Local Elections 2014: What issues will you be raising with candidates on the door?

The Hill Billy

With local elections in May, what questions will you be asking canvassers when they come calling to your door?

With household charges, water metering, flood defence and planning dominating the news over the past year, the forthcoming local elections are set to be a lively affair.

So if a candidate came knocking at your door tomorrow what would you ask them? What issues affect you and yours on a daily basis? What would you like to see changed or introduced? How satisfied are you with the current crowd and what would you like to see changed tomorrow? Do local politics even matter and how should a candidate justify themselves to the electorate?

This thread is intended to raise issues that are important to you, so hopefully local candidates can take notice. Also this thread is to have no canvassing by candidates or party representatives, and any such actions will not be allowed.

We at Boards.ie will be getting in touch with as many candidates as we can, and the aim will be for them to come onto Boards to explain their policies, and to answer the questions that you the posters have posed in this threads. When that time comes we aim to use seperate threads for the candidates so that those threads can be answer and policy specific.

Finally & importantly, we would like this thread to focus on the issues that matter to you & be able to provide the candidates with a clear list of local issues as seen by local posters. If you wish to debate the issues raised - we will create a separate thread.

richiek83

The Hill Billy wrote: »

With local elections in May, what questions will you be asking canvassers when they come calling to your door?

With household charges, water metering, flood defence and planning dominating the news over the past year, the forthcoming local elections are set to be a lively affair.

So if a candidate came knocking at your door tomorrow what would you ask them? What issues affect you and yours on a daily basis? What would you like to see changed or introduced? How satisfied are you with the current crowd and what would you like to see changed tomorrow? Do local politics even matter and how should a candidate justify themselves to the electorate?

This thread is intended to raise issues that are important to you, so hopefully local candidates can take notice. Also this thread is to have no canvassing by candidates or party representatives, and any such actions will not be allowed.

We at Boards.ie will be getting in touch with as many candidates as we can, and the aim will be for them to come onto Boards to explain their policies, and to answer the questions that you the posters have posed in this threads. When that time comes we aim to use seperate threads for the candidates so that those threads can be answer and policy specific.

Finally & importantly, we would like this thread to focus on the issues that matter to you & be able to provide the candidates with a clear list of local issues as seen by local posters. If you wish to debate the issues raised - we will create a separate thread.

Well I was thinking about running as an Independent myself. Anyway, here is my opinions for what it's worth.

The backdrop to these elections is the recent refrom announced for Local Government in Ireland. One needs to be realistic on the expectations of Local Government. With that in mind, I will go throuh each point/ heading you make at the start of this comment:

1. Household Charges - From 2015, Local Elected Officials will get to vote on the rate of LPT to be applied at County Council level. This is something that should be brought up by citizens if canvassers come to their door. I would suggest the rate stays the same for 2015 pending an analysis by the Council as to the impact of a reduction or rise in LPT.

2. Water Charges - Water Services are being transferred to Irish Water. The Council and even more so, elected officials will have very little say in this area. This is spearheaded centrally by Central Govt and it's Agency, Irish Water. It's unrealistic to expect Local Politicians to have much of a policy role in this area.

3. Flood Defence - This is somewhat of grey area with a number of agencies involved in providing same. OPW, Waterways Ireland, County Councils and Department of Environment all provide funding. However, elected officials will be able to raise the issue at County Council level which in turn can be raised with the other agencies to try and secure funding for a particular scheme.

4. Planning - This is a hot topic area for Local Govt considering the problems in the past. Elected officials will still have a policy/ regulatory role in respect of planning. Local Area plans and so on will still be voted on by elected officials.

For me personally, the main issues that I'm concerned with in the Newbridge/ Kildare Municipal District Council are:

1. Facilities for young people. I would be pushing for Youth Clubs, Youth Cafes to counteract underage drinking. Youth Clubs with various activities catering for different interests is one way of facilitating young people at week-ends and holidays from school. It is at these times that they very often find themselves with little or nothing to do.

