People Before Profit Lucan 2nd Newsletter Autumn 2020

People Before Profit

NEWSLETTER

Autumn 2020.

Lucan

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:

NO INCREASE IN BUSES ON MAIN ROUTES IN LUCAN The updated BusConnects plan was published recently by the NTA. There are some welcome new local routes for example between Lucan/Clondalkin and Lucan/Tallaght.

But there is no increase in frequency on the main 25A/B routes. Those routes already have problems with capacity at peak times and are likely to become worse as more housing developments are built in Adamstown.

Unfortunately this is the final plan and there will be no further public consultations.

We need a significant increase in investment in public transport by the government to put more buses on the roads.in the local area, and across the country.

OPEN KISHOGUE TRAIN STATION! The Kishogue railway station near Lucan cost €6.25 million to build back in 2009. Since then, it has remained a “ghost station” and has not taken a single passenger.

The NTA has said that it “envisages the opening of Kishogue Railway station at the end of 2020 as development in Clonburris becomes occupied, although it is not yet clear whether housing development will advance at this rate.”

It is unacceptable that people would have to wait until this development is occupied. The Lucan area has major problems with traffic congestion and is in dire need of increased access to public transport. I call upon the NTA and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to act to open Kishogue station by the end of 2020

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ANTI-EVICTION BILL

WE NEED A ZERO COVID STRATEGY

SUPPORT OUR TEACHERS. KEEP OUR SCHOOLS SAFE

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.

ASTI have balloted for strike over the unsafe working conditions in schools. 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.

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.

- 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”

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.

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.

MEDICAL CANNABIS ACCESS PROGRAMME

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

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.

People Before Profit NEWSLETTER Occupied Territories Bill.

STUDENTS WORKING IN HEALTH SERVICE MUST BE PAID FOR PLACEMENT

DEBENHAMS WORKERS FIGHTING FOR A FAIR REDUNDANCY

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.

It’s time for this government to recognise the invaluable work these students are doing, the risks they are taking for public health, and to pay all student health workers for the work they do on placements.

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.

DYING WITH DIGNITY BILL 2020

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 respectful debate. Below is a link to the Dying with Dignity Bill. https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2020/24/

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. 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

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People Before Profit NEWSLETTER YOUTH SERVICES IN 20-STOREY APARTMENT BLOCK ON LUCAN FOXHUNTER PUB SITE

The lands are currently zoned for Retail/Warehousing with Residential development not permitted on the site.

The vehicular entrance to the site is proposed to be through the existing Hermitage estate by opening up the cul-de-sac at Hermitage Gardens. This will significantly increase traffic in the estate and have a negative impact on existing residents.

The 20-storey tower block will also be overlooking existing houses in Hermitage estate.

I, and my colleague Cllr Madeleine Johansson have submitted an objection to the application to the council and am urging residents to do the same.

working with Gino Kenny TD

While Lucan is a great place to live for so many, the youth in the area are being failed by the lack of investment in services that would help them grow and develop to reach their fullest potential. While organisations such as Crosscare do their best to keep up with growing demand, many constituents are deeply concerned and have highlighted to me that young people in the area are being increasingly forgotten about in the provision of local services.

Since 2008 funding for youth services nationally has been cut by 30%. Positive early intervention and listening to young people’s needs and concerns is imperative but that needs resources and funding.

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

0612

Fox Connect Ltd, owned by property developers Patrick McKillen Jr and Matt Ryan, has applied to build 161 apartments on the site at the Foxhunter Pub. The application includes 2 three-story blocks and a 20-storey tower block.

With a population boom in the area, local services are struggling to keep pace with youth needs Lucan and its surrounding areas have been pinpointed by planners for almost 20 years to help accommodate a growing population.

South Dublin County Council has long considered Lucan to be a key development area. It was mentioned in the National Spatial Strategy back in 2002 and earmarked for future planning as a metropolitan consolidation town. Planners identified it as a key location for accommodating Dublin’s population growth. With the huge growth in the number of young people in the area, existing services are finding it difficult to keep pace with youth needs.