The Sligo Leitrim Roscommon Green Party will meet at the Glens
Centre in Manorhamilton on Thursday May 29th at 7pm.

A Table Quiz to raise money for the group has also been organised for Gurns Milestone Lounge in Manorhamilton on Friday June 6th. A good turn out at this would go a long way to providing the group with the necessary funding to run a solid Local Election campaign.

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The Draft 2009 - 2015 Leitrim County Development Plan is currently open to public consultation. Submissions in relation to the Plan are invited until May 15th. Further public consultation periods will occur before the Plan is finalised.

The Plan is a lenghty and detailed document, but it will serve as a reference guide for social and economic development in County Leitrim for the next 6 years.

We have identified a number of key aspects of the Plan that relate to urban and rural land use, and given a brief introduction to them in the Guide which is available for download below.

Land use is a key component of the Plan, but it also outlines a lot of other important policies in relation to economic development, environmental protection and social inclusion.

Further details can be found in the Plan itself, which can be downloaded from the Council’s website.

We encourage you to consult the Plan, and to make your opinons known to the Council.

Download our Guide from here

Download the full Plan from here

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On May 15th, representatives of the Green Party in the North West will meet with Professor Tom Keane, whom has been appointed by the HSE to oversee the implementation of the National Cancer Strategy and the establishment of the 8 Centres of Excellence that form part of that strategy.

Professor Keane will give a presentation regarding progress with the strategy and will deal with questions and issues raised by the Green Party representatives.

Brian Scanlon and I will use this opportunity to make Professor Keane aware of the depth of feeling about this issue in the North West, and question him as to the decision making that has left the North West at a remove from the main network of Centres of Excellence.

If anyone would like either Brian or I to raise specific arguments in relation to the Cancer Strategy please get in touch and we will be happy to meet with you.

On a related note, I’d like to respond to comments made by Sinn Fein Cllr. Martin Kenny at a recent public meeting in Carrick on Shannon where he accused me of “supporting Mary Harney and her privatisation plans” or something along those lines.

Firstly, the meeting had nothing to do with privatisation, it was about cancer care in the public hospital system.

Secondly, I do support Mary Harney in her efforts the tackle vested interests and political opportunism in the Health Service, which no Minister for Health has ever tried to do before.

Thirdly, I oppose Sinn Fein’s plans to model our Health Service on that of Cuba.
See here

More pictures here.

Fourthly, the purpose of the meeting in Carrick on Shannon was discuss ways in which a Centre of Excellence can be established at Sligo, which I support. I offered my views and didn’t mention Mary Harney or privatisation once.

Fifthly, Martin Kenny and his Sinn Fein colleagues would do well to realise that people have little interest in political ideaolgy, folksy rhetoric, Padraig Pearse quotations and whether or not Sinn Fein are in Government in Northern Ireland (who isn’t in Government in Northern Ireland?), and want their politicians to get on with implementing policy in a mature, responsible and pragmatic way, which is all I’ll ever do.

Garreth

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I’ve commented in the past that stepping into a station or onto a train managed by Irish Rail is like stepping back into the 1970s, which was confirmed to me yet again this week when I travelled from Dublin Connolly to Sligo.

The picture above, which is a bit blurry because I took it with my mobile phone, shows a group of passengers having their tickets checked before they are allowed access the platform where their train awaits.

Is there anything unusual about that?

Well, yes there is in fact. The picture also shows the brand new automatic ticket checking gates that Irish Rail have recently installed at Connolly, through which the queuing passengers would have been required to pass literally seconds before having their tickets checked again by an Irish Rail employee.

Yes, that’s right. An Irish Rail employee is re-checking tickets that have already been checked by ticketing gate literally seconds before.

I couldn’t really believe this, and when it came to my turn to have my ticket checked, I asked the Inspector why he was re-checking tickets. He said it was to ensure that passengers were getting on the right train. I said I was going to Sligo and knew that the train on that platform was going to Sligo, so did he need to check my ticket? Yes, he did, he said, after which he ignored me when I asked why Irish Rail had spent no doubt millions of euro on ticket checking gates when he was still required to check tickets.

The following day, I rang Irish Rail Customer Relations to ask the same questions. The lady who answered the phone politely referred me to what she called the “Revenue Protection Unit” and gave me their number. I called this number at approx. 10am in the morning, but got no answer. The phone eventually rang out.

Irish Rail never cease to amaze me. I had hoped that the deployment of the new rolling stock on the Dublin-Sligo line would lead to an improvement in the attitude of management and staff, but based on my experiences this week, it looks like the North West is still in the land Darby O’Gill and the Little People when it comes to public transport.

Garreth

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I’m lucky enough to live along a very scenic road in Co. Leitrim. The road runs along the canal that connects the lock at Battlebridge to the lock at Drumleague, which is the last lock before Acres Lake and Lough Allen itself. Every cruiser that comes to Lough Allen passes through this canal.

The road also forms part of what is known as the Kingfisher Cycle Trail, a planned cycle route through the North West region. The name is particular apt for the canal, which has always been home to kingfishers. In recognition of this and its general scenic value, the road and the canal are classified as areas of Visual Amenity in the Leitrim County Development Plan.

The road is pictured on the Kingfisher Cycle Trail website:

and described thus:

“We pass through Leitrim village and turn right onto the narrow road skirting the canal at Battlebridge. It is flat, tranquil and leafy along a stretch of water that invites closer scrutiny. Tiny birds dart over the water and disappear again. Larger varieties hoot and caw. With a bit of luck and patience you might even spot a kingfisher, always recognisable by its colourful plumage.”

I’ve also taken some photos of my own over the years:

In summer….

and in winter.

It is therefore unfortunate that the maintenance of this road and canal are the responsibility of Waterway Ireland, whose record in relation to environmental protect is questionable at best.
The pictures shown below were taken over the last week, and show what Waterways Ireland describe as ‘maintenance’.

The entire canal bank was bulldozed, destroying the very hedgerows in which the Kingfishers nested. Waterways Ireland also dredged all of the drains along the canal, destroying the spawning grounds of the thousands of frogs who appear along the lane every summer.
I contacted the National Parks and Wildlife Service about this but to no avail. Waterways Ireland are allowed carry out maintenance on their land, and they can remove hedgerows during the winter months.

This is yet another example of how little significance is attached to visual amenity in Co. Leitrim. The damage inflicted on this area by Waterways Ireland could take a decade to grow out, and then only if they don’t come back and do the same thing again in a couple of years.

Hopefully, some sort of statutory protection can be afforded to the area in the interim.

View more at www.waterwaysofireland.com

Garreth

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The next meeting will take place on Thursday January 31st at 7pm in the Glens Centre in Manorhamilton.

New members are welcome, and existing members are asked to renew their subscription for 2008. Current subscription is €20. This is reduced to €10 for the unwaged.

Minister and Party leader John Gormley will be visiting Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon on Monday Feb 11th. The visit will be discussed at the meeting.

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