I wrote this sometime ago but never did anything with it.
I cried and cried a lot this week. A letter came in the post last week for my mum about a class reunion. It made me think of my mum as an 18 year old, leaving school, in the 60s – at a time of great social change and liberalisation, with her whole life ahead of her. It made me think; having just left school at 18 she must have been so full of life and vitality. I have seen photos of her in her early to mid 20s. She was a very pretty young woman. I’d also be intrigued to know what happened to the other girls in the class of 63. Were any of them high powered career women or did they all choose to marry and become housewives?
I wondered how different the woman that I knew from the 18 year old was. The woman I knew was very straight talking and did not suffer fools. She was strong willed, dominant, humorous and hard working. She was the family anchor, the boss! She worked damn hard for her family and gave much of her time and energy to others. She assisted many charitable causes and gave so much to her friends and family and the wider community around her. Her father was her hero and a huge influence on her life. In many ways she took after him.
I was at an event recently where a person spoke about lessons he had learned and inspirations he had taken from his mother. It gave me a lot of thought. I have been thinking about what I have learned from my mother and how she inspired me. She inspired in me an interest in politics (ok – she was an FFer but more on the social democratic wing and on the anti CJH wing) and an interest in cooking. I love experimenting with food and using the books she was given as a young teenager. She also taught me to be less selfish and to think about others in the world around me. She was always there as a support to many of her friends. She was kind and generous to them all beyond what a lot of others would do. She had a passion for life. She enjoyed it to the full – especially travelling. I think in these respects she was like her father and I am like her.
She wasn’t perfect (who is!) – she struggled for a few years through bouts of bad depression but she was really strong and able to overcome that. I admire her huge strength for getting through those difficult times. She did worry a lot though and I do that too but I am trying to do so less.
It’s hard to imagine it’s nearly three years since she’s gone. This morning again I was reminded of her and I cried again. Moon River was on the radio. She, in one of her many bossy moments had given us all instructions for her funeral. Moon River was to be played. It was.
I miss her hugely. It wasn’t meant to happen like this. I didn’t think that she would die for at least another 20 years. I miss the chats, the humour and the gossipy titbits. I miss her being there for me.
This is just a (somewhat rambling) update of what has happened in my campaign to be elected to Bray Town Council so far.
I started canvassing approximately 6 weeks ago and have been knocking on many doors since then. I have generally had quite a good reception; this is for several reasons; The Labour Party is popular in Bray – We are the largest party on Bray Town Council and have the largest number of candidates. There is a a bit of what I call an ”Eamon Gilmore bounce” – a popularity boost for alll Labour Candidates. A lot of people know me and my family (while my track record in student politics is not that well known some people genuinely feel that this is a good start) - also As well as the reasons outlined above people are willing to vote for me because they would like to see new young people take an active part on Bray Town Council. As someone still in my 20s – I can certainly do that!
So back to what has happened on the doorsteps and in other parts of the campaign; A lot of the canvassing has been relating to National Issues and people are quite angry at Fianna Fail – I am constantly asked – “which party are you with?” – when I answer the Labour Party – I get responses such as “If you were Fianna Fail I would slam the door in your face” or “I have a huge dog and I will let it out when the green party come round” – people are raising national issues such as employment and I have engaged in discussions on this issue by putting forward the Bray Labour Party Policy proposals which can be found here . I do believe that these issues can be addressed locally and I look forward to working with all elected councillors to pushing forward those proposals. Of course other people have been raising issues such as rubbish around the town. As someone very involved in the Bray Coastcare Group I am committed to tackling these problems.
Of course it hasn’t all been canvassing – I have attended various events and here’s a quick list of these
- Public meeting against the cutting of jobs in Bray Recycling Centre – Bray Recycling Centre is run by Wicklow County Council and there are 5 employees (employed on contracts) who run the centre in a very professional manner. Last month the employees jobs were told by Wicklow County Council that the department of finance had issued a circular to local authorities saying that employees employed on contracts should be let go. This is an absolutely ludicrous situation. If this decision is implemented than you have a situation where the taxpayer is going from paying these people to do a job to paying them not to work. All local parties are campaigning to halt this.
