Daly calls for a national refuse waiver system

Following the announcement that Kildare County Council are considering privatising the refuse collection throughout the county Fine Gael General Election candidate Cllr Richard Daly says that the only people to suffer under this privatisation are the elderly and the lower income families.

“In the past we have seen privatisation of the refuse collection creating inequality throughout the county where some citizens benefit from waivers under the public system and others have no such facility under privatisation. I have highlighted this inequality in the past.

It is sad that those who least can afford it will be the losers in such a privatisation. The elderly and those who can ill afford it will loose all waivers and be forced to pay full price under private refuse collection.

A national waiver system must be introduced for those entitled to it to ensure a responsible and equitable approach to waste collection. We already have a problem of illegal dumping which will undoubtedly escalate if a large section of the county is forced to pay considerably more.

All political parties should be insisting on a national waiver system and in the shortest possible time” said cllr Daly

Crime and Safety are Major Issues for Kildare voters – Daly

Fine Gael Kildare South General Election candidate, Cllr Richard Daly has said that residents throughout the constituency have complained about the escalation of crime and the fears for their personal safety and the protection of their property.

“We have seen in recent weeks newspaper headlines relating to thugs and vandalism in several Kildare towns, a lack of implementation of our laws to protect our citizens and a Garda force which is under resourced and understaffed as our population booms in the county.

The basic “life-threatening”issues of crime and health are what need to be addressed and urgently. Castledermot, Newbridge, Monasterevin and Athy have all been victims of thuggery and vandalism in the past couple of weeks while the promised resources to our Gardai have not arrived.

An under equipped Garda force cannot respond to the escalation of anti social behaviour and crime. The criticism on the doorstep is not about the Gardai, it is about the lack of Gardai.

Over the past nine years the current government has shown they incapable of addressing the crime issue which affects our county despite the billions of unexpected euro in the state coffers. Equipping our Gardai will not have an inflationary effect and the money is there .”said cllr Daly

“Lack of Garda numbers mean that responses have to be prioritized. The urgent takes precedence to the most important. Crime response replaces crime prevention. The force becomes a fire brigade instead of a community resource for prevention.

The powerless people in our towns and villages can rest assured that making Kildare a safe place to live is one of my main priorities. Our elderly must feel safe in their homes and we as a community must ensure that as a society we take steps to address the basic neglect of our citizens rights to security.

In order to give local residents the opportunity to express their views on the current situation in their community I am holding a Public Meeting in Monasterevin on the coming Wed (1st Nov) in the Hazel Hotel where members of the community will be invited to express their opinion.”

Daly calls on Minister Power to protect the elderly -22-10-06

Despite another litany of promises, the Government has failed to follow
through with action to police standards in nursing homes, according to Fine
Gael General Election candidate, Cllr Richard Daly.

“If the test of any Government is how it cares for the elderly, the Fianna
Fáil/PD administration is a miserable failure and I am calling on Minister
Power to come to the assistance of this most vulnerable sector of our
community,” said Cllr Daly.

“Last May’s Prime Time Special highlighted the appalling treatment of
elderly residents at Leas Cross Nursing Home.

“Last June, the Government promised new law to allow for an independent
inspectorate, better enforcement and new national standards. It would also
allow the authorities to close a nursing home.

“Eighteen months on, little has improved, there is no new law, no national
standards, and very patchy enforcement.

“Last week, Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny read into the Dáil record some of
the findings of Professor, O’Neill who wrote the report on deaths at Leas
Cross.

“The findings were shocking and again highlighted the failure of the
inspection regime to police standards in nursing homes.

“Despite all their promise the Government has failed to follow through with
effective action and Minister Power as a Junior Minister in Health is in a
very strong position to be part of the solution.

“It is failing to deliver on a tough new nursing home inspectorate, despite
making 12 separate commitments to do so.

“The Bill setting up a new independent agency will not be published until
next year.

“Constantly long-fingering laws to ensure that Leas Cross never happens
again is one of the most searing indictments of the Government's attitude,”
said Cllr Daly.

Slow roll-out of Eircom broadband is costing money, jobs & investment in Kildare - Daly

Dutch broadband is ten times faster at half the price

Kildare South Fine Gael General Election candidate, Cllr Ricahrd Daly, has slammed Eircom for its slow progress in rolling out broadband and its refusal to upgrade telephone exchanges in rural areas.

“In some cases, it is taking up to 18 months to get a telephone line installed in parts of South Kildare, let alone broadband. There are still pockets of Kildare without broadband which were not included in last roll out.

“The recent announcement by Eircom that it will not upgrade exchanges with a thousand lines or less leaves rural Ireland in the lurch. Not alone is Eircom not prepared to provide the service themselves, but the company is actually blocking other telecoms companies that want to enter the market because of the failure of ComReg to insist on local loop unbundling.

“Minister Dempsey needs to re-evaluate what he considers a success in the roll-out of broadband when only 440 telephone exchanges out of 1,100 have been, or are going to be, upgraded.

“Irish broadband customers pay up to €50 a month for a broadband service that is much slower than other countries. It is clear that Minister Dempsey is not taking his responsibility seriously in terms of the roll-out of broadband.

“In The Netherlands, customers pay €22 a month for 20 megabyte broadband while Irish customers pay eircom more than twice as much for just one megabyte broadband.

“As a result, rural Ireland is losing, money, time, jobs and investment.”

(ENDS)