not have been able to get approval for this €5 million had it not been for the support we have received from Minister Lenihan."

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Community Mental Health Centre Opened

A new Community Mental Health Centre for the Dublin 15 area was opened recently by Tim O'Malley T.D., Minister for State at the Department of Health and Children.

The Centre, based in the new Techport building in Coolmine Industrial Estate, has been custom built and fitted out to meet the specific needs of the service in the area. The Centre will also serve as a headquarters for Blanchardstown Mental Health Services with a catchment area currently catering for a population of 80,000.

Specialist services available from the centre will include bereavement support, family therapy and behaviour psychotherapy. A new day services area on the ground floor will provide a TV/sitting room, training kitchen, team office and administrative support.

"The opening of this Centre is yet another example of the great changes that have been unfolding in the mental health services in Ireland in recent times. The perception of an institutional style mental health service, standing in isolation and closed from the rest of the community, is thankfully becoming a thing of the past" said Minister O'Malley.

The service originally operated out of the now demolished lodge at the rear of Blanchardstown Hospital and the opening of the new Centre marks a greater emphasis on moving local mental health services into the community.

According to Gerry Devine, Area Manager for Community health service in the Northern Area Health Board (NAHB), the Centre will provide an activation service for 15 to 20 people at any time as well as catering for any spill over from the new Unit in JCMH."

"The new Centre will also offer a range of courses in such areas as anxiety management and assertiveness training" said Jackie Benbo, Consultant Psychologist at the Centre. "The model that we will be developing here will be specific to the needs of Blanchardstown," she said.

Speaking at the opening, Minister O'Malley also referred to the policy document "Planning for the Future" which was published in 1984. This report recommended that mental health services should, where appropriate, be provided within the community. "Since then the number of people being cared for in mental hospitals has dropped by a half," he said.

It was timely therefore said the Minister that a new consultative group has been set up to look at current issues of mental health care for the next ten years. This group, under the chair of Dr. Joyce O'Connor, is expected to issue its report in 2005.

Dublin 15 Buses are slower than Cars!

Quality Bus Corridors appear to be an appropriately named traffic innovation in Dublin - unless that is you are a bus passenger in the Dublin 15 area.

A recent study conducted by the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) has found that bus passengers in the city reach their destinations up to 42% faster than motorists.

According to the study, bus passengers on seven of Dublin's nine QBCs experienced shorter journey times than motorists using the same routes. The study monitored QBC corridors in Finglas, Stillorgan, Malahide, Rathfarnham, Lucan, Tallaght, Swords, Blanchardstown and North Clondalkin.

The largest difference in journey times was recorded on the Finglas QBC, where the average bus journey on the route takes 11 minutes 46 seconds, compared to 20 minutes 20 seconds by car.
However the message for Dublin 15 passengers using buses into and out of the city is use your car if you're in a hurry as the study showed that bus journey times were significantly slower than those for private cars.

The DTO study also showed that the number of cars entering the city fell by 5% between November 2002 and November 2003, while the number of people using buses increased by 8% in the same period. These figures were also assisted by the fact that the supply of buses on QBCs has increased by 35%.

However John Henry, Chief Executive of the DTO, stressed the need for similar investment in rail infrastructure to ensure that the longer term and overall objectives of the public transport strategy were achieved. "Quality Bus Corridors are a key element in the overall strategy for Dublin. These results clearly show how successful they have been in attracting people out of their cars and onto bus services."

"However, there is a limit to the role that the bus can play in the longer term and significant complementary investment in rail infrastructure is required to achieve the strategic goals that have been set down for the region," said Mr Henry.

Drug Treatment Protest

Over 60 people attended a recent protest meeting at the gates of James Connolly Memorial Hospital to highlight the lack of commitment on the part of the Northern Area Health Board to the allocation of space within the grounds of the hospital for a drug treatment facility.

Both the Blanchardstown Local Drugs Task Force and the Addiction Service of the Health Board, have been highlighting the need for such a facility for some time now. According to Joe Doyle, Co-ordinator of the Task Force added "for too long those seeking treatment for their drug problem in Blanchardstown have had to endure either delays or poor levels of service provision. Providing these services to such a large number of clients from a mobile bus or in run-down health centres is not acceptable".

The protestors called on the Government through Minister of State Noel Ahern to issue instructions to the Health Board to allocate land and prioritise funding for a central treatment facility for the area. A previous meeting in Mountview on this issue was attended by 140 people. That meeting was called to protest at a report that methadone was going to be distributed from the local health centre.