2. Public Realm Improvement Works. Many of our town and village centres are in drastic need of regeneration and improvement. A rejuvenated town/ village centre can have a number of knock on effects for business and exercise.

3. Provision of more amenity facilities. Many sporting clubs are struggling to accomodate their teams in their present facilities with some clubs actually paying substantial sums of money to rent other facilities. This is putting their long term future in jeopardy.

4. Improvement of cycling facilities. In this district, cycling facilities are virtually non existent with the exception of a few areas in Newbridge. I would be looking for the Council to make more representations to the NTA to secure funding or the Council to make funding available from its own resources to improve such facilities. Better cycling facilities will make it more appealing to citizens particularly in our towns and villages.

5. Housing - In Newbridge, practically no new housing construction can start until the Osberstown Waste Water Treatment Plant is upgraded. I would be looking for the Council to proceed with this as a matter of urgency. Without it, Newbridge will not have the capacity to develop or attract development. It is imperative that this project advance without any delay. It is up to elected officials to continually raise this matter at Council Level and with the County Manager.

Orion

Maynooth LEA myself.

• How will they be spending household tax. Will it be for the betterment of the community or just used to make up shortfall due to wastage and inefficiencies.
• The ring road which has been promised for years now - when will it be built.
• Cycling facilities - the 'lanes' in Maynooth are absolutely abyssmal. They seem to think that painting a bit of path red makes it a cycle lane. I have raised this with John McGinley before and he's been scornful of my concerns. There's not one I would cycle on. Also the cycle path planned to Enfield along the canal - will they put in a small rail to markedly divide the pedestrian and cycle lanes. It would make it safer for everyone.
• The new post primary - what is their stance on amalgamating the two schools which the whole community have been very vocal about wanting. And with that in mind what transport infrastructure will they put in place up Moyglare to accommodate it. This was one of the main concerns of the planning department. Will the cycle corridor planned from Moyglare to the M4 be a proper one and not a shared use one with the usual lampposts, bus stops, random drops and right angle turns.

That's just off the top of my head. I'll add some more questions later.

HonalD

Interesting to see 2 references to cycle tracks. High on the political agenda, plenty of studies, plenty of sound bites but when it comes down to "narrowing of roads", restricting traffic etc. .......

Orion

Bicycles are traffic

Moonbeam

My biggest issue is that of the lack of school places in the Gael scoil .

I have a few others that I will add when I think of them .

delthedriver

The Hill Billy wrote: »

With local elections in May, what questions will you be asking canvassers when they come calling to your door?

With household charges, water metering, flood defence and planning dominating the news over the past year, the forthcoming local elections are set to be a lively affair.

So if a candidate came knocking at your door tomorrow what would you ask them? What issues affect you and yours on a daily basis? What would you like to see changed or introduced? How satisfied are you with the current crowd and what would you like to see changed tomorrow? Do local politics even matter and how should a candidate justify themselves to the electorate?

This thread is intended to raise issues that are important to you, so hopefully local candidates can take notice. Also this thread is to have no canvassing by candidates or party representatives, and any such actions will not be allowed.

We at Boards.ie will be getting in touch with as many candidates as we can, and the aim will be for them to come onto Boards to explain their policies, and to answer the questions that you the posters have posed in this threads. When that time comes we aim to use seperate threads for the candidates so that those threads can be answer and policy specific.

Finally & importantly, we would like this thread to focus on the issues that matter to you & be able to provide the candidates with a clear list of local issues as seen by local posters. If you wish to debate the issues raised - we will create a separate thread.

Hill Billy,


Thank you for raising this subject.


Respectfully I would prefer if Candidates in my area would not call to my home canvassing for votes. I am not interested in what they have to say , promise or otherwise. Furthermore I do no wish to receive any communication nor promotional material from any candidates nor the Political Party they represent if applicable.


Sincerely I wish the candidates best wishes in their canvassing.

