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Council Chamber
A review of the recent Castleknock / Mulhuddart area committee meetings of Fingal County Council
by Peter Goulding

Smoking ban for Millennium Park

According to the most recent records available, over 47% of all litter collected in Fingal in 2008 was smoking-related, whether it was butts or cigarette packets. Considering that it takes 12 years for a cigarette butt to break down organically, that represented a lot of landfill.

So ran a presentation to the Council by the HSE on their plans to pilot an anti-smoking programme in Blanchardstown’s Millennium Park and playground.

The scheme entails denormalising smoking in children’s play areas and if proved to be successful, would be rolled out nationally.

Cllr. Hamill (Labour) welcomed the scheme. “We all see children playing happily and see their parents sitting there smoking their heads off,” she said. “It’s time to stamp it out. There’s a great need for this plan and we shouldn’t take too much time putting it in place.”

Her party colleague Cllr. Nulty agreed. “I not only support the principle but also support the approach of getting support from the local community,” he said, before going on to praise Micheal Martin’s initiative of banning smoking in the workplace, a remark which drew wary glances from around the chamber.

An air of dissention was introduced by Cllr. Coppinger (Socialists) who, while agreeing that litter was a problem, wondered if it was part of the council’s job to lecture parents about smoking in front of their children in an outdoor area. “This is like a nanny state,” she said. “I don’t think this is an urgent priority for our Parks Department. Its not an urgent priority for me anyway.”

Her scepticism was shared, strangely enough, by her nemesis, Cllr. Dennison (FG) who claimed his eyebrows were raised by the presentation. “If we want to do this, why not simply put up signs saying this place will be a non-smoking area after such a date?” he asked. “I can’t believe this will take a year and x amount of money!”

In reply, the manager said the financial outlay was not great and the reason it was proposed to take a year implementing it, was because it was a pilot scheme and had to be done methodically.

Mystery of the Tyrrelstown youth workers

The long-promised appointment of a dedicated youth worker for Tyrrelstown looks further away than ever, following a letter from the VEC that was circulated to council members.

“I must point out that at present there are nine youth work staff operating in Tyrrelstown working directly with young people,” said the unnamed author, “and two regional staff co-ordinating our efforts. Whilst none of these staff are dedicated full time to the area, these figures denote an equivalent of over 70 man hours working in Tyrrelstown; one full time person would provide 35½ hours at best.

“Youth services in Ireland have been taking this regionalised approach for some time now, as deploying a variety of staff permits a much wider range of interests and skills to be delivered. This achieves much more and staff are not left isolated and working on their own. Hence you can see the employment of one youth worker to Tyrrelstown would indeed be a backward step,” according to the VEC.

Cllr. Dennison (FG) said residents would be surprised to learn of this hive of activity in the area. “They just don’t see it,” he said. “When there was a dedicated youth worker, there was a youth cafe,” he said. “Now, with twice the man hours, there is no youth cafe.”

Cllr. Nulty was equally as cynical about the letter. “It completely fails to grasp how youth work operates,” he said. “Its about building up realationships and trust, not throwing a number of staff at the problem for a couple of hours at a time.”

“The VEC told us three months ago that they were in the process of recruiting a full time youth officer for Tyrrelstown,” said Cllr. Coppinger (Socialist Party). “Apparently they have eleven people working up there but I’ve been unable to track any of them down.”

Cars being damaged by trees

Discussion of a new draft Fingal tree strategy took place at the full Council meeting in Swords, with Cllr. Loftus (FG) in particular, displaying a full grasp of all things arboreal.

“My problem is the honeydew problem,” she began confidently. “A number of constituents have complained to me about their cars being ruined by the, by the whatever-it-is dropping from the trees. What species are subject to this sticky substance?”

Cllr. McGuinness (FF) got down to the root of the problem. “It reminds me of the members of our society who frequent hairdressers to get their roots done,” he joked. “I think it’s about time Fingal County Council got their roots done because throughout Blanchardstown we have this constant problem that the estates are now 25-30 years old and as a result the roots are breaking up all over the place.

“The second point is overgrowth of trees onto the public roads particularly on the Clonsilla Road. Dublin Bus are going around with their half-cut bus top and they’re cutting down the trees, as a result of which we’re getting L-shaped and 7-shaped trees.”

Cllr. Murray (FF) wondered if the Council’s proposal not to cut down trees was a bit drastic. “In a case where residents have no other option than to park under these honeydew trees, could you not make an exception?” she asked.

In reply, the manager said that in these cases, no species of tree was immune. “If we were to remove every tree that had a honeydew problem, there’d be no trees left in Fingal,” he said.

From Brazil to Bermuda

Following on from councillors’ controversial decision not to boycott a housing conference in the tropical paradise of Porto Alegri in Brazil, Cllr. Nulty once more leapt into the fray with undisguised glee at the May council meeting.

The subject of his ire this time was a proposed conference in Bermuda on the subject of ‘Aviation on a Global Stage.’

“I do not believe it is a proper use of taxpayers’ money in the middle of the greatest financial crisis in this country’s history,” he said, requesting a roll-call on who would be supporting the conference.

Predictably, this raised the hackles of FG councillors Devitt and Maher. The former accused Cllr. Nulty of picking on conferences not for their value but because of their location.

Cllr. Maher maintained that sending councillors to Bermuda would not cost taxpayers a cent, as all councillors were awarded a conference budget anyway. This strange logic appeared to imply that councillors had to spend all their conference budget whether they liked it or not.

As the agenda for the conference had not been published and as the conference was not until November anyway, the Mayor ruled that the discussion should proceed more fully at the next meeting.

Take away the take-aways

“We are more than adequately equipped with take-aways and fast food outlets in Blanchardstown village,” said Cllr. Hamill (Lab) discussing her request for a report on what planning guidelines are enforceable to restrict their number. “They generate an incredible amount of rubbish. Apart from the two dedicated take-aways, there are a number of other outlets that do food and I feel it will destroy the village if we allow any more.”

Cllr. Murray (FF) supported Cllr. Hamill’s concerns. “No matter how many bins you put outside the outlets, people will still walk fifty yards before dropping their packaging,” she said. “This is putting a strain both on our extremely hard-working tidy towns committee and also on the Council.”

“While there is no specific policy or planning guidelines in relation to the number of takeaways permissible within an existing urban centre,” said the manager, “such proposals are assessed against development plan policies, their contribution to ensuring a balanced mix of uses within the village centre and on the cumulative effects on matters such as parking and local residential amenity.”

She did however agree with Cllr. McGuinness’ (FF) suggestion that the question should be addressed at the next round of the development plan.

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