Derek Hanway, Chairperson of the Task Force, highlighted the friction that the issue is causing in local areas. "Over 140 people attend a meeting in Mountview recently based on a rumour that methadone was going to be distributed from the local health centre" he said. "Local communities will resist, rightly or wrongly, the provision of such treatment at such a localised level. We need a central facility as part of a treatment strategy that integrates central and localised services for clients which everyone can support."

New Councillor Suspended

"This is overwhelmingly a moral issue. A facility that cost €97m of taxpayers' money should not be lying idle in circumstances where there is such an acute bed shortage in the health service." This was the damning indictment delivered by Labour Party leader, Pat Rabbitte TD following his visit to the unopened hospital buildings at JCMH recently.

Last month there were hopes that money would have been made available to allow the completed hospital to open, but at a meeting with the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) hospital management were told that no additional money was available to staff or to commission the new facilities in the present year.

According to hospital sources the cost of opening this month would have been €1m in the current financial year and €6m in a 2004. Based on previous discussions, management had been making internal preparations for a move in the current year and following the transfer of the Coronary Care Unit in September, Community Voice understands that it had been hoped to move the A&E Dept and surgical wards and theatres into the new building by November 17th.

Indications from the ERHA would now suggest that these moves may not now take place until April or May of next year, which coincidentally will bring them on stream just in time for the forthcoming local and European Elections. As one staff member in the hospital said "a bad-minded person could be lead to believe that the Government are hoping to use the hospital to get votes in the election. Hopefully people will let them know what they think of such a cynical abuse of power."

Joan Burton TD who accompanied her party leader on his visit to the hospital has challenged the Minister for Health to let the opening go ahead to provide much needed additional A&E space in the Dublin 15 area and the whole of the greater Dublin area.

"Looking at the existing facilities in the temporary prefab A&E buildings which are old, dirty and crowded in the extreme, it is hard to believe that next door, a state of the art facility lies locked and empty," she told Community Voice. "In the context of the winter emergencies which will inevitably arise and will see people lying on trolleys on the floor in Blanchardstown Hospital, it is a disgrace that the government is choosing to keep this A&E facility closed," she said.

Staff at the hospital, have expressed huge disappointment at this latest set-back. "Most of the staff here are totally demoralised by the situation," one A&E staff member said. "We really believed that these new facilities would be opening before the end of the year. It's totally frustrating having to work in such cramped conditions when this beautiful new building is lying empty next door."

It's pity to spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar," said Pat Rabbitte. €6m would have brought this entire facility on stream and as a result would also have reduced much of the pressure on other hospitals on the north side of Dublin. We have never caught up on the 2,000 bed spaces that were taken out of our hospital system in 1986," he said.

According to Joan Burton, "it makes no economic sense in the current environment of emergency services, and it is inhumane given the spectacle of the kind of conditions that A&E patients are enduring in Blanchardstown Hospital at the moment. The Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, and the Taoiseach must come forward and bear responsibility for this debacle whereby this investment of over €100m in vital public infrastructure continues to lie idle."

Anger at Littlepace Stud Rezoning Attempt

by Peter Goulding

There has been widespread anger, both in political circles and in the local Littlepace community, over the recent attempt to rezone the lands at Littlepace Stud as residential.

The motion, which was presented at a special meeting of Fingal County Council recently, was narrowly defeated on the casting vote of the Cathaoirleach, Sean Dolphin.

The area of land lies right on the northern edge of the Littlepace estate, being the last parcel of land in county Dublin before the boundary with Meath and Clonee Village. It was designated as a greenbelt area in the 1999 Fingal Development Plan.

The motion to rezone the land as residential was proposed by former Councillor Ned Ryan (FF) and seconded by Councillor Margaret Richardson (FF).

The County Manager was emphatic in denouncing any proposed alteration to the green belt status currently enjoyed by the land. "As Clonee Village in Meath comes right up to the county boundary this land is the only pocket of land preventing the coalescence of Clonee Village and West Blanchardstown," he said. "The protection of this land is vital in forming a break between Dublin 15 and the Meath villages. Rezoning this land residential would be a serious erosion of the Strategic greenbelt at a location where it is critical."

During the debate, former Councillor Jon Rainey (FG) proposed an amendment to the motion, which circumvented the problem of totally eradicating the greenbelt. He proposed that the rezoning should go ahead, but that a thin rectangle of land should be retained along the county boundary, thus technically preserving the buffer between the Blanchardstown sprawl and Clonee Village. This amendment was accepted by the council.