- Bray Partnership organised a speed lobbying event for young people in Transition Year and the local YouthReach centre to basically lobby their prospective councillors. I learned quite a lot from this event. First of all I am still relatively young myself so I tried not to appear as some sort of politician in a suit talking down to the young people. They raised lots of really important issues for young people in Bray; Why is there no Cinema?, Why can’t there be better public transport to the new swimming pool? What are we doing about the Florentine Centre? Can they have better school facilities? Can there be more bins in local estates? They also raised some national issues such as third level fees; decrminalisation of cannabis (I personally disagree with this as I have had mental health problems myself and think that the links between cannabis and mental helath problems are too great a risk) – I think my attempts to not seem like some sort of old fogey politician may have worked but another candidate was actually shocked at some of the questions
- Tonight I attended a meeting of the Fassaroe Estate Management Committee. Fassaroe is an area in Bray that has without had many problems over the years and I am not going to list those now but I was delighted to attend this meeting. I saw for myself some of the work that has been going on to try and address those issues. I was very impressed. The Estate Managment Committee has also established a Junior Estate Managament Committee – I think this a really positive step forward.
On a closing note – The campaign has really taken off – Fianna Fail are feeling the heat – My rival has issued what I can only describe as a Petty Leaflet slagging every party locally but Fianna Fail. Personally I think the leaflet is beneath him. I am not going to engage in a slanging match because I believe in bringing about positive change. We need in this current climate to look beyond partisan squabbling and work together for improvements in Bray and nationally.
For me the single biggest issue when knocking on doors has been (un)employment. I have met numerous people who have been made redundant or put on a 3 day week. Shortly before the end of February my own sister and brother were both made unemployed. I am hearing stories over and over again. My brother and sister are very unlucky because they have both lost their jobs but in ways all 3 of us are lucky that we do not have children because yesterdays budget. As Unstranger has said this budget is one that attacks children. Anyway coming back to the point. Jobs, employment……………
I am often asked – what are YOU going to do about jobs in Bray. Initially when I was asked about these problems I spoke about Labours national policy to get people working – after a while I did began to realise that Bray itself needs to be tackled at a local level.
My colleagues Barry Nevin and Ronan McManus last week launched our local jobs policy for Bray Next Tuesday. You can find it
Update 1
Since the initial post I have found out that Bray Town Council plans to let go it’s employees in the local recycling centre and redeploy permanent staff there – This is an absolutely ludicrous situation because when you think about it – one arm of the state is letting these people go from paid employment and the other arm will then pay them to do nothing. There is a public meeting in Bray next Thursday organised by all political parties to highlight this situation and demand that Bray Town Council keep these workers in employment
Update 2
The Unemployed Blog has quite a good post on what the recent budget means for those who are unemployed
Today as I write I am heading down to the Labour Party Conference in Mullingar. As a new candidate this is an exciting time to be in the Labour Party – with very high opinion polls and a strong team of candidates across the country.
Cllr Joe Ryan from Wexford has written quite a good blog post about the confernce – it’s importance for the Labour Party and indeed for the people of Ireland.
You can find more details about the conference here
I will be proposing the motion from Bray North Ward Branch on Fire Services
Conference notes the deaths of two firefighters in Bray, County Wicklow, in September 2007, and extends its sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of these two men.
Conference further notes that the Labour Party submitted a private members motion calling for:
The government to implement in full the recommendations of the Farrell Grant Sparks Review of Fire Safety and Fire Services in Ireland, submitted to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in January 2002;
The establishment of a National Authority for Fire and Civil Protection/Emergency Services, one of the key recommendations of the review; and,The establishment of full-time fire services in areas of high population, such as Bray, County Wicklow.
Conference commits that the Labour Party in government would establish a National Authority for Fire and Civil Protection/Emergency Services and full-time fire services in areas of high population, such as Bray, County Wicklow.Proposing Branch : Bray North Ward/Wicklow – (Wicklow)
This is the first in a series of issues on the doorstep that I will be covering
What is the Florentine Centre – I hear you ask? Well – it could be described in many ways
“A crater in the middle of our town”
” Two Shops (not really)”
“A derelict site”
“a truly transporting experience that brings the shopper into a light-filled retail and leisure environment where transparency is the key.
Ok – I should explain some background – Approximately 15 years ago there was a carpark behind Bray Main Street that could be accessed from 2 roads that were perpendicular to the main street. Some developers came along and started to purchase land surrounding the carpark – a business with trucks, some land belonging to various other business, a bookies, a butchers, a sports shop. They also managed to buy the carpark from the town council. They proposed at the time – an extensive development to include multi storey carparks, apartments and shops. The developers proposed that this would open out onto our main street in Bray. A lot of people were quite in favour of this devleopment because they thought it would enhance – bring business and tourists into the town and generally be good for the town.
Just under 10 years ago the devlopers began work on the site. They closed the public car park. The building work began. They dug an extensive crater in the middle of the site. They put up hoarding and scaffolding on Bray Main Street.