The Hill Billy

We have similar threads across all Regional forums (except the Northern Irish ones). Should we get a decent amount of feedback/questions we shall be inviting candidates in each area to respond in due course.

baaba maal

richiek83 wrote: »

Well I was thinking about running as an Independent myself. Anyway, here is my opinions for what it's worth.

The backdrop to these elections is the recent refrom announced for Local Government in Ireland. One needs to be realistic on the expectations of Local Government. With that in mind, I will go throuh each point/ heading you make at the start of this comment:

1. Household Charges - From 2015, Local Elected Officials will get to vote on the rate of LPT to be applied at County Council level. This is something that should be brought up by citizens if canvassers come to their door. I would suggest the rate stays the same for 2015 pending an analysis by the Council as to the impact of a reduction or rise in LPT.

2. Water Charges - Water Services are being transferred to Irish Water. The Council and even more so, elected officials will have very little say in this area. This is spearheaded centrally by Central Govt and it's Agency, Irish Water. It's unrealistic to expect Local Politicians to have much of a policy role in this area.

3. Flood Defence - This is somewhat of grey area with a number of agencies involved in providing same. OPW, Waterways Ireland, County Councils and Department of Environment all provide funding. However, elected officials will be able to raise the issue at County Council level which in turn can be raised with the other agencies to try and secure funding for a particular scheme.

4. Planning - This is a hot topic area for Local Govt considering the problems in the past. Elected officials will still have a policy/ regulatory role in respect of planning. Local Area plans and so on will still be voted on by elected officials.

For me personally, the main issues that I'm concerned with in the Newbridge/ Kildare Municipal District Council are:

1. Facilities for young people. I would be pushing for Youth Clubs, Youth Cafes to counteract underage drinking. Youth Clubs with various activities catering for different interests is one way of facilitating young people at week-ends and holidays from school. It is at these times that they very often find themselves with little or nothing to do.

2. Public Realm Improvement Works. Many of our town and village centres are in drastic need of regeneration and improvement. A rejuvenated town/ village centre can have a number of knock on effects for business and exercise.

3. Provision of more amenity facilities. Many sporting clubs are struggling to accomodate their teams in their present facilities with some clubs actually paying substantial sums of money to rent other facilities. This is putting their long term future in jeopardy.

4. Improvement of cycling facilities. In this district, cycling facilities are virtually non existent with the exception of a few areas in Newbridge. I would be looking for the Council to make more representations to the NTA to secure funding or the Council to make funding available from its own resources to improve such facilities. Better cycling facilities will make it more appealing to citizens particularly in our towns and villages.

5. Housing - In Newbridge, practically no new housing construction can start until the Osberstown Waste Water Treatment Plant is upgraded. I would be looking for the Council to proceed with this as a matter of urgency. Without it, Newbridge will not have the capacity to develop or attract development. It is imperative that this project advance without any delay. It is up to elected officials to continually raise this matter at Council Level and with the County Manager.

Your last point is bound up with your second point- the further expansion of Osberstown WWTP (to enable more housing) will be decided by Irish Water- not the council.

Damien360

Can local councillors raise issues relating to the number of gardai as a ratio of population. County kildare consistently has the lowest ratio of gardai to populace but has high crime rates. CCTV never implemented in towns but the poles and equipment are present.

Rates charged to businesses in Newbridge are very high with little or nothing in return. This directly effects employment in SME's. Councillors can directly effect this.

Newbridge, Clane and Kildare town roads are falling apart. This also directly effects business and employment as it gives the impression of poor roads/poor town centres.

Can councillors restrict the type of businesses that occupy towns. An over abundance of pound shops, cash for gold and property sellers looks bad. It may be employment but it makes the town centres undesirable to visit.

Planning: Ensure the osberstown upgrade works are geared towards employment potential rather than housing. This occured last time when Wyeth tried to expand and could not so they built in clondalkin instead. Jobs first, housing after.

Planning: No more housing without new schools. All of them are full to the brim.