However, when the vote came to be taken, the result was a draw, with ten votes each. Dublin 15 councillors who voted in favour of the motion included Ned Ryan, Margaret Richardson and Jon Rainey. Those who voted against included Michael O'Donovan, Ruth Coppinger, Leo Varadkar and Peggy Hamill.

The Cathaoirleach, Sean Dolphin (FG), taking the recommendation of the County Manager, used his casting vote to defeat the motion.

Newly re-elected councillor Michael O'Donovan (Lab), though, is convinced that there will be another concerted effort to rezone the land in the near future. "It beggars belief that councillors should vote in favour of this rezoning," he said, at a special presentation in the Village Inn, Clonee, to highlight the issue. "However land is a highly prized commodity and there's a large amount of money to made by developers. We won this time, but they won't give up and go away."

Labour TD Joan Burton was also amazed that the issue came so close to being passed. "In the current climate of tribunals and allegations of inducements from property developers, one would have thought that rezoning was the one area where councillors should act openly and transparently and from the highest motives," she said. "There appears, however, to have been some strange decisions taken regarding Littlepace Stud."

Ned Ryan, who did not contest the recent elections, did not see any problem in proposing the motion. "There is an urgent need for housing in the Greater Dublin area," he said. "The decentralisation issue has shown that people don't want to move to Mullingar or Gorey, from where they have to drive in and out every day, contributing to the traffic congestion. With the proposed new railway station in Clonee and the QBC, the transport infrastructure would have been in place by the time the houses at Littlepace Stud came on line." He also asserted that the proposed development on the Stud Farm would have been similar in nature to the rest of the estate. If, in the future, high-density housing were approved for the area, people would be sorry that the current proposals hadn't been passed.

Councillor Margaret Richardson - whose election platform included her dedication to preserving the greenbelt - was unavailable to comment.

Jon Rainey, who was a recent casualty in the local elections, was adamant that by voting in favour of the proposal, he had been acting for the benefit of the community as a whole. "I discussed this with Littlepace and Beechfield Residents' Associations and the Community Action Group on planning weeks ago," he said. "Only the Community Voice" could make a story sound so controversial when it is not."

Despite the alleged openness of the issue, residents of Littlepace Court, which faces onto the stud farm, were totally unaware that the rezoning of the land had gone before the Council. "I am absolutely horrified by this development," said one. "One of the reasons we bought this house was because it faces onto a lovely area of greenbelt. It is particularly beautiful piece of land, especially in the mornings, with the horses in the mist." Another resident said that she would "consider moving" if more houses were built on the land.

Councillor Ruth Coppinger (Socialist Party), who voted against the motion, summed up the anger felt by local residents at the motion to bring yet more houses into the area. "It is incredible that councillors claiming to represent the community would propose rezoning the last patch of green field between Littlepace and Clonee village, at a time when the community is crying out for pitches and recreational space," she said. "Littlepace/Castaheany is already saturated with housing, without the transport, schools and recreational amenities needed. How could councillors with any integrity propose further housing without any commitments to enhance public transport or infrastructure?"

At present, the greenbelt is intact. For how long, though, remains to be seen.

New Chairperson at Blanchardstown Chamber

Barry Cullen, Managing Director of Barrington Insurance Management in Coolmine Enterprise Centre is the latest local business person to occupy the chair of Greater Blanchardstown Chamber of Commerce following his election to that position in May. Community Voice caught up with Barry recently to trace the route he has followed to achieving his latest position.

Barry is near enough to being a life long local resident, having been born and reared in the Navan Road area beside the Phoenix Park. "I attended John Bosco primary school on the Navan Road and St Paul's CBS (Brunner) in North Brunswick St and continue to have many close friendships from these early days," he said. Following a variety of clerical positions in industry, he joined Irish National Insurance Co. as an accounts clerk in January 1974. After three and a half years he was appointed Inspector and continued in this position up to December 1988 when he formed his own insurance broking firm, Barrington Insurance Management. The offices were originally in Ely Place, off St Stephens Green and relocated to Coolmine in 1995.

Barry has been a member of the Greater Blanchardstown Chamber of Commerce for over six years and more recently was a contributor to the employers' group in relation to the Equal Project in Blanchardstown. Having lived in Dublin 15 for 29 years he is involved with the local community as secretary of the Clonsilla & District Development Association. This group owns and manages the ancient but productive Clonsilla Hall. Barry will have been married to Carmel for 30 years next January and, as he puts it himself, "I am blessed and bothered with five children - Bree, Louise, Simon, Alexandra, Rebecca and Victoria."

