Labour unveil policies and candidates for Westport, Mayo and Europe!

Labour unveil policies and candidates for Westport, Mayo and Europe
 

The Labour party will unveil its town, county and Euro candidates and their policies at a special public meeting tonight (Tuesday April 21st) in the Wyatt Hotel in Westport at 7.30pm.

 

The Special guest will be Susan O'Keefe, the Labour Party candidate for the  North-West constituency for the forthcoming European Parliament Elections.  Susan is the journalist who broke the story on a World in Action programme on the Irish Beef Industry which led to the formation of a Tribunal of Inquiry.

 

Susan O'Keefe says her "core beliefs of equality and fairness have driven all the work I have done as a journalist. By joining the Labour Party I will be able to direct these values towards building a more honest political system which favours, not just the brave, but the weak, the poor and the old. I want to contribute to building a fairer Ireland and a fairer Europe where working together means just that."

 

Announcing Susan's candidacy for the European elections, Eamon Gilmore TD said "Susan O'Keeffe is a person of the highest integrity and remarkable courage with an outstanding record as a campaigning journalist."

Prior to the public meeting Susan O'Keefe will be meeting the people of Westport during the afternoon, when she will have the opportunity of listening to the views and opinions of the people of Mayo on the EU and it's importance and relevance to the further development of the West of Ireland.  

 

Labour's second candidate for Westport Town Council David Fallon will also outline Labour's Policies for Westport Town Council while Cllr Keith Martin will outline his priorities for the Westport Electoral Area.

 

According to Chair of the Westport Branch of the Labour Mr Sean Sammon, Labour's priorities are "Jobs, jobs, jobs."

 

www.thingscanonlygetbetter.ie

086 0691182

098 24852

Join the Party, join the Labour Party!

Join the Labour Party

 

The Labour Party is hosting a recruitment evening in the Bakehouse Rooms of Henehan's Bar on Bridge Street tonight March 10^th at 8pm.  This is part of a nationwide recruitment drive by Party Leader Eamon Gilmore.

 

Membership of the party is open to all according to Chairman of the Mayo Labour Party,  Sean Sammon.  "The Labour Party is the hardest working party in Mayo and we are gearing up for the upcoming local elections and are looking forward to our Party Conference at the end of March.  The Labour Party, in Mayo and nationally, is going from strength to strength and we are now inviting those people in Mayo who want to make a difference to join us and help us get Mayo moving again.

 

"Anyone interested in joining the Labour is invited to come along tonight and have a chat and a cup of tea with us.  For more information on the Labour Party in Mayo call us on 098 24852 or visit www.labour.ie"

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor,

 

The salaries of Brian Cowen and his Ministers should be linked by a simple formula to both the average national wage and the unemployment register, so that when the nation suffers our leaders feel our pain; and not just at the polling booth, but in their pockets, where it really hurts!

 

Yours sincerely

 

Cllr Keith Martin

33 Pairc na Coille

Westport

Co. Mayo

www.councillorkeithmartin.com

086 0691182 m 

098 24852 w

098 25747 w

Background to vote

The price of Fianna Fail's support for Martin Keane for Cathaoirleach was that Labour's Cllr Keith Martin relinquish his claim to the position of Leas Cathaoirleach in favour of Cllr Brendan Mulroy who has been Cathaoirleach once and Leas Cathaoirleach once already in the current term of the council.

 

This was done to give FF some cover with its supporters and to remove the possibility of Cllr Martin raising his profile before and during next year's Local Elections where Cllr Martin is competing against FF's Margaret Adams and possibly Declan Dever.

 

Keith Martin has worked closely with Cllr Keane since the 2004 elections and believes that he did the right thing in ensuring Cllr Keane's election to the chair even though it has hurt Cllr Martin's chances in 2009.

 

Cllr Martin and Cllr Adams are the only two councillors to not have held either office of Cathaoirleach or Leas Cathaoirleach in the current council. 

