County Kildare News

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Fianna Fail has selected candidates to contest the local elections for Kildare County Council from the Kildare LEA.

Three sitting Councillors will contest the election; Councillor Pat Black, Councillor Suzanne Doyle, Councillor Fiona O’Loughlin.

Councillor Pat Black was first elected to Newbridge Town Council in 1999 where he was elected as mayor in 2003 with cross party support. Councillor Black was elected to Kildare Council 2004. He is a member of the Mid East Regional Authority and is on the Housing Committee, member Environmental SPC and a member Liffey Amenity Group. Councillor Black is also Chair of Finance Committee on Kildare County Council. He is a member of Newbridge Tidy Towns and Sarsfield GAA.

Councillor Suzanne Doyle was co-opted on to Kildare County Council in October 2003 and elected in 2004. Councillor Doyle is Chair of the SPC Housing Committee, Rural Planning Review and the Local Area Committee. She is also a member of the Corporate Policy Committee and the County Development Committee. Councillor Doyle is the PRO of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Councillor Fiona O’Loughlin was first elected to Newbridge Town Council in 1994 and elected to Kildare County Council 1999. Councillor O Loughlin is Chair of the Local Urban and Rural Development Committee and Chair of Kildare.ie, the community website to promote Kildare. She is also involved locally with the Special Olympics and other disability advocacy groups.

The traditional end of season Christmas Rallysprint takes place at Mondello Park on Sunday December 28th with the Carlow Car Club in the driving seat. With entries capped at 155 the annual last burn out for Irelands rally competitors has attracted a capacity entry of both Rally and Rallycross cars.

For those not familiar with Mondello Park Rallysprints, the course combines some of the tarmac of the National circuit and the loose surface of the Rallycross track. Competitors compete over a number of runs on the ‘Stage’ with each run being three laps of the specially designed circuit. As with a standard rally each drivers total time for all of the runs counts towards the overall result.

The entry list is headed by a quartet of WRC Ford Focus’s which made up the top four at the last event in early December. Mondello Rallysprint specialist David James from Wexford will once again be up against the might of the Barrable family from Swords in the battle for the win. Rally ace Michael Barrable will be once again joined by his sons, Formula Ford racers Robert and Peter, in the car which the trio finished first second and third at the last event in early December. Fresh from their 2008 circuit racing successes the brothers will be looking to get the better of their father this time out to finish the season on yet another high note but will also have the always quick James to contend with.

The event gets underway at 09:30 with a practice run which will then be followed by at least three runs for all competitors. For further information see www.carlowcarclub.ie 

Local Fianna Fail TD, Áine Brady has welcomed funding for Kildare animal welfare organisations.

“Kildare and West Wicklow Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will receive €15,000; Friends of Ben Dog Rescue in Leixlip will get €2,000; the Equus Foundation will receive €3,000 and Westown Animal Shelter in Naas will get €7000. Funding is made to animal welfare organisations to assist in their work during 2009.”

“These organisations do excellent and vital work throughout the year rescuing, rehabilitating and providing new homes for neglected animals.”

“I am delighted that they will receive this very necessary funding to support them in their work as it often animal welfare organisations who to respond to emergency situations.”

“I know that these organisations will be especially busy after Christmas so I would appeal to any families thinking of buying pets for Christmas to think twice about it. A cat or dog is a big responsibility and adding a pet to the family takes careful planning.”

“I would like to thank the employees and volunteers of Kildare animal welfare organisations for their great work all year round,” concluded Deputy Brady.

Three food producers in Kildare will benefit from the Capital Investment Scheme for food marketing and processing from the Department of Agriculture according to local Fianna Fail TD Áine Brady, TD.

“In the meat sector, Brady Family Food in Naas will receive €567,689 and McConnon’s Meats in Rathangan will get €487,570. In the horticulture sector, Boylan Fruits Ltd in Johnstownbridge will receive €71,426.”

“This funding will give a significant boost to the companies and improve their facilities including storage handling and marketing and should help to increase their capacity, secure their futures and increase local employment.”

“The food industry is an important one in north Kildare especially, providing local employment and contributing significantly to the local economy. I have lobbied hard for Government support for the industry.”

“It is vital that we continue to invest in small companies that provide the backbone to our food industry. It is important to secure our access to fresh locally grown food. It is also important for local people to buy local and provide every support possible to Irish producers, local business and local employers. I will continue in my efforts to secure every Government support possible for the Kildare food industry” concluded Deputy Brady.

