People Before Profit Clondalkin Newsletter Autumn 2020

People Before Profit

NEWSLETTER

Autumn 2020.

Clondalkin

Dublin Mid-West Constituency Office: 01 403 0007 Dáil Éireann Office: 01 618 3816

Gino Kenny TD

gino.kenny@oireachtas.ie www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie

 Gino Kenny TD  @ginosocialist

BUSCONNECTS VICTORY: GREEN PARK WILL KEEP CITY CENTRE BUS

In 2018 I organised a street meeting at Sruleen shops about the proposal to remove the 69 bus from Rathcoole to the city centre which goes through the estate. We held a small protest together with Rathcoole residents outside the consultation in Citywest. I’m delighted to see that the new BusConnects plan has restored the bus from Rathcoole to the city centre. The 58 bus will run every 60 minutes from Rathcoole via Sruleen to East Wall. The old 13 bus has been replaced by the D1 route which will go down the Fonthill Rd through Clondalkin Village and down the New Nangor Rd/Long Mile Rd to the city centre. Thanks to all the residents who made submissions to BusConnects and forced the NTA to change their mind. I will continue to keep up the pressure to increase investment in public transport in the local area, and across the country.

DYING WITH DIGNITY BILL 2020

Launching the Dying with Dignity Bill with Vicky Phelan, Tom Curran and Gail O’Rorke outside Leinster House.

Last month I introduced the Dying with Dignity Bill 2020.

This legislation will give the legal and medical provision to those who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness which is progressive, incurable and likely to lead to the persons death the choice to have a peaceful end to their life. Before the debate had begun, I had called on the three government parties to grant a vote of conscience if

any of relevant government parties had not formulated a position on the issue. The government put an amendment to the bill calling for a special committee on the issue which would report back to the Dáil within 12 months with recommendations. People Before Profit and parties of the opposition rejected this on the basis that it would unduly delay the bill and the issue. A vote was taking on the 7th October and the government amendment was defeated.

The vote to progress the bill to the next stage of the process was voted by 81 for and 71 against. The bill will now go to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality for detailed scrutiny. In this process contributors are invited from a broad spectrum of the debate around the issue of voluntary assisted dying. At the end of that process which could take up to six months a report is issued by the committee making recommendations to the Dáil. I look forward to a rational and sadfkjasldkfjalskdjf respectful debate. Below is a link to the Dying with Dignity Bill. https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2020/24/

ANTI-EVICTION BILL

WE NEED A ZERO COVID STRATEGY The government’s “Living with Covid” strategy is a total failure.

Taoiseach Mícheál Martin has admitted that it will mean moving in and out of lockdown for the foreseeable future as we attempt to avoid overwhelming our creaking hospital and ICU capacity. It will mean thousands of deaths. It will mean many people will suffer the effects of Long Covid - long term damage to the heart, kidneys, lungs or brain. It will mean compounding the already dire mental health crisis.

And it will mean workers and the vulnerable will suffer the impact of recession and further austerity.

People Before Profit are calling for a Zero Covid strategy.

This would mean reducing levels of Covid to a point where we have eliminated community transmission and where we can test, trace and isolate every case. While the government’s failures have meant we would require a period of restrictions now, a Zero Covid strategy would mean living without restrictions in the medium to long term, as well as avoiding thousands of deaths.

Some of the measures we would need are: - Use this period of restrictions to prepare for a Zero COVID-19 strategy – building All Ireland testing and tracing capacity, carrying out necessary works on schools and hospitals, hiring and resourcing healthcare systems to be resilient and remain open for non-Covid care.

- The full restoration of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, support for small businesses, a freeze on all rents and mortgages, and a ban on evictions until elimination of community transmission has been maintained for a period for at least 6 months .

- Private hospitals to be taken into public ownership. Pay restoration and hazard pay for frontline workers.

- Schools to be closed until they can be made safe.

Recruit more teachers and make sure every classroom is ventilated. Commandeer extra space for classrooms to reduce class sizes to safe levels even after the virus is eliminated.

SUPPORT OUR TEACHERS. KEEP OUR SCHOOLS SAFE

ASTI have balloted for strike over the unsafe working conditions in schools. Since schools have opened, there are claims of over 100 schools that have had Covid-19 cases. These have been underreported in the media, with teachers and parents left to keep track of where cases arise on social media.

Teachers are also not being defined as “close contacts” even when cases occur in schools. They are rightly worried about the lack of PPE, test availability and test turnaround times, provisions for high risk teachers and resources to facilitate remote teaching and learning. It is not just ASTI teachers that have cause for concern. 428 primary schools have lost a teacher in the new term, further adding to overcrowding in classrooms.

Teacher - pupil ratios in Ireland were already some of the highest in Europe before this pandemic due to underfunding of our education system. Moreover, they are risking further spread of Covid-19 into the wider community, putting more people in danger as schools could become a vector for spreading Covid-19 again in the community.

People Before Profit will be in full support of the ASTI teachers if they choose to go on strike.

