Headed Items
CONFIRMATION AND RE-AFFIRMATION OF MINUTES
Minutes of Meeting of South Dublin County Council, 9th March 2015
REPORTS OF AREA COMMITTEES
a) Rathfarnham/Templeogue-Terenure Area Committee - 10th March 2015
- Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Environment, Community, Housing, Transportation, Planning, Libraries & Arts, Economic Development, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management
(no report)
b) Clondalkin Area Committee - 18th March 2015 Postponed Meeting 1st April 2015
- Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Environment, Community, Housing, Transportation, Planning, Libraries & Arts, Economic Development, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management
(no report)
c) Tallaght Area Committee - 23rd March 2015
- Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Environment, Community, Housing, Transportation, Planning, Libraries & Arts, Economic Development, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management
(circulated herewith)
d) Lucan Area Committee - 24th March 2015
- Dealing with Public Realm, Water & Drainage, Environment, Community, Housing, Transportation, Planning, Libraries & Arts, Economic Development, Corporate Support, Performance & Change Management
(no report)
STANDING COMMITTEES - ORGANISATION, PROCEDURE & FINANCE COMMITTEE 19th March 2015
a) Draft Calendar of Meeting Dates
b) Report on Conferences/Seminars
c) Report on Standing Orders
STRATEGIC POLICY COMMITTEES
(i) Report of Economic, Enterprise & Tourism Development SPC held 26th March 2015
(ii) Minutes of Meeting held on 11th February 2015
(iii) Report from Social and Community SPC
REPORTS REQUESTED BY AREA COMMITTEES
(H5 No Reports)
Questions
To ask the Chief Executive that this Council be informed of the process by which contractors lodge a "bond" with SDCC prior to works commencing and the process that ensures reinstatement of areas is rigorously upheld prior to returning the bond to them?
To ask the Chief Executive for a report from the Housing Department detailing numbers awaiting allocation and transfer.
What is the Councils present strategy with regards to prioritizing homeless families and those awaiting transfer on medical grounds?
To ask the Chief Executive, in order to encourage businesses to avail of the "Shop Front Grant" has the Council directly approached all businesses within the county outlining the scheme and its benefits?
To ask the Chief Executive for the cost to the council for the last year that it had the responsibility for bin collections. Additionally, for that same year, what was the cost of the removal of litter and illegal dumping?
To ask the Chief Executive, how much has been allocated through capital funding for new builds and redevelopments for Traveller accommadation by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government department? Additionally, when will the uncompleted elements of the previously agreed locations of the 2008-2013 programme commence?
To ask the Chief Executive, can a similar approach of the house hold budget, be adopted, whereby, rent is deducted from social welfare payments, for the purpose of buying and supplying chalets or mobile homes for Traveller accommodation?
Is there a process for evicting a local authority tenant for persistent anti-social behaviour? Can details of the process be provided? How many instances of this has there been in the last 3 years?
I understand there are currently 51 houses reported as derelict and under investigation. What options are available to the council to lease these derelict houses and make them available for needy families? It would seem that this option for gaining housing is a low cost solution and should be prioritised. Is that the case?
To ask the chief executive for an estimate of the annual costs should the council change its policy and take responsibility for graffiti removal on private walls facing out onto public space. Often residents have neither the necessary equipment, expertise or money to remove this graffiti and the council would be far better equipped to deal with this.
To ask the Chief Executive to outline its current involvements in encouraging business start-ups and entrepeneurial activities in the County either directly or in consultation with other agencies?
To ask the Chief Executive to give a breakdown by area of how much green space is owned by the council, with a map?
To ask the Chief Executive to outline how many Traveller Accommodation sites there are in the County and how they are spread in each local electoral area - how many families per site and so on?
To ask the Chief Executive to provide details of any statistics maintained by this planning authority in relation to the number and percentage of planning applications in each of 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 to date which were granted/ granted following a request for additional information/ refused/ refused following a request for additional information; and to further provide details and copies of any circulars or correspondence from the Department Environment, Communities & Local Government in relation to monitoring of the proportion of planning applications subject to grants/refusals/requests for additional information and/or which have made recommendation or observations and/or which set targets in relation to proportion of grants/refusals/requests for additional information?