Fix junction 10 on M7. The roundabout for the off ramps are too small and the cars back up on to the motorway which causes at least 2 accidents a week. The council wishes to expand this to include a sallins bypass which will add traffic volume.

Plenty to argue about. But I am looking to give FG/lab a bloody nose, bringing national politics to a local level if you like.

L1011

Damien360 wrote: »

Plenty to argue about. But I am looking to give FG/lab a bloody nose, bringing national politics to a local level if you like.

Whereas I'd prefer if the two never met. TDs should not be hassled about local issues as they're not elected for that purpose; and councillors have zero influence over national issues in the first place. Candidates for local authorities who pontificate about national issues as if they can fix them don't get a preference from me.

richiek83

baaba maal wrote: »

Your last point is bound up with your second point- the further expansion of Osberstown WWTP (to enable more housing) will be decided by Irish Water- not the council.

Quite true, apologies for that. The end of my point stated that it is up to the elected officials to raise the matter at Council level. The County Manager should therefore make representations on behalf of the Council to Irish Water to proceed. I had heard at some stage late last year that it may be going to tender at some stage in 2014. I've heard nothing else regarding this since.

richiek83

Damien360 wrote: »

Can local councillors raise issues relating to the number of gardai as a ratio of population. County kildare consistently has the lowest ratio of gardai to populace but has high crime rates. CCTV never implemented in towns but the poles and equipment are present.

Rates charged to businesses in Newbridge are very high with little or nothing in return. This directly effects employment in SME's. Councillors can directly effect this.

Newbridge, Clane and Kildare town roads are falling apart. This also directly effects business and employment as it gives the impression of poor roads/poor town centres.

Can councillors restrict the type of businesses that occupy towns. An over abundance of pound shops, cash for gold and property sellers looks bad. It may be employment but it makes the town centres undesirable to visit.

Planning: Ensure the osberstown upgrade works are geared towards employment potential rather than housing. This occured last time when Wyeth tried to expand and could not so they built in clondalkin instead. Jobs first, housing after.

Planning: No more housing without new schools. All of them are full to the brim.

Fix junction 10 on M7. The roundabout for the off ramps are too small and the cars back up on to the motorway which causes at least 2 accidents a week. The council wishes to expand this to include a sallins bypass which will add traffic volume.

Plenty to argue about. But I am looking to give FG/lab a bloody nose, bringing national politics to a local level if you like.

Joint Policing Committees have members of Local Authorities sitting on them. The link here has more info on JPC's. http://garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=76&Lang=1. The number of Gardaí as per the ratio of population would be a matter for the Garda Commissioner as far as I'm aware. There would be nothing stopping the JPC's raising the matter however.

Totally agree about rates. I thinks this is also a National problem. Rates are simply too high for businesses and is putting them under severe pressure.

Agreed on the roads issue. Of course for most roads, the Council will most likely just say that the budget is not available to fix most of these roads. Patching up potholes is probably the best we can hope for in the short term.

It is up to the planners to decide what types of businesses set up in towns. The Councillors would have a had a vote and say in types of zonings and permitted uses when the Local Area Plans were being developed. Newbridge Local Area Plan for instance was recently passed with a number of changes voted for by members. This differs from the UK where Local Councillors sit on planning committees effectively making the decisions. The planners over there make the recommendations and not the actual decision.

True. Osberstown does need to happen. You're right, Newbridge missed out on the bio-pharma facility because Kildare CC could not guarantee water services and the ability of the waste water plant to handle the new facility. I think that jobs and housing go in tandem and not one before the other. The supply of housing "for sale" in Newbridge at present is extremely tight. For example, there is a severe lack of quality three bedroom houses available in the town at present. According to the Newbridge Local Aarea Plan 2013, there is enough school places available in the town. Notwithstanding this, land has been zoned for a new primary school at Walshestown to cater for anticipated further growth in demand for school places. When demand reaches that level, that school will most likely proceed.

As part of the upgrade of the M7 to three lanes in each direction to/ from the M9, they also plan to upgrade Junction 10. The interchange will be moved from its present location to the Newbridge/ Naas flyover bridge.