So after 29 years living in Dublin 15 how does he view the changes he has seen there? "Well like so many other people in the area, I have been amazed and delighted by the developments in Blanchardstown particularly over the last 10 years," he told Community Voice. "I remember when there were only two choices for eating out - the Grasshopper in Clonee or Billy and Dee's chipper van parked on Main St. Blanchardstown where First Active is now. With the explosion of industrial parks, the addition of the new Town Centre the redevelopment of Main St., Blanchardstown, it is difficult to picture the previous landscape."

Music and drama have always played an important part in Barry's life. As a member of the Insurance Institute of Dublin Members Dramatic Society, he performed in and directed many plays and musicals and over the past 10 years, he has acted and directed with the Coolmine Drama Circle. "In 2001, I produced by own musical drama work 'Toyboys' in Draíocht and at present I play with the Stoneybatter Social Club band in the Belfry Pub in Stoneybatter, every Tuesday night.

And then there was that other moment of fame - "in the National Song Contest in 1980, I came third to Shay Healy's 'What's Another Year'. As you can see, I manage to keep myself busy," said Barry.

Superquinn to open second D15 store

Residents of Tyrrelstown will welcome the news of yet another supermarket giant planning to open in their area. Following the news earlier this year that Lidl are to open their largest ever Irish store in the new District Centre planned for the development, now comes news that the Fergal Quinn's company is also planning a second Dublin 15 store.

Superquinn is to lease a 5,000 sq ft. convenience store at the centre trading under the new "Superquinn Select" brand.

The Superquinn Select concept has been developed to provide a wide range of fresh foods and high-quality ready-to-eat meals in a convenient format to customers and the Tyrrelstown location will be the second such store to be opened by Superquinn. Last month, the company also announced that it would be establishing another such store in Greystones, Co. Wicklow.

The retail chain is taking a 25-year lease of the Tyrrelstown store with five-year rent reviews. Community Voice understands that the initial rent has been agreed at approximately €150,000 per annum.

Meanwhile work is proceeding on the construction of the new Lidl store at this site and when completed in the Autumn, it will comprise 25,000 sq. ft. making it the biggest such store operated in Ireland by the German based multinational.

The new Tyrrelstown Town Centre is located on the link road between the N2 and N3 and will provide community and retail services to the 2,250 home Tyrrelstown housing development. To date more than half of these new homes have been completed and occupied.

According to Estate Agent Joe McPeake, "By the time the shopping centre commences trading in late 2004 it is estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000 people will be living within walking distance of the centre."

The town centre, being developed by Twinlite Developments in an open street style, will comprise almost 90,000 sq. ft. of services and facilities. In addition to Lidl and Superquinn Select, there will be a pub, crèche, medical centre, restaurants and 30 retail units.

€18 million rent subsidy paid to Private Landlords in Dublin 15

2,300 landlords in Dublin 15 received over €18 million from the taxpayer last year for renting their houses to people in receipt of the Government's Rent Supplement Scheme. This is one of the critical statistics that has emerged in a Community Voice investigation into such payments in the area.

Community Voice understands that the breakdown of families in Dublin 15 in receipt of the allowance is made up of approximately 1,300 Irish families and 1,000 non-national. The scheme is funded by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and is administered in this area by the Northern Area Health Board (NAHB) on an agency basis.

According to a spokesperson for the NAHB, "the Rent Supplement Scheme is an income maintenance scheme, designed to pay an income supplement to those who have insufficient means to provide for their own accommodation. The scheme is designed so that persons on low incomes, who have a need for accommodation, and who source private rented housing, may apply for assistance towards the cost of such accommodation," he told Community Voice.

One issue that was commented on repeatedly by canvassers during the recent local elections was the inordinately high number of rented houses encountered during the campaign. Bearing in mind the large number of homes in the area that are rented by staff - both Irish and foreign workers - from the various industrial parks in the area, one local estate agent has suggested that the number of rented homes in Dublin 15 is over 7,000. This would represent well in excess of 25% of all private homes in the area.

Another local estate agent has suggested that over 50% of all new homes coming on the market in Dublin 15 are being purchased by people for renting purposes. This gives lie to the much touted reason put forward by certain politicians of the need to rezone more land in the area to meet the demand for housing from young people. In fact much of the housing now being built in the area is patently unsuitable for family homes.