To ask the Chief Executive for details of the number of follow-up inspections or reviews carried-out, since 2010, of recent school developments with a view to assessing compliance with planning permission conditions requiring the implementation of measures set-out in a Mobility Management Plan; and to assessing the effectiveness of the Mobility Management Plan approach; and to further ask if there are any plans to carry out such follow-up inspections or reviews during 2015?
To ask the Chief Executive for a detailed update on the assessment of waiting lists for allotments with a view to identifying priority locations for development of new allotments during 2015?
To ask the Chief Executive if a survey has been carried out of vacant sites in our County (similar to the survey recently conducted by Dublin City Council) to identify sites that may be subject to the proposed new Vacant Sites Levy; and if so to provide details of the number and locations of these sites?
To ask the Chief Executive to confirm that new litter bins will be installed at all new or refurbished playspaces and playgrounds in the County, including those provided in the past 12 months; and to further confirm that Park Ranger staff will be tasked with intensive monitoring of all newly-opened playspaces with a view to ensuring that anti-social activity does not take root?
To ask the Chief Executive for the number of trees completely removed from the County in the last 12 months and of that number how many were replaced?
To ask the Chief Executive to detail the number of roads closed in the County over the last 12 months for the purpose of cleansing and the average length of time the roads remained closed during that period?
To ask the Chief Executive for the number of "Green Dog Walkers" currently operating in the County?
To ask the Chief Executive to confirm the average cost of the day to day running of leisure centres in the County?
To ask the Chief Executive to upgrade the Fix My Street facility to enable users to map the location of their issue with Google Coordinates and attach photographs in the same way. This would be particularly usefully for users in the rural parts of the County?
Can the Chief Executive upgrade the planning search and view facility on the Council website to provide planning documents in PDF format as well as DjVu as not all users of the website have hardware that is compatible with DjVu.
"To ask the Chief Executive to confirm the policy now being pursued by the Council when reports are received by the public in respect of graffiti and will he also confirm that every effort is being made, in each case, to remove the offending graffiti?"
"To ask the Chief Executive to present a report on the progress of the Winter Arboricultural Programme works throughout the County?"
"To ask the Chief Executive to confirm the number of people who have registered as Homeless in our County in this calendar year and also stating what efforts are being made to ensure that all those involved are being accommodated as close to their home areas as possible"
"To ask the Chief Executive to report on the spending of the most recent Department of Environment grant received in respect of anti graffiti and anti litter awareness?"
"To ask the Chief Executive to present a further report on progress towards the implementation of the Village Initiatives Plan confirming that all 9 Villages in our County are included and outlining the schedule now being followed in respect of the matter"
To ask the Chief Executive for an update on the Traveller Accommodation Programme for 2015 and to include in his report the impact of the recently announced Government Housing Strategy.
To ask the Chief Executive if, given the age profile of the more settled areas of the County, any consideration is being given to the provision of supported or sheltered or apartment type accommodation that would allow persons or couples who so wish to downsize from 3/4 Bedroom semi-detached homes to something that is more in keeping with their needs and life style with the spin-off that it would free up housing stock and rejunivate communities while supporting the desire of over 55s to continue to live independently preferably within their own neighbourhood.
To ask the Chief Executive for a report, on a Local Area bases, on the cost year to date of dealing with clean-up in areas where litter/fly tipping is prevalent and if he can identify the most chronic areas of the County where this type of anti- social activity is prevalent and to include in his report the cost effectiveness and feasibility of using preventative measures such as CCTV, gateing laneways, etc to deter this unsightly and unhealthy behaviour.
To ask the Chief Executive for a full list of the grants available to Community Groups and Residents Associations within the County?
To ask the Chief Executive how many Community Grants have been allocated so far this year within the County? And what is the total amount allocated so far?
To ask the Chief Executive how many community groups and residents associations have applied for assistance to participate in National Spring Clean Week in April and how many such groups have been facilitated? Are facilities in place for rubbish to be collected from all involved groups?
To ask the Chief Executive how many community groups and residents associations applied for assistance during National Spring Clean Week 2014 and how many were facilitated? How many of these groups were facilitated in having their rubbish collected following the big clean ups?
To ask the Chief Executive if there are any initiatives like a Junior Park Rangers programme to help teach kids the importance of keeping our County Clean?
To ask the Chief Executive to consider the possibility of taking in charge buildings that have been privately/previously owned by developers such as marketing suites which have been left idle for a period allowing these unused buildings to be used by local communities groups in the interim and could a list of these buildings be provided to this council .