TD's should be there to focus on more National issues. Local Concillors should be there for exactly that purpose. For example, many people would contact their local TD with a housing or potholed road issue. They should be contacting their local elected councillor for such issues who can then raise it on their behalf.

richiek83

MYOB wrote: »

Whereas I'd prefer if the two never met. TDs should not be hassled about local issues as they're not elected for that purpose; and councillors have zero influence over national issues in the first place. Candidates for local authorities who pontificate about national issues as if they can fix them don't get a preference from me.

Totally agree.

aodh_rua

The JPC has regularly raised the Garda numbers with the Chief Super - but as you say, it is an operational matter for the Garda Commissioner. Kildare has one of the worst (if not the worst) ratio of Gardaí to citizens, and we are easy pickings for Dublin criminals due to the transport links. There has been a slight improvement, particularly in the northeast of the county, but there is huge room for improvement.

Magilla Gorilla

Followers of this thread might like to know some of the things/areas that Kildare county council (and therefore councillors) no longer have any direct control over- it will save everyone time.

1. Water services
2. Sewerage services
3. Motorway maintenance
4. Higher education grants
5. Sports centre/swimming pool Naas
6. Sports centre/swimming pool Athy
6. Driving licences
7. Silliot Hill, Kilcullen recycling centre
8. Gallows Hill, Athy recycling centre
9. Refuse collection services
10. Fire service emergency call centre

That leaves planning, some roads maintenance, environmental issues and a bit of housing. Why do we need 40 councillors again? :rolleyes:

Joe Public

Magilla Gorilla wrote: »

Followers of this thread might like to know some of the things/areas that Kildare county council (and therefore councillors) no longer have any direct control over- it will save everyone time.

1. Water services
2. Sewerage services
3. Motorway maintenance
4. Higher education grants
5. Sports centre/swimming pool Naas
6. Sports centre/swimming pool Athy
6. Driving licences
7. Silliot Hill, Kilcullen recycling centre
8. Gallows Hill, Athy recycling centre
9. Refuse collection services
10. Fire service emergency call centre

That leaves planning, some roads maintenance, environmental issues and a bit of housing. Why do we need 40 councillors again? :rolleyes:

That sounds a little too simplistic to me!
If you go through their sitemap http://kildare.ie/countycouncil/Sitemap/
how many sections could you knock off?


.

Magilla Gorilla

It's an impressive site map sure enough!

But if you examine it, you'll notice that it mostly refers/links to regulatory/statutory functions carried out by officials/employees. Any councillor will have very little influence given the few services that the council still provides directly, that's my point.

Joe Public

Things they still do that come to mind and probably lots more. It's good to be more informed for when the councillors or potential councillors call.
They can always pass non council issues up the line to TDs in their party as they are often affiliated to some party. Some councillors use it as a stepping stone to possible TDism.

Collect road tax
Street cleaning in some towns
Litter bins and collection
Litter wardens
Dog wardens
maintenance of services, roads, trees in estates taken in charge
maintenance of footpaths, roads, safety railings, bicycle stands
road gritting in cold weather
follow up on unauthorised developments when reported
graveyards
public car parks
parking charges
help to Tidy Towns groups
various grants
loads of meetings with area councillors
bylaws and enforcement or lack of but still responsible
road signs
playgrounds
libraries
grass cutting in council estates and some roads heading towards motorways

neaideabh

Jobbridge and jobs plus free labour schemes!