A case in point is the Woodbrook apartment complex in Carpenterstown. The apartments in these four storey blocks are mainly owned by speculators who in turn are renting them in many instances to families. In many cases the rents are being paid by the NAHB through the Rent Supplement Scheme. Yet some of these apartments are totally unsuitable for family use as there are no lifts in the complex although in some instances young families are living on the top floors. Indeed Fingal County Council are currently considering a planning application for an eight storey apartment complex nearby.

In spite of the fact that these rents are paid through the NAHB, no inspection of the premises is made to assess its suitability for family occupation. The Board's spokesperson told Community Voice that "the Health Board is not party to any letting arrangements entered into - the letting agreement is between the landlord and tenant. Furthermore the Health Board has no role in referring persons to private rented accommodation - the tenant sources the accommodation themselves."

Aspects of the Rent Supplement Scheme have also raised concerns among staff working in the job creation and training areas in Dublin 15. One official who spoke to Community Voice spoke of the creation of "a new poverty trap, which effectively means that people on low incomes cannot get jobs, as a result of the Rent Supplement Scheme."

This source explained that a family of father, mother and two children on Unemployment Assistance will receive €284 per week. In addition they will receive payments under the Rent Supplement Scheme of approximately €1,100 per month. This gives total payments of over €28,000 per year. "There is no way that these people could obtain employment that would replace these benefits, yet if they take up a job, they will lose these payments and would be much worse off."

In the twelve months to the end of December 2003, a total of €18.3 million was paid to private landlords in Dublin 15 under the Rent Supplement Scheme. According to the NAHB spokesperson, "the amount paid in to date in 2004 is not readily available but there has been no dramatic changes in circumstances this year compared with last year." Obviously there are other significant costs involved in the administration of the scheme, but the NAHB spokesperson could only say that "the cost to the NAHB of administering the rent supplement scheme in Dublin 15 is not available but costs for administering the scheme within the Board's area are borne by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs."

One of the success stories of housing in this area has been the County Council's Social Housing Programme, whereby a percentage of all houses built had to be sold to the Council for the provision of low-cost housing to people on low incomes. Following successful lobbying by property developers and builders, this scheme was significantly watered down by Minister for the Environment, Martin Cullen and is now greatly reduced. The argument offered by the Minister was that it was too expensive to run and that market forces would be more successful in meeting the housing demands of the community.

It is now becoming clear that as a result of the emasculation of the Social Housing programme, housing has become much more expensive and while the capital cost to the exchequer has been reduced, the ongoing revenue cost through the payment of Rent Supplement to private speculators has soared. How much of this money finds its way back into the exchequer is also questionable.

Community Voice asked the NAHB - which paid €18.3 to private sector landlords last year, if the Revenue Commissioners were notified by the Health Board of the Allowances paid in its administrative area, to whom they were paid and the names of the landlords receiving these payments from the Board's clients. The NAHB spokesperson referred this question to the Department of Social Community & Family Affairs.

At the time of going to press no reply to this question was forthcoming from that Department.

Where do the children play?

                 by John Horn

Free play is what children do when no one is telling them what to do. Children's play should be freely chosen, spontaneous, and should actively engage the imagination of the child. But for a child growing up in the city opportunities for free play are limited by our modern urban environment. Things like the speed of traffic, a landscape dominated by concrete and adult oriented buildings conspire to create an environment hostile to children and play.

But in Blanchardstown, all that is about to change.

The Dublin 15 Playground Action Group has set about creating a child friendly urban environment in Blanchardstown. For those of us working and or living in this area it was clear that the provision of safe play areas for children was inadequate, and that this was especially true in the local authority housing estates within Dublin 15. As such, we adopted a simple mission statement;
Children have a right to play, and it is our responsibility to provide safe and interesting places for them to play in.

To achieve this mission the Playground Action Group has developed a local play strategy for Dublin 15. We started from a basic premise; play areas need to be accessible, and so they should be located very close to the child's home. The opportunity for informal, unsupervised play within visual range of a family home is the kind of play that is best for parents and most conducive to the social and emotional development of children. There should be play areas located in local housing estates.

A second important element in our strategy is the kind of playground we are advocating for. Most people when they hear the word playground think of a place with swings and slides and roundabouts and a sandpit or two. This traditional kind of playground is a common sight around the world and can be found in every city from Boston to Berlin. Fingal County Council has plans to build a large playground of this type in Blanchardstown, in the Millennium Park, and funding has been made available to build a traditional playground in Mulhuddart, perhaps attached to the Mulhuddart Community Centre on Church road.