To ask the Chief Executive how many fines have been issued throughout the county in relation to Dog Litter and how many successful if any prosecutions
To ask the Chief Executive for an update on Emergency (Hostel) accommodation within South Dublin County Council following a motion approved at an November s area meeting , Baring in mind the needs of all area of SDCC , has a site been identified? and if not when will a site be identified.? Also how many are identified as need emergency accommodation?
To ask for a report from January to March on those on the housing list and those in need of Homeless services. Also to provide as part of report how many houses have become available through different schemes such as Choice Based Lettings etc. Also how many Houses are currently boarded up ? and when will these be ready to occupy? have they all been allocated?
To ask for a Report to how many families/individuals are being put up in Hotels ? Also as part of this report to ask the time period of the people living within them? How many hotels are involved? also where would I ask how much the cost of this type of accommodation ?
Following the announcement of the Village Initiative scheme and plans for Tallaght Rathfarham and Rathcoole on line when can we hope to see plans for other areas? and can a breakdown of how much will be spent in each area? Will North Clondalkin Benefit from this Initiative ?
To ask for a report on Rates paid (Collected) by area and how these collected rates where divided (spent) by area for 2014 ?
Headed Items
DECLARATION OF ROADS TO BE PUBLIC ROADS
(no reports)
PROPOSED DISPOSAL OF PROPERTIES / SITES
H7b) Acquisition by purchase of Fee Simple - 42 St. Patricks Cottages
H7a) Proposed disposal of Affordable Dwellings
H7c) Proposed disposal of laneway at side and rear of 12 St Ronans Way, Clondalkin to Ms Maire McHugh
H7d) - Proposed disposal of ESB substation site at "Heatherset", Old Court Road, Dublin 24
MONTHLY MANAGEMENT REPORT
AUDIT COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2014
(circulated herewith)
DRAFT ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT
APPROVAL OF ADDITIONAL EXPENDITURE 2014
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
SECTION 85 REPORT FROM KILDARE COUNTY COUNCIL ON JOINT REPLACEMENT OF RATHCOOLE BRIDGE BY KILDARE COUNTY COUNCIL & SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
FILLING OF VACANCY THE SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL AUDIT COMMITTEE FOLLOWING THE RESIGNATION OF COUNCILLOR B. FERRON FROM AUDIT COMMITTEE
PART 8 RATHCOOLE VILLAGE
Correspondence
Ministerial
Letter from Minister of Justice & Equality dated 11th March regarding Anti Water Meter Protesters
Ministerial
Letter from Minister of Justice & Equlity ,dated 1st March 2015 regarding Domestic Violence Bill
Departmental
Letter from Department of Children and Youth Affairs dated 27th February 2015 regarding refuge for Domestic Violence Victims
Letter, dated 4th March from Monaghan Co. Council in relation to a motion passed by (district council) regarding Factories that they are kept in owner ship of State Agency's
Letter, dated 03/02/15, from Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in response to SDCC's motion regarding the need to improve the legislation to ensure the rights of employees in situations of "informal" and tactical insolvencies. Includes Briefing Paper "Deemed Insolvency & Addressing Abuse of Limited Liability". (M3/1214)
Letter dated 24/03/2015 from Offaly County Council regarding parking fines issued by Traffic Wardens.
Motions
Mayors Business
That this Council notes the increasing casualization of employment, adding to high levels of economic inequality; acknowledges the increasing prevalence of zero and low hour contracts; calls on the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to adopt an industrial relations policy that ends zero hour contracts, supports banded hour and full time contracts and protects workers creating a benchmark for sustainable decent employment.
That this council calls on the Minister for Justice to assign additional resources, personnel and vehicles to all Garda Stations in the South Dublin County Council Area to allow for ongoing effective action to be taken in respect of serious crime which has been reported throughout the area in recent times.
That the South Dublin County Council should initiate a civic pride week event that could be turned into a festive occasion and be held annually in spring. This event would include sports, community gardening, street clean-ups and musical activities.
That this council calls on the Minster for Finance to postpone the scheduled review of residential property valuations under the LPT in 2016.
To freeze all current valuations till 2020. Allowing house prices to stabilize particularly in the Dublin area.
To increase the power of local councils to raise or lower the LPT by allowing for a 30% adjustment instead of the current 15%, in the lifetime of a council.
That this council calls on the government to endorse and Launch the safer internet campaign iRights in Ireland.
