Official website of Trevor Sargent, Green Party
Thursday, 24 February, 2011 – day before the election
On the final day of the campaign for election 2011, Trevor Sargent and his Green team undertake a lighting tour of the constituency. The tour concludes with a stop at the site of the future maritime museum in Balbriggan, where Trevor took the opportunity to say thanks to his team. It’s been a hectic three weeks but spirits are high.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011.
Not the best of weather but good to be meeting so many people and welcoming more and more people to canvass as Friday Polling Day looms. Much calling back to houses when canvassers are told that householders want to talk with me personally. I enjoy being asked to drop in as these houses are ready and willing to engage and more often than not want to vote SARGENT NUMBER ONE, but just need some clarification or have a specific request
Friday, 18 February 2011
First things first on a Friday, I set up tea and coffee making facilities for the stallholders and helpers at Balbriggan Fish and Farmers’ Market. We expect Stephanie Moe from Bord Bia to drop by see the market as it was the first Dublin market to be awarded the Bord Bia Good Paractise Certificate.
Trevor Sargent meeting parents and teachers on the Naul Road site of Coláiste Ghlór na Mara.
Had a meeting then with some parents with buggies and teachers at the new site which will soon hopefully see construction of the first All-Irish Post Primary Secondary School serving the Dublin North / South Louth hinterland. At present there are eight primary schools, mainly Gaelscoileanna who have 460 pupils graduating who want to continue their education through Irish at this new school, Coláiste Ghlór na Mara. I have spoken with the Tánaiste/Minister’s advisor again this morning and I know the Tánaiste is ‘actively considering’ the request made for recognition and an immediate go-ahead as we have the site, the pupils and a temporary school building available right away. I expect to be talking to the Tánaiste again about this later today.
Then back to the market to buy some fresh food and ask stallholders how they are getting on. Off to Skerries then, where I got a warm Skerries welcome. We discussed everything from getting a zebra crossing to the challenges of ex-SRT staff to development work in Africa to apprenticeships to fitting hand rails and showers to farmers’ markets to services for people with Parkinson’s Disease etc.
Home for a bite to eat before heading to the Constituency to design another leaflet before the evening canvass this time in Swords. Better bring the brolly and the heavy brogues as there is the look of rain in that sky. I doubt we will be appreciating the light of a full moon tonight.
Thursday, 17 February, 2011
We catch up with Trevor as he canvasses in Skerries. We ask him what his day has been like and he gives us a fascinating glimpse into the life of a campaigning candidate. Not for the faint-hearted!
Thursday, 17 February, 2011
Another early rise to meet commuters in Skerries boarding trains going south and going north as well as those coming to school or to work in Skerries. Glad to be joined by helpers such as Zoe, Frank, Diarmuid and George when the numbers were large and everyone was in a hurry. Had a good few chats with those who had a little more time to talk.
Trevor Sargent pays a viisit to Donabate Community College
Then dropped in to Donabate Community College to meet Principal Ms Olive Laffoy, the Green Team Leaders., to congratulate two Young Scientist entries and the brains behind them, as well as speak with a CSPE class I had previously shown around Leinster House. The lovely coffee and biscuits was much appreciated too.
On to Swords then for a canvass during which I was in contact with the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills about securing recognition and a go-ahead for Coláiste Ghlór na Mara, an Irish medium secondary school to serve the Gaelscoileanna and other pupils with a love of Irish in the North County Dublin area.
A brief stop for a bowl of soup for canvassers in Adam’s Apple Cafe and Restaurant, a great place to meet in Applewood, Swords. On then for a meeting with Balbriggan Chamber of Commerce and then an evening canvass in Skerries. Fingers crossed for no more rain this evening.
4 February 2011
Great start to the day meeting Rang a Sé in St. Oliver Plunkett’s National School, Malahide. This very ecologically aware school of over 900 pupils is on its fifth Green Flag. Pupils were clued in to climate change impacts, ways to have a good quality of life while using less fossil fuels. They understood locking up carbon, the importance of local horticulture in reducing the carbon footprint of food, and how organic growing methods are less carbon intensive. They exhibited innovative cycle helmet designs. Over 70 pupils had cycled to school, even on this wet and windy day. Both boys and girls took part in a very creative fashion parade displaying great ingenuity in adapting post consumer materials to be modern and fashionable. At times like this there seems to be very good arguments to reduce the voting age substantially!
There was a good reception in Lusk too. When people consider who was bringing solutions to the table in Government, then the positive impact of Green Party Ministers becomes clearer. A number of former construction workers appreciated the Green incentives for grant aiding renewable energy installations and the energy saving grants for insulation etc. Likewise the Bike to Work scheme is seen as good value and a good incentive which benefits the economy and local quality of life.
By the time we got to Kelly’s Bay in Skerries, the wind and rain were tempestuous. That at least elicited some sympathy for the dedicated high visibility vested canvassers like Diarmuid, Brian and George, but made note taking nigh impossible. Nonetheless the need for a Green Economy to be created out of this difficult transition period was clear to many householders. One thing is for sure, had we been able to harness the powerful storm force winds buffeting us this evening, the €6 billion annual import bill for oil, gas and coal, would have been knocked back massively to a more affordable level.
4 January 2011
“Another Fingal Greens objective realized”, says local TD Trevor Sargent, commenting on news from Iarnród Éireann. According to Barry Kenny, Corporate Communications Manager at Iarnród Éireann:
“For the first time cyclists are now able to take bikes onboard DARTs and Commuter trains at off-peak periods. Bikes will be carried free of charge on DART and Commuter services between 10.00hrs and 15.30hrs, and after 19.00hrs, Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday (excluding times of major fixtures / concerts and similar events at Aviva / Croke Park etc).