But there is, as the saying goes, more than one way to skin a cat. A new kind of playground, called a Playscape, has been developed by the Playground Action Group, and funding has been secured for a pilot project in Mulhuddart. Blanchardstown is about to become a world leading innovator in the area of children's play.

A Playscape is different from a playground that is based on fixed equipment such as swings/slides because in a Playscape landscaping is used to create an environment that actively engages the imagination of children. This kind of play area relies on topographical features such as mounding, natural amphitheatres, boulders, plantings, pathways etc, where children are encouraged and invited to play but not told how to play. A Playscape will improve the look and feel of a housing estate because it is not exclusively focused on children; there are options to put in benches, flowerbeds, trees or even a vegetable garden. A Playscape brings to an estate the feeling that a thoughtful and creative design ethos has contributed to the development of a high quality built environment, to the benefit of both children and adults.

There are many advantages to this kind of play area; it is significantly cheaper to build, it is attractive and welcoming to people of all ages, it is much more resistant to vandalism and local residents can have a large say in how it looks and what goes in it.

Currently Fingal County Council Parks Department and the Playground Action Group are meeting with residents of Mulhuddart to progress the development of both a playground and several Playscapes in the area. Anne Losty of the Greater Blanchardstown Development Project in Parslickstown House is leading the charge, and can be contacted at 820 1745 for more information.

Mulhuddart is only the beginning. It is vitally important that play areas be created in Blakestown, Corduff, Mountview, and all parts of Dublin 15. There are children in every housing estate in Blanchardstown, and they all deserve the opportunity to live in a child friendly environment.

John Horn is the Family Support and Childcare Worker with Blanchardstown Area Partnership

From Hartstown to Tanzania

Children from Hartstown recently gave one of the most precious gifts that anyone can give - the gift of life.

The pupils of St. Ciaran's NS in Hartstown recently held a no uniform day, in the school and raised the staggering total of €2,100 for their efforts. The money was presented at a recent ceremony in the school to Frances Murphy, Dublin Manager with Bóthar, the Irish Agency that provides farm animals to poor families in the third world.

The no uniform day proved particularly popular with the pupils according to Rosetta Reilly, one of the teachers who organised the event. While all the children attended school in their everyday clothes, the teachers changed into uniforms from their schooldays, and provoked much hilarity with their pupils when they entered class with their gymslips and pigtails!

The money raised through the event will be used to buy a heifer and a goat, both in calf. The heifer will go to a selected family in Kosovo, while the goat will travel to a family in Tanzania. Under the Bóthar scheme, the first female calf is given to another local family, while all other and subsequent calves remain with the owner family. The families are also given support and are taught to care for the animals. In this way families are given a future that they could otherwise not have hoped for.

One of the other attractive aspects of the scheme for the pupils who have done the fund-raising is that soon a picture of the goat and cow with their new families will be making its way back to the school so that everyone involved can see the results of their fund-raising efforts.

Fund-raising for Bóthar is not confined to schools. Anyone can assist and indeed there is a shopping list of the different animals that can be sponsored. These range from a flock of guinea fowl for €40 to a dairy cow in calf for €1,800. Other sponsorships include honeybees, chickens, goats and sheep. For further information telephone Frances Murphy on 495 444 or visit the website at www.bothar.org

Tallying the Votes

In the end there were no real surprises. In the week leading up to the election, the feedback coming back from the various party and candidate canvasses began to paint a fairly clear picture of the probable outcome and indeed a week before the vote the only question seemed to be what order candidates would be elected rather than who the successful candidates would be.

By lunchtime on the day of the count in the RDS, the tallymen were in no doubt about the destination of the four seats in both the Castleknock and Mulhuddart wards and as the final results indicated their initial tally returns were remarkably accurate - in most cases they came to within a couple of percentage points of the actual votes for each candidate.

Castleknock Electoral Area

The big talking points from early morning centred on the incredible performance of Fine Gael's Leo Varadkar. The young doctor from Roselawn polled an amazing 4,894 first preferences - almost double the quota of 2,563. Most party members and candidates referred to it as a "general election vote" pointing out that such a vote in the last general election would have guaranteed a Dáil seat. The other recurring comment on the Fine Gael vote was that it would have ensured two seats for the party in Castleknock if they ran a second candidate.