Irights proposes 5 core protective online principals which have been drawn up based on translating the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child.
Principal 1 is the “right to remove” – By adopting iRights in Ireland, when a young person reaches the age of 18, they will have access to easily delete any content that they themselves have created when they were perhaps too immature to know better (80% of all employers check online sites for details on job candidates)
Principal 2 is the “right to know” – By adopting this principal, it means that information about how our data may be used is designed into the technology we use daily and explained to children clearly rather than hidden in endless pages of obscure terms & conditions (eg. We should be informed when Celebrities are being paid to endorse a product online)
Principal 3 is the right to “make informed and conscious choices” – Our children should understand that what happens online isn’t just down to their free will but is being manipulated through clever game design intent on making playing it addictive
Principal 4 is the “right to Safety & Support online” - That Our education policy values and supports access to internet safety for both Children and Parents
Principal 5 is the “right to digital literacy” – If our young people are to flourish in the future, they need to be able not just to use the internet and technology but also to understand how it all works. That means learning to code, application development and cloud computing. By endorsing iRights, our future technology learning strategy for our children will be developed.
Irights was developed in the UK and launched in December under the #weprotect Conference hosted by PM David Cameron in response to the need to address the rights of Children in the Online world.
By embracing irights in Ireland, all citizens could sign up to demand the rights of Irish children in our online world.
That this Council proposes to the Minister for Environment, Communities & Local Government that a review be carried-out of the legislation governing commercial rates, to afford local authorities more flexibility in devising locally-appropriate rate regimes, including to:
- Firstly, adopt a more progressive system of commercial rates with a both a general low level of ARV and a higher level applying to that part of a property valuation in excess of a certain amount; thereby allowing local authorities to target rates reductions for small and medium businesses;
- Secondly, identify a limited number of priority ‘Main Street’ commercial areas where a special, time-limited lower level of commercial rates could be applied to incentivise retailing and commerce and regenerate such areas in tandem with an approved plan.
In the light of the ever-worsening graffiti problem in our county and nationwide, this council calls on the government to enact legislation which would restrict the sale of aerosol spray-paint cans to people over twenty one years of age.
That this Council calls on the Energy Regulator to review the taxes and levies set by them with a view to reducing the crippling energy costs for consumers in this County. Irish consumers have the fourth most expensive electricity in the EU and this is utterly unacceptable.
That this Council calls on the Minister to introduce the promised National Bin Charges Waiver Scheme as identified in the programme for Government without delay with a view to providing some relief to those Citizens the proposed scheme was purported to assist.
Considering that Ireland has one of the highest childcare costs in the OECD, this council calls on the Tánaiste Joan Burton to fulfill her commitment to deliver an affordable & accessible Scandinavian Model of Childcare, which will encourage and enable women to participate in education or return to the labour market.
This Council, concerned at the manner in which new charges, levies and taxes have been introduced in recent years, many of them by stealth and in addition to and on top of, already unfair charges, levies and taxes which have the cumulative effect of significantly undermining the quality of life of the average family, calls on An Taoiseach, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, if they are sincere in their declared policy of broadening the Tax Base, to reverse the current policy of punitive tax expansion under the guise of broadening the Tax Base, and initiate a root and branch overhaul of the Irish Taxation System that eliminates double taxation in all its forms and introduce instead an integrated system of Local and National Taxation that will be fair, equitable and sustainable and that is capable of providing realistic funding for Local Government based on the services and facilities best delivered at local level, that promotes solidarity at National level, that is linked, as all taxes should be, on ability to pay, that is progressive and transparent. That the Chief Executive Officer write to An Taoiseach and Ministers concerned informing them of the decision of this Council and that the other County Council be forwarded a copy.
That this elected body calls on all corporate entities in this county to adhere to their responsibility in upholding human rights and international law in their corporate governance. Furthermore if this motion is passed by the elected members where international law is seemed to be non adhered to we the elected body shall ask for clarification regarding ethical guidelines and corporate responsibility.
That this council condemns the use of Gateway, Job Bridge, and other similar government "job activation" schemes as they endanger council jobs.
Following my motion Reference 41531 (That this Council liaise with Dublin Bus to report on measures / plans are being made in relation to the provision of a bus route along the Outer Ring Road which would connect Lucan (village) to Tallaght (village) via Clondalkin (village) and vice versa, making full use of this infrastructure.) That this council requests an update from the CEO and also asks that Dublin Bus are invited to discuss this proposal with the council.