Local Fianna Fail TD Sean Ó Feargháil has welcomed the fact that funds from the Dormant Accounts will be targeted at those who need it most in Kildare.

“The Dormant Accounts fund is targeted towards those who are economically or socially disadvantaged; those who are educationally disadvantaged; and persons with a disability.”

“In Kildare Town, two pre-schools will receive €10,000 each for the Preschool Quality Improvement Measures for preschools that feed into DEIS band schools. Those who will benefit are Toad Hall Childcare and Bright Beginnings.”

“In addition to this, Little Angels Childcare will receive funding of €7,500 for preschool education initiatives for Traveller children and Kildare Traveller Interagency Group will get €8,400 for Traveller Initiatives.”

“This funding will provide vital support to the local children and the Traveller community. It is vital that we focus resources at young children and help to improve their education outcome at an early stage,” concluded Deputy Ó Feargháil.

Deputy Aine Brady welcomed the announcement by Sentenial Limited in Maynooth that it is making a significant investment in the company with plans to employ an additional 70 new jobs.

'Sentenial, founded in 2004 by Sean Fitzgerald, is now the leading supplier of payment systems to banks across Europe. The €15 million investment plan for the company includes overseas expansion, local R&D investment and local recruitment. The investment plan is to span over the next two years and will yield an additional 70 jobs.' stated Deputy Brady.

'Since getting elected, I have continued to highlight the potential of North Kildare for Businesses and inward Investment. We have an improving Road and Public Transport Infrastructure. We have a young, flexible and educated workforce with a modern knowledge provider in NUI Maynooth based locally.'
'In addition to these services, Kildare Enterprise Board, which assisted Sentenial when it was first launched, is also available to assist companies in their start up phase. They also have a training programme available for Small Business to assist them upskill.' stated Deputy Brady.

'In these challenging times, it is a welcome announcement for Maynooth and the area in general. I intend to meet with Enterprise Ireland in the near future and discuss their strategy for Kildare and North Kildare in particular.' concluded Deputy Brady.

Mondello Park’s new Track Team, which was set up at the beginning of 2008 to look after safety and organisation at all Mondello Park Car Events, was recently asked to provide its services outside of the circuit for the first time, at Top Gear Live, and impressed the organisers with their efforts.

In recognition of the Track Team’s growing reputation the promoters of Top Gear Live requested the presence of team personnel at its inaugural Dublin event, to look after safety and other duties, at the sell out four day show. Members of the team were on hand for the entire week of preparations, rehearsals and the ten live action shows and received high praise for their efforts from the events back stage staff, organisers and presenters.

With Track Team members highly enthusiastic about working at the show places were at a premium and were allocated on a first come first served basis. Demonstrating their usual mix of professionalism and friendliness those lucky enough to secure a place made such a favourable impression on the Top Gear that they have already been provisionally invited back for next year’s event.

Speaking after the event Mondello Park MD John Morris said. “I was delighted we were approached to assist at Top Gear Live and our Track Team did a sterling job throughout the build up and the shows themselves. The crew were full of praise for our members and the job they did and there seems little doubt that we’ll be back again next year.”

With the 2008 Top Gear Live event having been so successful and enjoyable for the Mondello crew, possible places for next years show will be in even more demand and may have to be allocated as part of the Track Team’s year long incentive scheme.

As part of Mondello Park’s presence at the biggest motor show ever held in Ireland the circuit not only provided the organisers with voluntary safety staff, but also one of its Mazda BT50 fast intervention vehicles, logistics support, and professional drivers from its roster of qualified Race School Instructors.

The Kildare venue’s presence at Top Gear Live was rounded out by the presence of two Race Prepared Motor Racing School Mazda3 Hatchback’s outside one of the show’s main entrances and a Formula Sheane single seater race car on the Mondello stand inside the exhibition.

The annual Irish Horse Racing Awards honour the human and equine talent which has made racing one of the country’s most popular sports and delivered great success in the international arena.

The National Hunt Award went to Kildare-based jockey Ruby Walsh, who was crowned Champion National Hunt Jockey in 2008 with 131 wins.

The talented jockey reached his 1,000th winner at Irish tracks in Sligo in May.

Ruby is currently recovering from an operation to remove his spleen following a fall at the Cheltenham Open meeting on the 15th November and is hoping to make a return to the saddle this week.

Kildare South groups who promote sport and physical activities for older people are to get a welcome funding boost according to local Fianna Fail TD Sean Ó Feargháil.

