Failure to sell barracks 'is not longterm problem' - councillor
NAAS, 14 July 2000: 10pm by Brian Byrne & Trish Whelan. The failure of the public tender procedure to sell Devoy Barracks in Naas should not cause any longterm problems to the development of the site, according to one of the councillors who negotiated its disposal with the minister for defence.
Only one submission was received by the closure date for the public tender procedure on Tuesday 11 July. According to a spokesman for the department, that offer was ‘not anything near’ the guide price of £7 million. Now the department will have to try another route to sell the property, probably by private treaty.
Cllr Willie Callaghan said tonight that he expects the site will be disposed of in the not too distant future. "You often see properties failing to sell at auction but deals are done shortly afterwards between the parties," he said.
He added that there was no threat to grants made by the council to sports and cultural bodies by the non-sale, because such grants were made from a development levies fund. A £1 million sum expected for the UDC after the sale was completed would be coming from Kildare County Council, as their payment for locating a new County Council HQ on part of seven acres being given to the UDC by the minister in return for rezoning of the site. He said no grant promises had been made in respect of this money, and he expected that the amount would stand regardless of what price the minister eventually got.
A month ago, Cllr Pat McCarthy called on the minister to withdraw the invitation to tender, saying it was a ‘calculated insult’ to the 350 people on the Naas UDC waiting list for houses if the property was sold to a private developer, and equally insulting to the thousands of other couples in the area who ‘don’t have a hope’ of buying a house in Naas at today’s inflated prices.
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That’s the view of Cllr Catherine Murphy, speaking at Leixlip Town Commission meeting this week, at which unanimous anger and upset was expressed by commissioners for the situation at the local Gaelscoil. A week ago, up to 60 caravans parked illegally on the school’s football pitch. The school has initiated legal action to move them.
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NEWBRIDGE, 14 July 2000: by 
Cmmr Seamie Finn concurred with Cmmr Nolan’s complaints and asked ‘where are all the bins’ there should be for litter, and he said it was wrong that people can be fined for litter that simply ‘blew up’ outside their premises.
The council also said that two types of houses proposed were ‘inadequate’ in terms of fire safety and would endanger the safety of occupiers. In addition, the proposals for public open spaces were ‘substandard’.
CELBRIDGE, 14 July 2000: by 
Construction of the new premises is putting the club on the international map. The timber frame structure for the ground floor is being imported from Canada, while the basement is made in Sweden. It is built from a highly insulated waterproof concrete, which is extremely lightweight, thermally efficient and cost effective.
The building, which will cost around £300,000, has won a lottery grant of £100,000, without which the club could not have afforded the replacement to their existing facilities. The club also recently received £15,000 grant from Kildare County Council. Pictured on left are club members Tony King and Gerry McGowan with Ray Bonnar of Kildare County Council, receiving the money.
NEWBRIDGE, 12 July 2000: by 
Cmmr Murty Aspell said it made the commissioners ‘look very silly’ if there was a traffic warden on the prowl which they knew nothing about. Cllr John O’Neill said there simply wasn’t enough car parking in the town, and the commissioners couldn’t be blamed for that. “And there’s no point blaming the motorists for illegal parking - they have to come in and do their business,” he added. He also said that the council should write to local businesses about the problem of ‘sleeper’ cars, where people working in the town or even outside it simply left their cars in the one spot all day.
“It brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘recycling’,” says Senator John Dardis, who managing to elicit the information from county engineer only after delving further when he had been informed that there ‘would not be a baling station’ on the site.
County engineer Jimmy Lynch Left) said the Council’s proposal was not as negative as the delegation alleged. It served a limited population in the Straffan Road, Rathcoffey Road and motorway triangle. He acknowledged that traffic calming was necessary and he proposed it as a pre-requisite. The delegation’s proposal had been examined but dismissed as inappropriate because of the geometrics and close proximity to the motorway. 
He said the Council’s route was not dangerous, would not fragment the estate and was known to residents for many years, as it was included in the Development Plan. He accepted the need for boundary treatment of the green play area and the need to culvert the stream, which was being discussed with developers at present.
KILDARE NORTH, 11 July 2000: by 
COUNTY HALL, 11 July 2000: by 
The motion was seconded by Cllr Anthony Lawlor who said a number of Kill residents were looking for traffic calming measures in their estates. He said in many situations, the problem was caused by internal traffic. He said because the estates have been taken in charge by the Council, the residents were unable to put in such measures themselves and instead had to go through a lengthy process, with long delays and holdups. He mentioned two estates where the residents have funds available for the job but cannot proceed with the work.
NAAS, 10 July 2000: by 
It rankles when she and Chris see non-Naas people apparently being helped by local and state authorities. “I’m not racist, and I’m delighted that these people can be helped here to get a better life. But why can’t we look after our own first. We have to have priorities and stop taking these people in if we can’t afford to look after our own first. It’s taking away from our families to give to them.”