The only question to be decided in Castleknock was which of the Fianna Fáil candidates would secure the fourth seat and from the early tallies it was clear that Mount Sackville school teacher Brenda Clifford would outpoll her party colleague and Brian Lenihan's constituency secretary, Marian Clifford for that position. In the event the new Cllr. Clifford outpolled her colleague by 177 votes, a margin that continued to widen as the transfers were distributed.

Interestingly, while most pundits had been predicting that the PDs would take the last seat in Castleknock, formerly held by Senator Tom Morrissey, new candidate Mags Murray put in a superb performance for a political neophyte, outpolling both Fianna Fáil candidates and securing the third seat. Labour's Peggy Hamill was also never in doubt and a creditable first preference vote of 1,544 ensured her the second seat on the fifth count.

Other candidates in Castleknock also felt vindicated by their vote. The Green Party's young candidate, Law student Roderic O'Gorman, would appear to have a future for himself in local politics and in spite of running a very low key and poorly funded campaign he doubled the Green vote from the last election with a first preference total of 666 votes. Indeed with his accumulation of transfers he had achieved 1,434 votes before being eliminated after the fifth count.

Sinn Féin, standing for the first time in this electoral area, also surprised many observers with tits candidate Luke Stynes polling 594 first preferences. However with very little received by way of transfers, he was eliminated after the third count with 703 votes. Susan Fitzgerald of the Socialist Party fared better on transfers and even though she polled slightly less that Stynes on the first count - 661 votes - she collected more transfers and had accumulated 934 votes before her eventual elimination.

Finally there was the Strawberry Beds based Independent candidate, Fergal Molloy, who only entered the race at the last minute. He had run his campaign with very little manpower, but nonetheless achieved 433 votes on his first entry into local politics.

Mulhuddart Electoral Area

Thirteen candidates contested the Mulhuddart electoral area in the quest for the four seats on offer there. The talking point here was the huge first preference vote attained by Sinn Fein's candidate, Martin Christie. This was remarked on all the more considering that Christie lives in Lucan and was unknown in the area before the campaign began. In the event, with a quota requirement of 2,511, he polled 1,910 first preference votes. However similar to his colleague in Castleknock he found great difficulty in attracting transfers from the other candidates and had to wait until the final count to be elected to the third seat without reaching the quota.

Prior to the election there had been a prediction that the Socialist Party candidate, Castlecurragh based teacher, Cllr. Ruth Coppinger would have a fight on her hands. However this proved to be completely unfounded. As she polled 1,848 first preference votes while her party colleague Helen Redwood achieved 607. By the third count Cllr. Coppinger had taken the lead and ultimately took the first seat on the eighth count. She was followed into second place by long-time Labour Councillor, Michael O'Donovan who polled 1,750 first preference votes.

The destination of the fourth seat had been a matter of dispute prior to the election with two Fianna Fáil and two Fine Gael candidates battling it out. In the end, Corduff based Fianna Fáil Councillor Margaret Richardson comfortably beat off the challenge of Fine Gael's Jonathan Rainey for the seat by a margin of almost 300 votes. Rainey's party colleague Gary O'Connor from Springlawn polled 763 votes on his first outing for the party while the second Fianna Fáil candidate Michael Smyth from Ongar polled 908.

Long time community activist, Gerry Lynam, an outgoing Independent candidate was visibly disappointed when he lost his seat. Even though he achieved an increase on his vote in the last election, his initial first preference tally of 948 was not enough to counter the increased turnout and the swing to Sinn Féin in this poll. The other two independent candidates, standing under the United Communities banner, Gerry Murray and Paul Hand, polled 304 and 209 votes respectively. PD candidate Ben Howe from Allendale impressed many observers of this election as a young man who might well have a political future in Dublin 15. He got 611 first preference votes and was eliminated on the fourth count.

The Green Party's Robert Bonnie from Huntstown was a last minute addition to the ballot paper and nonetheless he achieved a first preference tally of 340 votes.

Interestingly, with the spread of votes in the Mulhuddart area, the last three seats were all filled on the ninth and final count when O'Donovan, Christie and Richardson were declared elected by Returning Officer, Alan Carthy, without any of them reaching the quota.

Fiddling on the Roof

It's been a busy end of season for the award winning Coolmine Musical Society with the announcement of their cast for October's production of 'Fiddler on the Roof' at Draíocht.

The casting came after a series of auditions and call-backs with well known director Pat McElwaine and musical director, Caitríona Ní Threasaigh.