Magilla Gorilla

My comments follow your list-

Joe Public wrote: »

Collect road tax- nothing for councillors here and it will be gone soon

Street cleaning in some towns- roads/environment
Litter bins and collection- roads/environment
Litter wardens- roads/environment
Dog wardens- environment
maintenance of services, roads, trees in estates taken in charge- roads/ environment matters only, no functions for water/sewerage
maintenance of footpaths, roads, safety railings, bicycle stands- roads
road gritting in cold weather- roads
follow up on unauthorised developments when reported- planning
graveyards- environment
public car parks- roads
parking charges- roads
help to Tidy Towns groups- environment
various grants- various
loads of meetings with area councillors- hardly a "service"!!
bylaws and enforcement or lack of but still responsible- officials are responsible
road signs- roads
playgrounds- planning?
libraries- corporate?
grass cutting in council estates and some roads heading towards- roads/environmentmotorways

An impressive-looking list, but clearly the councillors will mainly be messenger boys bringing matters to officials' attention; matters which any member of the public could do themselves if they bothered.

aodh_rua

The most important powers councillors have relate to the adoption of county and local development plans, the adoption of the annual budget and the setting of policies to govern local services. For example, the new fire and emergency plan will be up for discussion and approval at the March meeting.

A lot of some councillors time is spent routing the public to the right services, and raising matters the public can pursue themselves, but this is a proven electoral winner.

Roadtoad

The pension levy for private pension funds.
The no-pension-levy for state pensions.

This is far bigger than water charges etc, but less visible, so below the crowd radar, which polititions love.

Pass the concerns up to HQ, I will say.

L1011

Roadtoad wrote: »

The pension levy for private pension funds.
The no-pension-levy for state pensions.

This is far bigger than water charges etc, but less visible, so below the crowd radar, which polititions love.

Pass the concerns up to HQ, I will say.

There's no pension fund for state pensions except the exchequer - taxing the exchequer to fund the exchequer works how, exactly?

What is an Independent candidate meant to do to "pass the concerns up to HQ"?

This is a local election, these aren't local issues. Neither are water charges, realistically.

Ken.

Were you one of the arseholes that protested and caused the credit union in newbridge to become a mess?
If answer is yes-door to the face.

Joe Public

Magilla Gorilla wrote: »

My comments follow your list-



An impressive-looking list, but clearly the councillors will mainly be messenger boys bringing matters to officials' attention; matters which any member of the public could do themselves if they bothered.

From my experience things get done quicker by going through an active councillor as a follow up to going through the normal channels. Another advantage is that councillors can put certain matters on the agenda of local area meetings and then they get discussed, often with the "no funding" result, but those that can be tackled get on someone's to do list and get done in a more timely manner.
If there were no councillors working on behalf of the people then the county councils may lose touch.

bulmersgal

I would like a few community crèches in north kildare and a public swimming pool.

Also to reduce the wait for speech therapy

Joe Public

Not exactly on topic but relevant I think.

Is it acceptable to ask candidates what they have been doing to help in the local community up to now? Some of the new candidates have made great promises but with no track record of previous involvement in local organisations or local issues. Maybe it's not important as some people can kick into gear when given the ticket but at the same time you have to be able to decide if a candidate will deliver or not. Some will vote based purely on the political party behind the candidate, some will vote on a candidate they believe in and some will not vote at all.

Wordless

Housing: particularly what there position is with regards evictions on the Curragh Camp.

Public transport and education: particularly between Maynooth and South Kildare.

Rosahane

Joe Public wrote: »

Not exactly on topic but relevant I think.

Is it acceptable to ask candidates what they have been doing to help in the local community up to now? Some of the new candidates have made great promises but with no track record of previous involvement in local organisations or local issues. Maybe it's not important as some people can kick into gear when given the ticket but at the same time you have to be able to decide if a candidate will deliver or not. Some will vote based purely on the political party behind the candidate, some will vote on a candidate they believe in and some will not vote at all.

I agree with you. I always quiz candidates as to what community organisation they are involved with. I feel that anybody who hasn't been prepared to volunteer their time for their community in an unpaid capacity is unlikely to be of much benefit on the council.

Last time round one first time candidate got very embassased when I asked why she wasn't doing something about the abysmal state of the estate in which she lived. She wasn't even involved on the residents association!

Joe Public

That "Public Meeting" Litter Law loophole that allows candidates to erect posters at any time needs to be plugged. There are enough of the usual illegal posters up besides politicians adding to the clutter.