Mark Wall's Blog

Following the December meeting of the Athy Municipal District , it was confirmed that work will commence on the much needed Distributor road in 2018. This work will begin in and around the Dunbrinn and Corran Ard estates of our town. These works will include a new culvert at the stream in Corran Ard and fencing along the route for the safety of everybody. Investigations along the route will continue during this time also.Kildare County Council officials confirmed that funding was not an issue for the completion of the road and that advertisements regarding the compulsory purchase of land for the road were placed in local papers last week. Council have also begun to engage with Resident associations along the route.Kildare County Council will meet with the area Cllr’s in January to confirm more accurate timelines for the delivery of the road and are working on improving the finishing date of 2022 given at the November meeting of Council. I will keep you informed of all progress, we must see diggers on site in 2018, funding we are told is not a problem , the road must be delivered.

Cllr Mark Wall has welcomed the unanimous support he recently received at the Athy Municipal District meeting on setting up a small grant scheme to assist the many wonderful sports clubs that we have in the District.

Cllr Wall commented ” I hope that this scheme will be adopted by other Municipal Districts in the area to assist all our Sports clubs. Recently while dealing with many clubs in the preparation of their applications for the National Sports Capital Grants , there were many clubs that could not apply for varying reasons yet these clubs cater for so many within our communities and their volunteers carry out such good work. I would hope this scheme could assist those clubs but also those that did apply for funding with some of their smaller but most important needs.

We truly cannot value how much all these clubs mean to community life and most importantly the health and well being of those that use them. Hopefully what can become an annual grant scheme will help them with the growing amount of fundraising that they need to carry out to survive.

I look forward to this scheme being rolled out in the Athy area in the quickest possible time , benefiting as many as possible.

Cllr Mark Wall has welcomed the support from his fellow Cllr’s for the provision of funding to assist with the purchase of house alarms for the most vulnerable within the communities of the Athy Municipal District.

Speaking following his motion to the recent Council meeting in Athy, Cllr Wall stated , we are all aware of the personal alarm that is available from various community groups in our areas. However I’ve being contacted by a growing number of families who are worried about their loved ones who are in many cases living alone and unfortunately in fear. The purpose of this scheme would be to assist with the cost of a house alarm for those individuals , allowing them to feel more secure in their homes and protecting the most vulnerable in our communities.

Statistics from the Gardai will tell us that active house alarms are a deterrent to those that want to destroy our communities with the growing menace of house break-ins and thefts.

We must protect those that need protection within this District and I believe this way is a positive development along this road. I look forward to the scheme being launched and the first houses availing of assistance.

Following today’s council update , Cllr Wall has sought further clarification from Kildare County Council on the timelines for completion of the road.

Previously we were assured by Council and their consultants that an indicative completion time for the road was the 3rd Quarter of 2020, today we were informed this could be 2022.

At the same time the Council are saying there is “ No problem with funding “ , Council have enough staff at this stage of the project and most surprising the council state the project is moving quicker than expected.

Upon questioning the senior engineer , we were informed that the CPO’s ( Compulsory Purchase Orders ) for the land will be published in January and that a number of contracts for the road would progress in 2018.

The parts of the road identified for these contracts meaning actual diggers on site include the part of the road by the Dunbrinn and Corran Ard estates where the Council stated they wanted to work closely with the Residents , indicating monthly meetings with them.

Concluding , Cllr Wall stated “ We have being informed that we will get a specific timeframe for this road at our January 2018 meeting. Given previous indications , which have all happened to date, this new date of 2022 is unbelievable and needs urgent clarification. I’ve being providing monthly updates on this road following each Council meeting , the last one indicating planning had finally being achieved. Now is the not the time for delays , after all we’ve being told funding is not a problem, Athy and it’s people await the clarification, no further delays are acceptable.

Press Statement Kildare County Council

Storm Ophelia – Further Update at 5pm on 16 October 2017

Kildare County Council’s Severe Weather Assessment Team met again this evening.  The emergency services in the county, namely the roads crews, fire service and civil defence will continue to monitor the situation and respond as required over the coming hours and during the night.

The clean up operation will commence at first light tomorrow (7am).  The Severe Weather Assessment Team will re-convene at 9.30 tomorrow to re-assess the situation.

The public are reminded to heed the warning from the Met Office and stay indoors.

Kildare County Council’s emergency number is 1890 500 333

Thank you for all your calls and concerns. I’ve being onto emergency services since morning , important now that we stay of the roads , electricity is out in most of South Kildare . I’m informed Our brave emergency services will be back out once the worst of winds are over but in the mean time Kildare Council emergency number is 1890 50 03 33 or my own 0833341488 – stay safe everybody

Speaking following his motion to the Athy area Committee on Vacant Council Homes , Cllr Mark Wall welcomed the news that Kildare County Council have increased their budget to turn around these potential homes in quicker timeframes.
In response to Cllr Walls calls , KCC confirmed that they were not happy with the turnaround times but a combination of funding , lack of staff and contractors removing themselves from the council framework has lead to delays 
The Council have in response to the unacceptable delays , advertised for new contractors and are finalising this list. They are putting together new framework tender documents that will allow quicker turnaround times and have already invited pre-qualified contractors to tender for existing work . Applications have also being made to central government for additional staff and funding.
Cllr Wall added ” I’m aware of over 20 vacant properties in the Athy area that can and should become family homes urgently . In the crisis we have at the moment , allowing council homes to remain unoccupied for in some cases, periods of over 1 year is totally unacceptable. I welcome the news today on funding and the changes in the long winded documentation but I’ll be highlighting this issue at every opportunity .As I’ve said before there is no one solution to the housing crisis but the Authorities inability to turn around family homes in a reasonable time frame should not contribute to this crisis.