Well known local actor Justin Parkes takes on the part of Tevye - the part made famous in the filmed version of this popular show by Topol. Justin is a regular performer with Coolmine and played Mr. Bascombe in their highly successful production of 'Carousel' last year. Kathy Kelly who will play Golde is no stranger to the Draíocht stage. She last appeared there as the Baker's Wife in the September 2003 production of 'Into the Woods'. Many other well known local faces will be involved including Jim Barber, Emer Morrissey, Ian McColgan and John Furlong.

Fiddler on the Roof sets old traditions against new and tells the story of Tevye and his family in a time of conflict and change. The show has many great tunes including "Sunrise, Sunset", "Matchmaker" and of course, "If I Were A Rich Man". Fiddler is one of the great musicals with a heartbreaking finale.

Coolmine Musical Society are one of Ireland's top musical performance groups with a string of awards to its credit. The Society won four of the prestigious AIMS awards for last year's production of 'Carousel' and the show was placed second overall in the best Show category. The Society has completed a busy year - participating in the Opening Ceremony to the 2003 Special Olympics Summer Games at Croke Park last June and presenting two shows locally in the past few months - 'Broadway Melodies' at Draíocht and 'It's a Grand Night for Singing' at Westmanstown.

Choreography for Fiddler will be in the capable hands of Brian Keogh who lives on the Navan Road. Brian has won many awards for his work and this production will mark a return to Draíocht for him.

As is the case with the production of any musical by Coolmine Musical Society in Draíocht, this version of Fiddler on the Roof is sure to be a sell-out. The production will run from 20 to 23 October with the possibility of some extra dates as well.

Meanwhile on the "administrative front", the Society recently held it's AGM and a new committee has been elected for the coming year. The members of the incoming committee are Bernie Walsh (Chair), Frank Beadle (Secretary), Joe Murphy (Treasurer), John Furlong (Vice Chair), Maire Caffrey (PRO), Stephen Gray, Paul Byrne, Kate Furlong and Ruaidhri Boland.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the activities of Coolmine musical Society can do so by contacting Bernie Walsh at 086 8852225.

 

Forum 15 Elects New Board

The Annual General Meeting of Forum 15 (the Dublin 15 Community Forum) took place recently in Blanchardstown Library. The meeting, which was chaired by Nuala Kane, elected a new Board to oversee the work of the forum for the coming year.

Those elected to the Board were: Felix Gallagher, Corduff Community Development Project; Michael Falvey, D.Phelan Friends; Nuala Kane, Greater Blanchardstown Development Project; Patrick Kelly, Mulhuddart Community Centre; Caroline Maye, Blanchardstown Youth Service; Michael McCabe, Centre for Independent Living; Joe Moss, Society of St. Vincent De Paul; Eileen Nash, Mountview Family Resource Centre and Mary O'Sullivan, Blanchardstown Travellers Development Group.

According to Niall Sexton, Development Worker with the Forum, the next 12 months look like being particularly busy with a fairly packed agenda facing the incoming Board.

Forum 15 supports voluntary and community organisations in the Dublin 15 area through formal trainings and networking meetings. "The Forum is providing a new service this year through the provision of strategic planning and facilitation for member organisations," said Niall. The Forum also works to encourage community participation in local planning bodies such as RAPID, the Blanchardstown Local Drugs Task Force and the Blanchardstown Area Partnership.

Forum 15 is always interested in hearing from new members. Members of local organisations who would like to find out how the Forum can offer support, can contact Niall Sexton, tel. 824 9057 or email forum15@eircom.net

New Farmers market opens in Blanchardstown

Tasteful Art Project

A most unusual and innovative arts programme has been taking place in Dublin 15 over the past seven months as a result of an EU funding initiative.

The Equal Return to Work Initiative (RTWI) is a locally administered and designed programme aimed at people with a history of drug use and addiction in the Blanchardstown area.

The overall aim of the RTWI is to engage with target groups, service providers and employers, in the effort to tackle the factors that lead to discrimination and inequality.

Over the last number of months ten people have taken part in the RTWI, and have made considerable progress. Part of this progress was due to the amount of time spent on personal development through the medium of art. As a result those involved in the programme have put together an exhibition of their art.

According to Steven Joyce of the Mountview/Blakestown Drugs team, "after being inspired by the artwork of Vile Muniz the participants exchanged the gastronomic properties of chocolate, jam, sweets and sugar and created pictures with them instead."

Now, coupled with this tasteful use of canvas, the group have produced a series of watercolours and plaster works, which will all be on display in the 'Faces and Places' exhibition which will be taking place in Blanchardstown Library for a week commencing on Monday 28th June.