“Groups in South Kildare will receive a total of almost €10,000 under the National Grant Scheme for Sport and Physical Activity for Older People.”

“The grants will enable groups to purchase sports equipment and fund sport and activity programmes.”

“These groups help older people to take care of their health and fitness and also help to decrease the isolation felt by some older people.”

“I would like to commend the staff and volunteers of all of the benefiting clubs and groups for their work and commitment to the older people in South Kildare and hope that these grants can be used to great effect,” concluded Deputy Ó Feargháil.

Fianna Fail TD for Kildare North, Áine Brady has welcomed Government funding of €4,075 to promote sport and other physical activity for local older people.

“The National Grant Scheme for Sport and Physical Activity for Older People benefits groups who work to encourage and facilitate sport for older people. The grant aid is being used to buy sports equipment and to fund sport and activity programmes.”

“As people get older it becomes increasingly important that they look after their health and keeping fit and mobile is an important factor.”

“Sports clubs and other groups also serve to decrease isolation of older people and keep them engaged in their communities.”

“I would like to congratulate the staff and volunteers of all of the benefiting clubs and groups for their hard work and dedication to the older people in their locality,” concluded Deputy Brady.

Celbridge Cardiac First Responder Programme  is in the initial stages of development and is seeking volunteers from the Celbridge area.

They are currently planning to launch the programme with the help of Celbridge Community Council.

The role of a Cardiac Community First Responder Programme is to reduce the number of preventable Cardiac deaths in an area by providing timely CPR and Defibrillation before advanced medical help can arrive (i.e an Ambulance with Paramedics).

The idea of the scheme would be that a team of trained responders would be on call at any one time and would receive calls to attend medical cardiac events to initiate life saving care before the ambulance arrives.

The scheme is voluntary and full training will be given to volunteers as per the PHECC (Pre Hospital Emergency Care Council) CFR Course Guidelines. Members will also be fully insured and ongoing training and debriefing would be a key component.

If anyone is interested, you can email David Wallace at
 david@celbridgefirstresponder.net or send a PM

Fianna Fail has selected two candidates, sitting Councillors Mark Dalton and Martin Miley to contest the local elections next June for the Athy LEA.

Councillor Mark Dalton has been a member of Kildare County Council since 2004 and is a member of the Regional Health Forum. Councillor Dalton is also the Chairman Board of Management Athy Community Council and Chairman Board of Management Colaiste Lorcain, Castledermot. He is also a member of Athy GFC and Athy Town AFC.                                        

Councillor Miley was co-opted on to Kildare County Council in April 2004 and successful contested the election the following June. He is a member of the Rural Housing Monitoring Committee, the Investment Forum for the town of Athy and Vice-Chair of St. Lawrence’s Football Club.

Horse Racing Ireland has agreed that seven fixtures will revert to the Curragh for 2009, which had previously been transferred on a temporary basis to other venues for next year. The Curragh formally sought the return of these traditional dates, which feature three Group 1 races, following the Turf Club’s decision not to commence the redevelopment of the racecourse as originally planned next year.

The seven fixtures which will revert to the Curragh for 2009 are listed below together with the racecourses from which the meetings are transferring back:

Sunday 16th August  UAE Royal Whip

Sunday 30th August  Moyglare Stud Stakes

Saturday 12th September  The Irish Field St Leger

Sunday 13th September National Stakes

Sunday 27th September Goffs Millions

Sunday 11th October Finale Stakes

Monday 12th October Industry Day

Announcing these fixture transfers for 2009, HRI Director of Racing Jason Morris stated: “HRI was only able to make these changes for 2009 with the voluntary agreement of all the racecourses concerned. We would like to put on record our gratitude for the tremendous co-operation received from Fairyhouse, Leopardstown, Naas and Navan in response to the Curragh's understandable request for the return of their traditional meetings.”

Paul Hensey, Curragh Manager, commented: “We are delighted that HRI has been able to restore the Curragh’s traditional fixture list for next year, albeit under the unfortunate circumstances that we have had to defer our major planned redevelopment work due to the current economic environment. We are very grateful to the other racecourses concerned for their understanding and for adopting an entirely constructive approach towards the return of these fixtures to the Curragh.”

Kildare North Fianna Fail TD Michael Fitzpatrick welcomed the announcement of 70 new jobs as the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment visited the constituency.