There has been a long saga in the intervening 10 years – The town was promised again and again that the devlopment would be built as originally planned – there were numerous planning applications and numerous attempts to try and resolve this.
The current situation is this. The hoarding and scaffolfing remains today. It was covered in graffiti this week. There has been a carpark built in part of the site but to be honest the rest of the site makes our twon of Bray look shabby, dirty and closed for business.
Below you can see photos taken of the proposed shopping centre what it looked like last week with graffiti
Florentine Centre Bray Main Street
The Labour Party in Bray has at numerous times tried to tackle this situation. I am currently working towards some proposals with my labour party colleagues (councillors and candidates) to try and tackle this situation.
Last week I was selected by the Labour Party in Bray to stand for election to Bray Town Council. I am delighted that the members chose me – I have during the past 4 years been a very active member of the party at various levels – Active in the youth section, Chairperson of the Bray Branches and on the Committee of Labour LGBT
So why do I want to stand for election on June 5th to Bray Town Council ?
I could restate here a lot of what has been added on the Labour webpage but I won’t.
Firstly I’ll explain – why the Labour Party? Why did I join?
I grew up in a house where support fluctuated between FF and FG but never really Labour. Around the time I entered college and during my time in student politics I first became really aware of the Labour party.
I became involved as a student in campaigns where Labour was the party to the forefront; Free 3rd Level Fees, Anti Racism, Anti War. I eventually decided that the Labour Party was the one which best met both my political beliefs and convictions.
I joined the party in 2004 because The party believes in Social Justice, Workers Rights, Equality, Social Liberalism, Civil Liberties; Examples of how the party has actually worked to achieve this would include; setting up the Combat Poverty Agency, Introducing Equality Legislation; pioneering Divorce and Contraception and Decriminalising Homosexuality.
So why do I want to be elected to Bray Town Council? Having grown up in Bray, attended school locally, and worked part time in the town for well over 12 years I have a huge pride in the town and pride in it’s people – I have seen how the community can rally around people when there are difficult times and the community spirit of people in Bray. I feel that I have a connection with the town that is really difficult to describe – spiritual maybe?
There is no denying that there are huge problems in the town of Bray – Class divisions, Areas of the town that have a bad name, social problems such as drugs, housing lists as long as 7 years, The florentine centre debacle. (I will cover this again in another post)
I as a labour candidate want to try and tackle some of these issues to improve the town of Bray for all who live here and visit. It is a beautiful town and Bray Town Council can improve some of the issue I’ve mentioned above. I don’t claim to have all the answers but I will work damn hard to at least try and address some of the issues I mentioned above. My colleague Neil Ward referred to how community organisations do amazing work in the town of Dundalk – this is true in Bray too and I do also hope to work alongside some of those organisations
The town of Bray is similar to a lot of seaside towns in Ireland and the UK in that there was a boom during the 40s, 50s and 60s and somewhat of a decline thereafter. The town of Bray has quite a mixed image some bad and some good . Our town still has many attractions and many appealing features. There are many tourists from the UK who revisit every year. Our natural amenity of the seafront is well kept (as evidenced by the link above) and we have an amazingly beautiful walk to Greystones on the Cliff Walk.
In recent years Bray has suffered badly – We have gained a reputation as a result of Irish Business Against Litter surveys as being litter strewn and dirty.
Last year a group was setup by Local man Seamus Connor to try and tackle some of those issues by harnessing volunteers to clean up our coastal area. The Bray Coastcare Group has been in existence for almost 2 years now and the work that they have been doing is amazing. I have been volunteering with this group for roughly a year and this involves – cleaning up areas where people have dumped all sorts of rubbish, cutting back overgrown bushes etc. Seamus Connor, the chairperson of the group also works quite a lot with the Town Council on issues such as public signage, bins etc. He is also now a member of the Bray Litter Task Force
Last year The Coastcare Volunteers won several awards from An Taisce and Wicklow County Council. They were all very well deserved.
