At the July meeting of Greystones Town Council I successfully moved a suspension of standing orders to assist the King of Greystones Triathlon.

The organisers of this event contacted me about the outrageous situation where they must pay Wicklow County Council an excessive amount for the use of theSouth Beach car park.

The King of Greystones is an excellent local Triathlon which brings a huge amount of people & excellent publicity to Greystones and the surrounding area. The organisers are passionate about getting people involved in triathlons and even more passionate about raising badly needed funds for charity. This year, they are raising money for the Wicklow Hospice Foundation and other extremely worth while charities.

We currently have a situation where this charitable event is being asked to pay for the suspension of parking bays on Friday & Saturday the 6th & 7th of August even though the car park is free of charge on Saturdays. It is not costing the County Council anything nor is it losing any revenue by allowing this group to use the car park. At the meeting I urged the Town Manager and County Manager to respect the unanimous wishes of Greystones Town Council and support this local group.

Greystones has been placed on flood alert (Status Orange) for the Friday 9th and Saturday 10th of July 2010 after a rain water warning was issued by Met Éireann.

If I can be of any assistance please don’t hesitate to contact me by phone (087 988 7489) or email (james@jamesosullivan.ie)

I would like to praise the efforts of Greystones Tidy Towns for their tireless work in the community. We are incredibly lucky to have such a hard working and dedicated group of civic minded individuals who are continually improving our town.

Their recent work at the Blacklion junction, their efforts near the Town Council building, on the beach, and around the fountain in Burnaby Park deserve huge praise. This small group of people have been able to achieve so much due to their never ending determination to work for the good of Greystones.

I, like many others, am guilty of not getting out to assist this brilliant group enough. This is why I am encouraging everyone to join me in giving a little of our time to helping out around the town. Greystones tidy towns are out every Saturday and often two nights a week and I hope you will join me in giving up a Saturday or an evening to work with this dedicated group of people.

I would also encourage everyone to look at their recently launch website – www.greystonestidytowns.ie - to see some of their excellent work and also to keep up to date with events they are planning.