There has been shameful neglect of many of our citizens in times of plenty - Daly

Following his visit to the constituency during the election campaign Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael says that there has been a shameful neglect of many of our citizens

From my visits throughout Athy and surrounding areas I am saddened by the number of constituents who have been neglected in our community. Each day I have come across people who have been waiting interminably for basic services which have failed to be delivered.

Hardly a day has passed when I have not come across a person waiting for delivery of a renovation or an alteration to their home to allow them to live a better quality of life. While some of our more fortunate citizens have been lucky to experience an increase in their living their living standards there are others who have not been able to access parts of their own home or who are waiting for basic sanitation alterations to allow them some simple comfort.

Our society can only be judged by how our less fortunate are treated and I am sad to say that throughout our district there are many who have been treated with neglect.

It is hard to believe that home renovations sanctioned last year to some elderly incapacitated persons have not yet been completed and have recently been put on hold because of financial cutbacks.

While billions have been pumped into a banking system which still is not releasing financial support to businesses and home owners, the few thousand required for home adaptation for people who are elderly, infirmed and disabled has been withdrawn.

Getting our country back on track means more than just evicting the current incumbents, it means immediately addressing the real victims of social injustice. It means delivering real service to the people who opt to live in their communities instead of moving into institutional care. It means providing Book Grants and SNAs to our children in schools and it means giving medical cards and home help to our elderly.

This is not an election about power but about reclaiming our country from a corrupt and neglectful government

Tegral workers suffer because of government failure– Daly

As 28 more workers are faced with redundancy from the Tegral factory the true impact of government policy is being felt in Athy according to Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael.

“The complete collapse of the building industry and the failure of any government incentive on any public projects has left another group of Tegral workers faced with redundancy as demand slumps.

Protecting existing jobs is as vital and is usually considerably easier than creating new ones but the government have taken their eye completely off the ball and allowed industries throughout the country to experience massive job losses.

In the best of times Athy suffered high unemployment to a point where an Investment forum was established to attract employment opportunities.

To see an existing company like Tegral shed more of its workforce is a huge disappointment to the workers, their families and the whole town. Recently we have seen the closure of a number of retail outlets and more importantly the Batchelors factory with the loss of more and more jobs.

At this stage only a change of government could instil some confidence into our ailing economy. While the rest of the world is battling and beginning to overcome recession we are failing to take any action, watching our credit rating decline and are years behind the world recovery.”

“Tegral can not be allowed to be a casualty of government failure and must be protected. Immediate action is required if one of our town’s few remaining industries is to be secured.” Said Cllr Daly

Minister Ahern about to shoot himself in the foot over gun laws – Daly

As Minister Ahern proposes changes to the firearms section of the Criminal Justice Bill he must be made to realise that the licensed gun holders in this country are not the ones who are causing the problem according to Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael.

With the subtlety of a sledge hammer Minister Ahern has once again aimed his fire against the licensed firearm owners of this country. These sportsmen and women engage in various shooting competitions and the minister is attempting to criminalise them in an attempt to be seen as doing something as street gun crime is escalating out of control.

His first salvo is against one section of the gun fraternity who engage in the sport of pistol shooting. The logic of “because it could be stolen and used for crime” is laughable in an age when the streets of our cities are awash with illegal firearms which come as free gifts with drugs shipments.

This logic can next be applied to rifles, shotguns, crossbows, bows and arrows and darts. The minister obviously believes that disarming the people who engage in any of these sports will immediately encourage all of the criminal fraternity to turn up at their local Garda station and hand in their armoury of weapons. Members of the gun clubs have strict adherence to regulation for the storage and transport of their guns.

Gun owners support strict regulation for the safety of all and are quite willing to undergo whatever training and courses are necessary are necessary to keep the sport safe. Those who use guns for sport are now being treated like those who use guns as weapons and this is grossly unfair and illogical. Remember that this latest proposal is from the same brain team that brought us the e-voting, PPARS, removal of the Medical Card, and many many more ridiculous decisions.

The number of legally held handguns has increased dramatically in this country in recent years because it only became legal to own handguns in recent years. Sporting clubs which throughout our troubled past existed in the North of Ireland were only permitted in the South since there is a more peaceful atmosphere. Minister Ahern almost seems surprised that rifle and pistol clubs would require licensed guns and is now running around like a headless chicken in an attempt to restrict them.

Gun clubs do not cause crime. The guns that cause crime and death are the illegal ones held by criminals. Please do something about this, Minister, instead of penalising the well run and highly regulated gun fraternity. Children on the streets of Dublin are able to get their hands on handguns and the minister’s response is to attack the legitimate gun clubs who are astonished by his reaction.

Like the rest of the mismanagement of this country it would well behove our minister to address the real problems instead of wasting time and money fixing a problem that doesn’t exist. At this stage our country would be better served by just getting rid of this government rather than have to waste time battling each of their ridiculous decisions.

Daly congratulates TriAthy organisers

Speaking at the launch of this year’s TriAthy Cllr Richard Daly, leas Cathaoirleach of Athy Town Council congratulated the organisers for bringing such a large event to the town

“Athy is blessed with a major amenity of the river Barrow and it is wonderful that this group has harnessed this local resource and utilised it to create a major sporting event for the town and the region. Our river and canal are totally underutilised and this is one occasion where we get to see their beauty and their potential

The triathlon has gone from strength to strength and this year boasts some 2500 competitors which some years ago would have seemed an impossible feat. It is now one of Europe’s largest triathlon from humble beginnings two years ago. It is well organised and has a very positive impact on our town.

On behalf of Athy Town Council I thank and congratulate all of those involved it the event.

I congratulate those who had the vision and the energy to make this a reality and I also pay compliment to Gabriel Dooley the major sponsor of the event.”

“Athy this year hosts the Kildare County Show and the National Ploughing Championship as well as the TriAthy and it heralds a very bright future for our town” concluded Cllr Daly.

Fine Gael can hold two seats in East European Elections – Daly

Following the visit of Sen John Paul Phelan to Athy last week, Cllr Richards Daly who is Fine Gael candidate for both Athy Town Council and Kildare County Council claimed that Fine Gael can hold its two seats in the Ireland East Constituency.

“Five years ago Fine Gael baffled all the pundits by taking two out of three seats in the constituency and the stage is set for similar success in the coming contest. This is not just a success for Fine Gael but a success for the constituency.

Over the past five years our voice in Europe has been very strong with Fine Gael allied to the EPP, the largest party in the European Parliament which gives us a voice beyond our size.

For us in the East we have had Europe brought home to us with strong representation and constant feed back from MEPs Mairead McGuinness and Avril Doyle. Avril has decided not to contest the seat on this occasion and has pledged her support for Kilkenny Senator John Paul Phelan who has been very well received in Athy this week.

I would like to pay tribute to the work of Avril Doyle as an MEP who has represented us well and has relayed the European message to us and fought on our behalf in Brussels during her term.

For the people of this region it is important that we send our best representatives to Europe which will more and more play a stronger part in our lives and legislation. We are well aware of the excellent performance of Mairead who has been a regular visitor to Athy over the past five years and we now look forward to similar representation from John Paul both in the advent of this election and as an MEP.”said Cllr Daly.

“John Paul will need all of our support to ensure that our excellent representation continues in the strongest part in Europe. While I welcome him to Athy I also ask those in the constituency to give him your preference on June 5^th to ensure that we retain our two European seats for Fine Gael.”