“Sentenial Ltd announced 70 new jobs for their Maynooth plant today as an Tanaiste visited and officially opened the premises.”

“This is great news for the local workforce and is a step in the right direction.”

“While An Tanaiste was in north Kildare she also took the opportunity to meet with local employers, Enterprise Board, Chamber of Commerce and a local Community Employment project in Prosperous.”

“An Tanaiste was able to see all of the work being done in north Kildare to secure and support employment locally and the vital support that is provided for those seeking work or seeking to establish new businesses.”

“I will be in continuing contact with the Tanaiste regarding employment opportunities in north Kildare and am confident that we have the available, high quality workforce to take full advantage of any opportunity that might present itself,” concluded Deputy Fitzpatrick.

NUI Maynooth today launched Imaginate 2009, a Product Design competition for all secondary school students in Ireland, heralding the EU’s Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009. Students are invited to enter the Imaginate 2009 competition to “Design an Object for the Classroom of the Future” by submitting a design concept on a poster before 6th February 2009.

Imaginate 2009, is organised by the Product Design academic staff at NUI Maynooth. The competition is supported by some heavy hitters from industry and state bodies who are anxious to encourage creative and innovative thinking in tomorrow’s generation. Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, RTÉ and Enterprise Ireland are the main supporters of the competition.

David Fleming is Manager of the Intel® Innovation Centre in Leixlip, Co. Kildare where the leading on-line and teaching resource skoool.ie™ was developed. David explains: “Intel is committed to encouraging students to pursue careers in areas such as Science, Technology, Design, Engineering, and Mathematics and we are delighted to support the Imaginate 2009 competition. We see innovation and creativity as central to the successful future of Intel and to Irish industry in general".

Celine Clarke, RTÉ Corporate Events Manager said: ‘RTÉ is delighted to support to Imaginate 2009, a new competition to encourage creativity, innovation and design among young people across the country. We look forward to promoting the competition on RTÉ.ie and webcasting the Imaginate awards ceremony in early April.’

While the EU has promoted 2009 as the Year of Creativity and Innovation, a key part of Enterprise Ireland’s mission is to help develop creative and innovative industries in Ireland. Declan Lyons, manager of Research, Design and Development in Enterprise Ireland, agrees that Product Design is a key discipline where technology is creatively applied to produce innovation.

Most importantly, everyone agrees that innovation and creativity can be fun, and extremely satisfying. Frank Devitt and Damini Kumar at NUI Maynooth are delighted to have found a way to make Product Design relevant to secondary students, in a practical way. They explain: “By encouraging creative thinking in all secondary students, they will come to realise that innovation is not just a fuzzy idea, but can have real, practical and rewarding results. We will invite the winning students on campus to NUI Maynooth to carry out detailed design and build physical prototypes of their winning concepts, using our latest Computer Aided Design and 3-d Rapid Prototyping (3-D printing) equipment.”

As part of the support package for the competition, Damini Kumar, Imaginate Competition Director and Programme Director of the Product Design Course at NUI Maynooth, has created online video guidelines for teachers running an Imaginate 2009 session in a 40 minute class. There are similar video guidelines for the entrants themselves.  “It is important to us that entry for students is as easy as possible – we want them to focus their energies and creativity on coming up with innovative designs”.

The closing date for receipt of poster entries is 6th February 2009. Students may prepare in groups, but are asked to submit individual posters as their own work. There are special prizes for individuals and schools as well as individual cash prizes up to €500 for first, second and third places in each of the two categories, defined by school year (1st -3rd year and 4th – 6th year)

Full details of the competition may be found at www.imaginate.ie.

Cllr Richard Daly, leas Cathaoirleach of Athy Town Council is encouraging parents and teachers in the region to take a positive step to attack the savage cutbacks to their childrens education by attending the protest march in Dublin on next Sat.

“A number of teacher unions, parents associations and management bodies are uniting next Saturday to show their opposition to the cuts by coming out in numbers next Saturday in Dublin. The ASTI, National Parents’ Council Post Primary, ACCS, IVEA, JMB, and TUI are encouraging as many parents as possible to make an effort to defend their childrens rights in education by supporting next Saturday’s protest in Dublin.

I have spoken to a large number of Principals in south Kildare and some of them will be losing up to three teachers if these cuts are fully implemented. A change in pupil/teacher ratio of one unit does not mean that there will be one more student in the class, it means that the figure that you divide your student number by to calculate how many teachers are in a school is increased by one. This could mean a loss of up to 50 teachers in County Kildare alone.