I for one am proud to be from Bray, Proud of the community spirit in this town that has existed for many years and proud of the work that Bray CoastCare does in terms of encouraging volunteerism and a sense of pride and community in our town
Minister John Moloney was booed off the stage today and rightly so in my opinion by many elderly people. However, yesterday the Minster addressed a meeting of Wicklow Against Suicide
My first impressions of the Minister were that he was a bit like Jackie Healy-Rae. e.g. A rural politician who would not be progressive and would mostly be worried about minor constituency issues such as pot holes. However these impressions did not last long as I found this Minister to be sincere, well informed, on top of his brief and respectful. I for one am very glad that his predecessor is no longer in place after all the controversies
To give some background to the purpose of the meeting; The HSE has a mental health strategy called Vision for Change. As part of this strategy there are Health Promotion Officers or “Suicide Prevention Officer” in almost every county in Ireland. Because of the HSE recruitment freeze - there has not been a Suicide Prevention Officer employed in County Wicklow for some time. Wicklow Against Suicide set themselves up as a pressure group in order to do something about this huge injustice. This campaigning culiminated in Minister Moloneys address to the meeting last night.
I was impressed by the Minister at this meeting. He was honest and wanted the views of local people involved in communities in Wicklow. He listened intently to people who spoke of the devastation and hopelessness regarding the situation. I particularly liked the fact the Minister admitted that he is not an expert on these issues and still learning. He spoke about his own experiences in Laois. He did think some years ago that “Suicide Prevention Officers” were effective but now strongly supports them having seen first hand their work. The minister was honest – he said that he recognised the strong needs of Wicklow, that there was no point in fobbing the county off and saying that the Country can’t afford an officer. The Minister was keen to stress that he will prioritise finding funding within the Health Budget (HSE/Dept of Health?) and that he would be able to give a firmer commitment before Christmas. There is not as yet an absolute commitment but the impression I got was that there will be.
I will of course keep an eye on any developments and blog about them.
I don’t of course agree with the Minister on the ending of Universality for Medical Cards for Older people or moving the central mental hospital but on Wicklows problems – I found his approach heartening and a breath of fresh air.
Dermod gives a very eloquent voice to what I would really like to say regarding Health in Ireland
Myself and 3 other people who I know from Labour Youth are in Virginia in America volunteering our assistance for the Barack Obama campaign
We started off early yesterday morning – arriving at Dublin Airport for our flight to Washingtom Dulles. Upon check in we were asked to sign the immigration forms. The forms were long and a little bit complicated. For example one of the forms asked us; Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving Moral Turpitude. I didn’t know what it was either! We boarded the flight and flew 7 and a half hours. Only 1 out of 4 (Karen) of us is a licensed driver. Upon arrival in Washington we rented a car. In America the cars are big and clunky and you will NEVER see a car that resembles anything like a a Nissan Micra. After a long drive – we finally got to our destination. On the way though we did listen to the Fox news rantings calling Obama a marxist.
Karen (chief organiser) had had many contacts with the Democratic Socialists of America and Trade Union groups suppporting Obama. We were basically volunteering to work alongside a Grassroots trade union campaign which has been working for the last month to get voters registered.
This morning we joined that group. It is an extremley well organised positive campaign that wants to change for ordinary Americans. Trade Union activists from all over America met in a Teamsters Union Hall. There were about 60 people there. They have come from diverse backgrounds – lobbyists, policy advisers, chefs, bar workers, hotel workers and union organisers. There was a great atmosphere upon our arrival and all the team made us 4 Irish people very welcome. The team meeting started with prayers and chants. We were also interviewed for a team video – hopefully this can be linked from Youtube soon.
So we were put to work. Because of state law in virginia the campaign to register voters is non partisan and cannot mention a candidate when canvassing. The way this works is that the Union employs people to run a campaign which will encourage people to register to vote. The people employed on that campaign can be partisan but only at the weekends.
The 4 of us were sent out to call on the people who have been registered within the last month or so and ensure that that they had the correct information; correct polling booth, knowledge of ID needed and times of booths. We were also encouraging people to vote early. There are court cases being filed in the state of virginia to force those organising the polling booths to ensure that they have enough. Previously dirty tricks have meant that poorer areas have fewer polling booths. There is also bogus material being distributed giving people the wrong date of the election.
All of us went out with the union workers and canvassed people to make sure that they will vote next week. We could not under state law say who they should vote for. Most people though were in favour of Obama because the areas that we canvassed there were a lot of African Americans living there and poorer people. They genuinely do believe that Barck Obama can bring positive change in health, education and employment. Of course not everyone is a convinced Obama/Biden supporter and Karen did come accross McCain/Palin supporters in Trailer parks.
Tonight we were invited to a rally – Barack Obama was delivering a speech in Norfolk Virginia. The speech was at first a little bland. But it did after a while get really inspirational. I particularly liked the way in which he created a sense of community and solidarity amongst the people at the rally. He made some very good points about low paid workers and humorously pointed out that many “Joe the plumbers” are not highly paid. Obama was clear in his closing message; the people at that rally can help to change America for the better not just by voting for him but asking their friends, family and colleagues too.