That this council condemns the system known as Direct provision and calls for the Direct provision system to be scrapped and a new procedure based on a Human rights approach be put in place and that an apology is given to the people that have been subjected to this system.
That this Council sets as an objective a programme of self-sufficiency in energy generation, to match its planned improvements in energy efficiency by identifying sites for the production of renewable wind energy for Council use and in particular to emulate and improve upon efforts made by Tipperary County Council (http://tea.ie/projects/tipperary-county-council-solar-pv-2014/) in developing photovoltaic technologies on its buildings and as a result reducing its energy consumption by 171,000 kWh annually, or 11% across all installed buildings, for a co-grant funded investment of €326,850, with an estimated payback of just seven years.
That this council. recognising the need for safety for children at play in the housing estates in which they live, calls on the Minister for Transport to pass the Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2015 commonly known as Jake's Law, in memory of Jake Brennan, in order to introduce a new mandatory speed limit of 20km specifically for housing estates. The council further commits to writing the Minister on this issue and circulating this letter to all other local authorities in the state for their consideration.
That the Chief Executive ensure that all Part 8 projects, including all the documents relating to them, are cited in the weekly Planning Register to ensure as wide a public readership as possible
That this council develops a charter for safe driving - with particular reference to low speeds in residential areas - which it then seeks take-away companies, in the county, sign up to. The take away company will then seek to ensure their delivery people adhere to the rules of the charter. This is to help make our residential areas safer.
This Council fully supports the Decency For Dunnes Stores Workers campaign and their demands for secure hours and incomes, secure jobs, fair pay and their right to trade union representation. We call on Dunnes Stores management to engage with the workers and their union representatives to resolve these issues as a matter or urgency.
That this Council lead the way and implement calorie posting on all food served in the Council’s canteen. There is an obseity problem in Ireland, with reports that Ireland will soon to be the fastest growing obese Country after the United States. The Government has approved Heads of Bill for calorie counting on menus and I would ask that this Council provide leadership in volunteering to provide this information before being so obliged. It is accepted that there is a cost involved in providing calorie count on food, to this end the Food Safety Authoirity has developed an online calorie counting model known as MenuCal. I’m asking members to support my motion and in so doing that this Council lead the way in providing this information on a voluntry basis and in so doing, sending out a clear positive message within the County and to other local authorities.
That this Council re instate grants for local resident associations to purchase lawnmowers/strimmers which enables them to attend to large green areas and lessen the burden on Council staff.
That the County Development Plan mandates the Council to strike a retail balance in our villages and retail centres
That this Council writes to the Minister for Health seeking clarification as to why the H.S.E. is downgrading the ratio mix for the care of vulnerable patients from a 50:50 to a 40:60 basis. That we reiterate the questions posed by the INMO in this matter. On what evidence is a skill mix of 40:60 based on?
- What autonomy / authority does the person in charge (Director of Nursing) have in relation to staffing levels and skill mix?
- Why are the HSE proceeding with this overtly cost cutting exercise in one of the most vulnerable patient groups in the health service?
- What risk assessment was carried out in all areas prior to this instruction to cut staff in such numbers?
That this Council welcomes the publication by Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe TD of the new ‘Guidelines for Setting and Managing Speed Limits’; and calls on he Chief Executive to ensure the speedy introduction in this County of both the new urban ‘Slow Zones’ for residential areas and the new speed signage for minor local roads in rural areas.
That this Council supports the workers in Dunnes Stores who are seeking;
* The implementation of banded hours contracts which would give workers security of hours and earnings
* A review of excessive use of temporary contracts of employment
* Individual and collective representational rights for Dunnes Workers
*This Council welcomes Government commitment to legislate for improved framework for workers who seek to better their terms and conditions where collective bargaining is not recognised by their employer
* Further, this Council welcomes Government commitment to legislate so that workers can have confidence that they have an effective system that protects and promotes their rights. This legislation ensures that they can advance claims about renumeration, terms and conditions, and have those determined, based on comparisons with similar Companies, and not be victimised for doing so.
That this Council endorse the Homeless Support Service monetarily which is being provided by CARP (community addiction response project ) recognizing the hugely important assistance being provided to the South Dublin Homeless population.
That this elected body compels South Dublin County Council not to engage or cooperate in the means of handing over information of tenants personnel details to Irish Water.