The recent Greystones Dog Awareness Show was a great success and I would like to commend all involved for making it such an excellent day. I was delighted to see a big crowd at it and in particular the number of families who turned out to support the event. Dog fouling is a very serious issue in the Town and I have highlighted it many times recently. Hopefully, this event will further raise awareness of the problem and encourage pet owners to take their responsibilities seriously.

I attended the event with my sister and eighteen month old niece and found it very enjoyable. It was truly a day for the whole family with many children taking part in the dog show itself and there was also bouncing castles provided free of charge. I would like to take this opportunity to commend my colleague, Councillor Ciaran Hayden for the role he played in organising the day. I would also like to thank the other members of the organising committee and the staff in Wicklow County Council for their efforts to tackle dog fouling in the locality.

I recently delivered a leaflet entitled “A Guide to Further Education” to houses in the Greystones area. This guide outlines important information about college grant applications, tenants rights, and other uesful tips for students.  To download a copy of this leaflet please click here. Alternatively, if you would like a hardcopy please email your adddress to me at james@jamesosullivan.ie and I will arrange to have a copy posted to you.

Kind Regards,

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.

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.

It is appalling in this day and age that we have no public toilet in the harbour area in Greystones. The current toilets are not open this year because of health and safety concerns and represent an inexcusable eyesore. Wicklow County Council currently has no plans to rectify this situation due to financial constraints but I firmly believe that there must be provision of a public toilet at the harbour.

I had a motion passed proposing that Greystones Town Council make a submission to the current planning process for harbour amendments for the provision of a public toilet. I firmly believe that if the council is unable to provide one, the developer must do so. They have requested permission to increase the number of residential units in the harbour development and if this is approved we should at the very least benefit from the developer providing public toilets.

I also asked for this issue to be raised at the Harbour Liaison Committee directly with representatives from the developers and a solution sought as quickly as possible. This summer we will have no toilets available in the harbour for residents or visitors to the area and this cannot be tolerated.

I believe it’s very important to highlight the dangerous state of disrepair of footpaths in Glenbrook Park. These footpaths are becoming increasingly dangerous with residents often falling on them. Wicklow County Council must take immediate action to repair the footpaths in the area. I am seeking for these works to be carried out immediately.

I’m glad to report that,after my motion was passed, the Town Engineer is currently examining the possibility of addressing the issue. Areas such as Glenbrook Park have suffered in recent years as they do not qualify for footpath improvement grants from the Department of the Environment and Local Government unlike areas in Greystones Town.

I look forward to continuing to fight for these works to ensure that residents do not suffer any more unnecessary injuries from the footpaths.

I would like to praise the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) after they celebrated their 100th Anniversary and in particular the Delgany Guild for holding such an excellent centenary celebration. It has been an opportunity to celebrate and honour the women of vision who founded the ICA, as well as those who through their hard work and dedication sustained and built the ICA during its first 100 years. The ICA has a long & distinctive history both locally and nationality which they can be extremely proud of.

The ICA has been instrumental in providing practical support in the development of basic utilities in Ireland, such as water and electricity, and in influencing policy in health, education, and a range of other issues. Over the years the ICA has widened the horizons of its members and the communities in which they operate. They have also been part of the great changes and social developments in Ireland during that time – from equal pay to rural water to cancer screening and many more.

The Delgany Guild of the ICA must also be praised for their generosity and support of the Wicklow Hospice foundation. It’s tremendous to see community organisations showing such strong support for one another. It is the work of these groups which make our community such a great place to live and I look forward to continuing to support them in every way I can.

These meetings were a great success and I’m delighted that we set up this initiative. These local groups are the bedrock of the Greystones community and it’s very important that we give them the support they deserve.

I, on behalf of all the members of this committee, raised the concerns of these groups at the May meeting of Greystones Town Council. They are seriously concerned with the cost of facilities in the Shoreline Leisure Centre and maintenance of the Charlesland Sports Park, water rates in the area, issues with the erection of signs for community events, and information concerning financial grants.

I’m delighted that we have arranged to meet representatives of Shoreline Leisure at the next meeting of Greystones Town Council to deal with these issues head on. This committee will be addressing all concerns raised with us over the coming weeks, for example, we intend on putting detailed information together on available grants for community groups.

I look forward to continuing to work with Cllr. Simon Harris, Cllr. Ciaran Hayden, and Cllr. Stephen Strokes for the local community groups in our town.

I was delighted to meet with Dr. James Reilly TD recently and hear his vision for Irish Health services. We in Fine Gael understand that this is a hugely complex issue and don’t pretend to have all the answers. But what we are doing is very clearly setting out our plan for Health Services in Ireland and opening up the debate around the country.

Our health system is broken. For the last ten years the Government has thrown money at every problem, without making any fundamental change to the way the health system works. Even in the midst of economic crisis, it still refuses to make significant reform. Billions are wasted, waiting lists increase, and the sick and infirm pay the price for the Government’s incompetence.

Ireland is spending close to the EU average on health, on a per capita basis, but Irish people are receiving a level of service well below the EU average. Ireland’s health service is ranked 15th in Europe for quality and 24th in terms of value for money.

Fine Gael’s FairCare proposals, by contrast, represent the most fundamental reform of the health system since the formation of the State. We will abolish long-term waits on trolleys in A&E, slash waiting lists in hospitals, and eliminate the unfair and inefficient public/private divide by introducing Universal Health Insurance (UHI). We will also reform the Primary Care system to ensure that more patients are treated safely outside hospitals by their GPs.

I would welcome any feedback that you might  have on this proposal. To download Fine Gael’s full FairCare plan please click here.