I’m tired now……….. more soon
Virginia is a very important swing state and the work that is being done is really about getting the vote out but also in ways about empowering people through their vote. Over 200,000 people have been newly registered to vote in Virginia and most of them are working class black people.
The team spirit and solidarity of people working on this campaign and people who want to work to elect Barack Obama is amazing. It is certainly not something that I am used to back in Ireland.
I wrote my first post on Tuesday night and today is Friday. (edit it’s now monday)
On Wednesday morning we went back to the Union hall. We were sitting down putting labels on leaflets when we were volunteered to do the morning chant. We were put on the spot – what could we do? Andre – the team lead who volunteered us didn’t understand that we just don’t really do anything like that. Dermot being somewhat of a gaeilgoir came up with the idea that we would start with “Is feidir linn” and the group would chant back “yes we can” – it worked out well but nowhere near as good as Thursdays (who let the knockers out).
We went out again on a “turf” basically canvassing to ensure that newly registered people will definitely vote. The “turf” was housing estates similar to council housing estates in Dublin. There was also a tower block similar to the old Ballymun housing estate. A lot of the people were really really energised and ethusiastic about voting – of course some people were not. I felt that this vote is empowering people like this – people living in difficult circumstances and struggling to make ends meet.
After the “turf” we went out for a meal with some people from Unite Here and SEIU. Most of the people we have been working with are either union employees or shop stewards and they have been here sonce the start of September. They are incredibly welcoming.
The organisation here has been just amazing to watch. I’ll give you a small example of that – everyone we are working with is a member or employee of a trade union; so they have experience of picket lines. They are using that experience tomorrow. Because there will be so many people eager to vote – there will be queues of 2-3 hours or longer. The mission of the “line captains” is keep these people in the queue – entertain them with celebrity visits, give them chairs, give them water, hold their place in the queue while they go for a toilet break.
My blog posts are a bit rambling because I’m just snatching time here and there but this has been an amazing week read more…
So I referred to chanting – this is one of the chants that the Unite Here Union members did – it’s a lot of fun and shows the atmosphere amongst the Change to win coalition
This is a speech that I recorded yesterday – John Wilhelm is President of the Hospitality Industry of UNITE HERE
Suzy from Mamanpoulet.com will be liveblogging the election tomorrow night
I was asked last weekend why I haven’t been updating this blog. There are various reasons; 1 I spend so much time reading other peoples blogs that I just have time to do much else online, 2 I am busy studying for a higher certificate in advocacy studies by distance learning (as well as being a class representative for that course and a member of the steering group), (The course content is excellent and from this point of view I would recommend the course) 3 I have been busy with various Labour Party activities; I am currently Chairperson of the Bray Labour Party, Wicklow Constituency Secretary, Membership development officer of Labour LGBT and deputy director of election for 5 Candidates in the Bray area. So it really is just a question of trying to find time. However I will be trying to blog at least once every 2-3 weeks over the coming months.
I am very proud to be a Labour Party member following Eamon Gilmore’s speech -last weekend despite the ribbing from Damien Mulley – For me Eamon Gilmore clearly showed that we are different from the 2 main parties. In my opinion he summed it all up when he said the option is “to choose hope over despair”. Bryan Munkandi has often stated that the 3 main parties in Ireland are all more or less the same The speech by Eamon Gilmore is, in my opinion definitely a start in defining the Labour Party as different from Fine Gael and Labour.
Yes
I know – I’ve been terrible at updating this blog.
I do hope to start getting back into some regular blogging soon enough.
For now – here are some links and updates
Dermot Looney has a call to arms!
Barack Obama is facilitating his supporters to organise “economic recovery house meetings”
Have to say I am fascinated by the way in which Obama is using forms of Participative Democracy
The campaign for a suicide prevention officer in Co Wicklow has been somewhat succesful. However it should be noted that the officer will also be allocated to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown also
As per my notice to residents in the localities of Ardmore, Killarney Park and Avondale Park you can find below some scanned images which show the summary of plans submitted for the site on Killarney Lane.
Please note the entire planning application is approximately 100 pages and the links below are JUST a summary. The deadline for any observations or objections on this plan is Tuedsay May 5th. (Monday May 4th is a bank holiday) If you want to view the entire plan or want more details on how to make an observation or objection contact Bray Town Council
Planning Letter 1
Planning Letter 2
Existing Site Image 1
Existing Site Image 2
Proposed Site – Image 1
Proposed Site Image 2
