Athy must approach 2009 with a positive attitude – Daly

With all of the forecast doom and gloom it is very important that Athy must look forward to the coming year with a positive attitude according to Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael.

“With massive unemployment, falling house prices and economic uncertainty on the horizon it is very important that Athy must look to positives in the face of these bleak times. This positive attitude is necessary if Athy is to be ready for the opportunities which could present themselves sooner if we are proactive.

One could not be blamed for not having any pride in the current government but this must not take from the national and county pride which we must all portray.

2009 offers us opportunities to promote our town like never before. We should see our swimming pool (without the unsightly fence) opening early in the year and we have a number of children’s playgrounds under development.

With the creation of a 25 acre education campus which will accommodate Athy College and several primary schools we will be developed to take advantage of the best of educational opportunities which is one of the most significant areas in times of depression.

The recent granting of planning permission for Athy’s first town centre shopping centre and the applications made by others indicate a confidence which can be harnessed to created employment and retail opportunities.” said Cllr Daly

“The coming year will see thousands visit for the Tri Athy, the Kildare County Show , the Bluegrass festival and the National Ploughing Championship. Let us use these occasions to show that Athy is a good place to locate, whether for residence or business and let us make every effort as a community to make our town look its best for these occasions. By developing this local pride we can play a vital role in creating Athy’s future.

Despite their political differences, the fact that there are so many candidates of different persuasions willing to offer their services in the local elections is a sign of confidence in the town and all of these have the best interests of the town at heart.

Athy can face the future with confidence. The old Kipling lines that “if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” would be worth remembering.

ENDS

Daly welcomes IFA action on local Athy road issue

Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael and leas Cathaoirleach of Athy Town Council has welcomed the public meeting being called by the local branch of the IFA to organise a campaign to advance the solution to Athy’s crippling traffic problem.

“The IFA are being very proactive in addressing an issue which is very important to the business development of Athy. As a group of people who are daily affected by the difficulty of accessing the town they are calling a public meeting to get opinion and advance solutions in the interest of all who use the town.

The remit of any organisation is to address the issues which concern their members and their community and Athy at this stage is almost synonymous with traffic jams and delays. Having a group as powerful as the IFA putting its weight to a solution can be very favourable for the town.

Over recent years some progress has been made on planning for a Southern and Northern route around the town but progress has been slow. Even with an expected date for the construction of the Southern Distributor road proposed for 2010 it is dependent on sourcing the necessary finance which is not guaranteed.

The support of every organisation to ensure that the €40 million needed for the route is guaranteed is imperative and at a time of economic decline spending on such infrastructural projects could be seen as a way of supporting the construction industry while at the same time creating future potential in a town which was outside the influence of the Celtic Tiger.”

“I would urge all interested people to avail of the opportunity to express their views and support at the public meeting in the Clanard Court on Jan 7^th and help to make 2009 a positive year for Athy” said Cllr Daly.

Daly warns of the danger of using moneylenders

Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael has warned of the dangers of borrowing money from moneylenders who are putting several citizens under severe hardship in the Athy area.

“I have become aware of several people who have come under the clutches of moneylenders who are more than willing to offer money to tide them over the festive period. The money borrowed from these unscrupulous usurers has exorbitant interest rates which can force people to pay 50 per cent interest and I have heard of instances of even higher. This means that for €500 borrowed the repayment is €750 which is ten times higher that what would be the repayment to a Credit Union.

While this money is readily available and almost forced on the customer at their doorstep it leads to hardship and poverty as the only way out of paying the interest is by borrowing more from the same source until they are enslaved by their debt.

To those who are already heavily in debt to the moneylenders they should immediately get in touch with the local MABS which is a free service to help people in confidence with their debt 1890 283438 or www.mabs.ie or contact the local Credit Union. I will gladly assist anybody to make the contact in complete confidence if required.”

“Everybody wants to provide the best at Christmas but borrowing from moneylenders to provide it is not the way. As the recession takes hold people will be more tempted to avail of this handy money and instead of improving their situation it takes the borrower completely into the clutches of the lender” added Cllr Daly.

Daly congratulates all involved as road deaths fall

Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael expressed his congratulations to all of those involved in decreasing the number of deaths on our roads and calls for a final effort to keep death off the road this Christmas.

“In county Kildare I would like to particularly thank Kildare Road Safety Officer, Declan Keogh, the Gardaí and Kildare Road Users Group for the constant vigilance and information campaign which has no doubt been a significant element in the improvement.

The fact that there are over 50 less deaths at this stage must not make us complacent as we approach the Christmas season and drivers must constantly show responsibility in their driving habits.

Kildare Road Users Group will continue to lobby for further education, enforcement and engineering which can further improve our situation. Bringing our road deaths below the 300 mark will be a great improvement but changes in driver behaviour can further improve this. Drugs, alcohol and speed are killers which can be removed from our roads.” Said Cllr Daly who is a member of Kildare Road Users Group and Kildare County Council Transport Strategic Policy Committee.

“There are already 270 families who will be missing a family member this Christmas due to a road accident and this is still too many” he added

Kildare rail commuters could face another price hike in Jan –Daly

Following the recently introduced parking charges at some of our railway stations commuters could face a ten per cent fares hike in January following Minister Dempsey’s sanctioning of the rise according to Cllr Richard Daly of Fine Gael.

“South Kildare has a large number of commuters who daily use the rail services to get to work and this is a further blow to them in what are already very difficult times. For many of them their job security has vanished and if they are still lucky enough to have employment they are now to be penalised once again for using the green option.

Iarnroid Eireann claim that passenger number are in decline and in their wisdom seem to think that the way to reverse this is to charge more to the existing commuters. The parking charges have already added €500 euro to their annual travel bill and now an additional ten per cent is proposed. This would prompt any traveller to examine alternatives to rail.”

Cllr Daly added “Iarnróid Eireann is already heavily subsidised by the taxpayer and should be able to make rail the attractive option for commuters instead of constantly piling on additional charges on a diminishing number of commuters.”