 

 

Boundry Changes in Westport

Cllr Keith Martin, the Labour Party's candidate for the Westport Electoral Area, says he is shocked at the decision of the Electoral Area Boundary Committee to remove Newport East and its 1,021 citizens from the Westport Electoral Area and include them in the Belmullet area.  Cllr Martin says the area is being transfered from Westport to ensure that Belmullet keeps its four seats on Mayo County Council.

 

Cllr Martin says "There has always been a strong connection between the townlands of Newport and Westport and to see Newport East sliced off into the administration of the Belmullet Electoral Area makes no sense in my opinion.  The Westport Electoral area still includes Glenhest but geographically it is very distorted with the removal of Newport East.

 

"It would have made more sense to have a greater trade off between the Belmullet and Ballina Electoral Areas which are closer to each other than to move Newport East into Belmullet."

 

The review was approved by Cabinet on Tuesday June 17th as part of the national Independent review of the boundaries for next year's local elections.  The review committees, which were established in January by the Minister for the Environment, were both chaired by Niall Callan, a former Secretary General of the Department.

 

"I am shocked at such a large chunk of the Westport Electoral Area with close connections to Westport can just be cut off to accommodate the retention of Belmullet's four seats.  It makes no sense to distort the Westport Electoral Area and remove Newport East" concluded the Labour councillor.

 

086 0691182

Next Meeting

The Next meeting of the Westport Branch of the Labour Party takes place on Tuesday July 1st 2008 at 8pm in the Bakehouse Room of  Henehans Bar on Bridge Street

Call for allotments for Westport

Cllr Keith Martin has called for the provision of allotments under the new Town Plan.  The Labour councillor has made a submission that Westport Town Council acquire agricultural land for the purpose of providing allotments to citizens of the town to allow them to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers.

According to Cllr Martin "This would allow citizens to develop sustainable and local foods for their own consumption and allow for food security and the combating of climate change through greater self-sufficiency.  Allotments are also a logical response to recent food price inflation."

The Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux (OICTJF), a Luxembourg-based organization representing three million European allotment gardeners since 1926, says allotments allow a better quality of urban life through the reduction of noise, the binding of dust, the establishment of open green spaces in densely populated areas and provide meaningful leisure activity and the personal experience of sowing, growing, cultivating and harvesting healthy vegetables amidst high-rise buildings and the urban jungle.

Other benefits according to the OICTJF are
for children and adolescents a place to play, communicate and to discover nature and its wonders;
for working people relaxation from the stress of work;
for the unemployed the feeling of being useful and not excluded as well as a supply of fresh vegetables at minimum cost;
for immigrant families a possibility of communication and better integration in their host country;
for disabled persons a place enabling them to participate in social life, to establish contacts and overcome loneliness;
for senior citizens a place of communication with persons having the same interests as well as an opportunity of self-fulfillment during the period of retirement.

Cllr Martin says the necessary lands can be acquired from landowners but if necessary the council has the power to compulsorily purchase land for allotments under the Acquisition of Land (Allotments) Act, 1926.

Fingal County Council currently offer allotments measuring one tenth of an acre, for domestic use only for €19.00 p.a.  Other councils offering allotments include South Dublin County Council, Galway City Council and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

 

According to Cllr Martin "allotments would be ideal in Westport because of the large number of flats and apartments without any gardens and the number of houses with tiny gardens would mean that there is a large number of people who would welcome the opportunity to grow their own vegetables.

 

"But allotments are about so much more than growing your own food or flowers, allotments are also about exercise, teaching children about growth and nature, social interaction with neighbours and getting out of the apartment and having your own small bit of outdoor space on the ground.

 

"We should also provide, as part to the allotments project, an area for a community garden along the lines of the very successful one on the Golf Course Road.  Community gardens allow groups and communities to work as a team on a large garden and share the proceeds of that work as well as to enjoy the camaraderie and social aspect of building a community garden.  Community gardening is a well established movement worldwide and it is gaining popularity in Ireland with other community gardens in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

 

"I will be working on Westport Town Council to promote this proposal and I will fight to ensure that provision is made in our new Town Plan for allotments and a community garden."