Now, as we should be trying to develop a knowledge economy in preparation for an economic upturn, we should be investing heavily in education but instead we see the savage assault on its provision.”said Cllr Daly.

“Parents now need to stand up and make use of next Saturdays protest to show that they will not tolerate their children being scapegoats for financial mismanagement.” he added

Local Fianna Fail TD Áine Brady welcomed the Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe to NUI Maynooth today as a new extension for the library was announced.

“I was delighted to welcome the Minister for Education to NUI Maynooth and the news that the library is to be extended substantially.”

“The work will begin next year and will include a new facility that will allow for the use of PCs and individual laptops.”

“NUI Maynooth has long had a strong focus on technology and has developed strong positive working relations with the nearby Intel plant which will benefit students into the future.”

“This kind of investment in the extension of the library will help to strengthen these links and enhance the facilities for students and staff alike,” concluded Deputy Brady.

Kildare North Fianna Fail TD, Michael Fitzpatrick has also welcomed the news.

“The extension will increase the library by 6,000 square metres and will be funded under the National Development Plan 2007-2013.”

“This investment in the university and its students will have a very positive impact in the years to come.”

“The numbers of students attending NUI Maynooth is on the increase and the extension of the library reflects this.” concluded Deputy Fitzpatrick.

Brannockstown Baptist Church invites everyone to the Induction Service of their new pastor, Mark Hamblen, on Sunday, 14 December, 7:00pm at the church.  Mark and his wife, Alisha, are both originally from California and have been living in Ireland for two years.

All are also welcome to the Annual Carol Service at Brannockstown Baptist Church on Friday, 19 December, 8:00pm at the church. 

Christmas Day Service will be held at 11:00am and all are very welcome to attend.

The church would also like to announce the launch of its brand new website, www.BrannockstownBaptist.ie.

Any questions, please ring 045 420 811.

Deputy Emmet Stagg and his colleague Cllr. Kevin Byrne have been advised by the HSE that a sum of €900,000 has been allocated for Accommodation Improvements and Refurbishment Works at Grove House, Celbridge, which is home to 14 Mentally Handicapped Residents.

The Improvements proposed, stated Deputy Stagg, will consist of improved living accommodation, additional bathrooms, a lift and refurbishment of the kitchen. It is expected that Planning Permission for the project will be sought in February 2009 with Construction commencing in mid 2009.

An issue raised by Deputy Stagg and Cllr. Byrne in relation to Boundary Treatment of Grove House will also be addressed as part of the Project. This includes the threat posed by local thugs to the residents of Grove House and residents of the nearby The Grove Estate. These local thugs have knocked down the boundary wall at various times and a recessed entrance is used as a gathering point. Their actions have caused fear among the mentally handicapped residents and of residents in houses nearby. The HSE have confirmed that a new boundary wall will be built rather than recent patch up jobs and they will also consider removing the recessed area by bringing the entrance gate in line with the boundary wall. These improvements would remove the attractiveness of the area for these local thugs and improve the environment for those living in Grove House and in the houses nearby.

In conclusion, Deputy Stagg, in welcoming the funding, stated that the project will improve the quality of life for the residents of Grove House and hopefully will have the added bonus of shifting these local thugs.

Local Fianna Fail TD, Seán Ó Feargháil has welcomed the news that Youth Café in the Old Dispensary in Athy is to receive a funding boost of €42,000 to support local employment.

"The funding will be awarded under the Community Services Programme from the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs."

"The investment is designed to enable the employment people in managing and operating community facilities."

"The goal is to promote social and economic development and real employment opportunities within communities."

"The Programme targets those from disadvantaged groups such as those with disabilities, long-term unemployed, travellers, lone parents and rehabilitated drug users who might otherwise find it difficult to find employment.

"I am delighted that this funding will be allocated to those who need it most and I wish all of the staff and volunteers at the Youth Cafe every success," concluded Deputy Ó Feargháil.

Attention all photographers!

Kildare County Council is pleased to announce the seventh environmental photographic competition for the county. The theme of this year’s competition is: “Autumn in Kildare"

All you have to do is take a photograph in Kildare during this autumn and winter. The judges will be looking for images that highlight the natural beauty of Kildare at this time.

For more information and a copy of the entry form, contact the Environment Section at (045) 980588 or email: environ@kildarecoco.ie. Alternatively, the details can be downloaded from the Council website.

Entries must be received by Friday 1 of February 2009.