Iarnród Éireann is delighted to be providing these additional services for cyclists and we hope that it promotes even more use of our services by cyclists. It will be a great opportunity for example for families at weekends to take their bicycles on our services, and visit areas that it would not have been practical to visit previously. As well as supporting national policy on developing cycling, it is also very much a business opportunity for Iarnród Éireann, with the numbers of people cycling on the rise.
Iarnród Éireann has also undertaken an audit of bicycle parking facilities at its 142 stations around the country. This will allow improvements in facilities to be targeted at areas under-served at present, and improve the accessibility of stations for cyclists, and further encourage the development of cycling.”
In welcoming the positive response by Iarnród Éireann to his calls for greater integration of bike and rail services, local TD and cyclist Sargent said “This development is a bonus to visitors to north County Dublin. Allowing cyclists take bikes on off-peak trains brings us into line with many European countries and will open up more possibilities for leisure cyclists as well as commuters working outside the traditional peak hours. I for one will be using the train more with my bike and leaving the car at home, reducing traffic congestion and pollution.”
_________________________
Knowing many people in Skerries as I do, made visiting around Shenick, Townparks, Churchfields, Sherlock and Kelly’s Bay an interesting experience. It was made all the more enjoyable by the good weather and the great company, thanks to Diarmuid, Rita, Jim, Brian, Don and Paul.
Being in Skerries visiting different estates coincided with the publication of the historic 2008 EPA Quality of Bathing Water Report. Naturally as a ‘new’ report it was read as if it was up to date even though the news in it is two years out of date. However Skerries’ bathing water was described as having a ‘sufficiently high standard’. Since then work has taken place to improve standards. Apart from a new local sewage treatment plant serving both Skerries and Balbriggan, the Council is now embarked on a Colombo-esque mission to locate and terminate any rogue discharges of rainwater in to the sewerage system. These misconnections, as they are called by the engineers, become a real problem when downpours occur. They swell the volume of sewage in the system, the teatment plant overflows and raw diluted sewage gets discharged as it has nowhere else to go. So downpours keep people off the beach but they also result in the pollution which was detected by the EPA. The forecast of good weather and the ending of these misconnections will I believe give us cleaner results in the next EPA report. That being said between 2003 and 2008 Skerries had a ‘sufficiently good standard’. The poor year was 2004, but we hope for very good results from now on.
On the other hand, some issues raised by residents were quite individual and personal. For example, adoption procedures, requests for help in finding summer work or more permanent work as well as specific grievances when dealing with state agencies were all raised.
Government policies with regard to financial resources against the background of needing to borrow about €55 million each day to ensure current expenditure and wage cheques do not bounce were important to discuss. There is a very fine balance to be struck between pruning the ‘tree of state’ to ensure it grows back healthy and fruitful or going beyond that point. I pray that heeding wise council on the doors and from expert economists will ensure we get the balance right. The reason for the tough measures is to bring this country to a healthy state of sustainable, fair and entrepreneurial social and economic activity. Meanwhile the full rigours of the law had better deal with those who recklessly abandoned good banking practises which have led us to where we are as a country and which is causing so much pain and distress to so many households at present. The Green Party was not in Government when these problems were caused but we are now having to clean up the mess. It is not easy but it has to be done.
That being said, most of the issues I discussed on the doors related to policies of Fingal County Council. For example a dose of common sense is needed to ensure that kick about areas on open spaces are mown so children can play in safety and not on the roads. In the right places and to protect biodiversity, cutting grass less frequently can be a progressive policy, but not if it forces children to be less active. But as the Beatles (or even beetles) might say ‘we can work it out!’. I have written to Fingal County Council on behalf of several residents who made useful suggestions about various open spaces in and around Skerries.
Many people I spoke with were very happy to hear that about 150 allotments on the Golf Links Road were nearly ready to open. I want to again pay tribute to the Sustainable Skerries team who are an example of the ‘can-do’ community spirit this country needs more of. They have worked on this project in co-operation with Fingal County Council. Check out their website at www.sustainableskerries.wordpress.com/ for more information. Only for people like Mary Marsden and the Sustainable Skerries team, the Council would have not had the resources to proceed. Skerries owes a huge debt of gratitude to the enormous voluntary effort and ingenuity which has gone in to getting the project over the line. I am now meeting other people in Kellys’ Bay who want to establish allotments in the vicinity of the Ballast Pit. The interest in Grow It Yourself activities is definitely growing and I encourage it in every way I can. A number of Skerries GIY enthusiasts were good enough to drop in to my own kitchen garden recently as the photographs below record.
Photos taken by C.Finn:
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
21 January 2010
“The announcement of a three quarter of a million euro award from the Government’s Smarter Travel Projects Fund to develop cycling in Skerries and Balbriggan is cause for celebration and appreciation” said local Minister Trevor Sargent, himself a keen cyclist.
Ray Ryan of the Skerries Cycling Initiative with Minister Sargent on the occassion of the opening of Ardgillan Park to cyclists last year.
“I especially wish to thank the Skerries Cycling Initiative and Fingal County Council for running with this plan to develop a local cycling network on behalf of residents and visitors to both Skerries and Balbriggan.
“Cycling is as attractive in Fingal as in Denmark or the Netherlands. Our coastal views, our flat terrain and our reasonable cycling distances between towns and villages make Fingal an ideal area in which to cycle. Skerries is already the cycling capital of Fingal and Fingal the potential cycling capital of Ireland. Apart from that, doctors have found that the health of a regular cyclist is generally as good as an average person 10 years younger. So the message is cycle further and enjoy a healthier and longer life” said Minister Sargent.
_______________
Minister Sargent signs in with his message on the electronic message board on arriving at the Young Scientist Expo at the RDS.
|
Green Party news