Our teachers’ work environment is our children’s learning environment and we should refuse to be forced into choosing between education and safety. Both should be possible - but it will require the kind of investment into education that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have refused to provide for decades.

- Address concerns of specific groups of workers who fell through the cracks during the first wave, in the Taxi, Arts and Entertainment industries.

- Given the failure of the Tory government to assist the North, the Southern government should create a special solidarity fund to assist the six counties in coping with Covid-19.

For a more detailed look at our proposals, go to www.pbp.ie for our document: “Zero-Covid Strategy: A Roadmap”

Launch of “Zero-Covid Strategy: A Roadmap”

People Before Profit NEWSLETTER Occupied Territories Bill.

STUDENTS WORKING IN HEALTH SERVICE MUST BE PAID FOR PLACEMENT

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, student nurses, midwives, physios, radiographers and other healthcare students have been working on unpaid placements in our health service. They have performed essential work that the state has leaned heavily on because of their own failure to address the recruitment and retention crisis.

Former Minister for Health Simon Harris declared that student nurses would be paid during the first wave of Covid, but this was a con - more were taken on as Health Care Assistants, had always been an option. But they have never been paid for placement.

Student nurses are negatively impacted by this. They cannot take paid work as HCAs in alternative health care settings while on placement because of the risk of spreading the virus. This puts massive strain on the students, who may be forced to choose between continuing their studies or working as HCAs in order to get by.

DEBENHAMS WORKERS FIGHTING FOR A FAIR REDUNDANCY

In March, Debenhams used the cover of Covid 19 to sack more than 1,200 workers. Although the company increased their sales in recent years these workers were sacked without redundancy.

The company also has more than €25 million in stock, but it claims it has no money to pay staff who have served Debenhams for decades. To make matters worse, Irish law puts workers at the back of the queue when the company’s assets are sold.

Despite this, the workers have been fighting heroically for more than 190 days. They are fighting for their own redundancy and for workers who might find themselves in a similar position. To resolve the longest dispute in Irish history the workers need the government to allow them to move to the top of the creditors list.

This would allow them to get two weeks redundancy for every year of service to the company. If you would like to support the workers, you can contact 0834606313 and sign a petition to be given to local government TD’s.

MEDICAL CANNABIS ACCESS PROGRAMME As of going to print nearly fifty people have been granted ministerial medical cannabis licences in the state. This gives the licence holder – who in most circumstances is the parent of a child – the legal right to secure the provision of a medical cannabis product.

During the public health emergency, the Department of Health made provision for those licence holders to have their prescription delivered from the Netherlands by courier. This was welcomed but major problems still exist in relation to reimbursement which can be arbitrary, and the unacceptable delay in the formal commencement of the Medical Cannabis Access Programme.

I will continue to raise this issue with the new health minister and the government

With Vera Twomey who campaigned for her daughter Ava to get access to medical cannabis

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People Before Profit NEWSLETTER ONE FAMILY PAYMENT REVIEW

PLANNING APPLICATION ON WATERY LANE

A recent report by Comptroller and Auditor General C&AG showed a high review intensity of One Parent Family Payment and Working Family Payment.

A planning application has been submitted for 86 apartments at the site where Clondalkin Enterprise Centre currently is located on Watery Lane.

The application is under the name Clapton Ireland Ltd which is owned by Vincent Cosgrave. The buildings as proposed would have a negative impact on daylight for the surrounding residents and the development comes very close to the road.

Cllr Madeleine Johansson and I submitted a representation to the council to object to this development on the grounds of previous breaches of planning and the scale and size of this development. Many residents have submitted objections to the development and a decision is due from the council on the 5th November.

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The report also showed that both schemes had less than 5% over payments and were low in comparison to any other social welfare payments. However, despite this evidence, lone parents were subjected to a more intense review of their payment. This intense review for many lone parents amounts to ongoing harassment, unnecessary house visits, and often bizarre and impossible paperwork requests to continue a payment. The poverty rates in one parent households is a sad reflection of how we treat single mothers in this country, and this is compounded with living in fear of social welfare cuts.

An article in the Irish Examiner detailing harassment to lone parents by social welfare inspectors, is reflective in calls TD’s office receive from lone parents, and to campaign groups like SPARK. I have requested the Minister seeks a review of these invasive inspections by her Department, as is advised by C&AG report the Governments own watchdog.

working with Gino Kenny TD

Dublin Mid West Representatives

People Before Profit Constituency Office Unit 3 Monastery Rd, Clondalkin, Dublin 22.

01-4030007 Open to the Public.

Monday 12.30pm-2.30pm.

Wednesday 12.30pm-2.30pm.

All Other Times by Appointment.

Cllr. Madeleine Johansson Phone: 087 3630242 E: mjohansson@cllrs.sdublincoco.ie Facebook Cllr Madeleine Johansson

For Information on People Before Profit

Gino Kenny T.D. Phone: 085 7211574 www.ginokenny.com E: gino.kenny@oireachtas.ie

Text 087 283 9964