Sunday, October 14, 2007
Seanad Motion on Education
The Meath East Labour Party Constituency Council met on Monday night in Ashbourne. It was mostly taken up with the Director of Election's report on the May election. We had a healthy debate about what worked and what didn't and what we need to do differently next time (get more votes!). We also agreed on the list of delegates for next month's conference in Wexford and discussed the forthcoming local elections. It was also an opportunity to talk about the key issues currently affecting the local area and discuss what we can do to work on them.
Every month or so we get the opportunity to introduce our own Bill or Motion in the Seanad. This week we introduced a motion on Education, calling for a new National Convention to tackle the whole issue of school access. My contribution can be seen here. We called for a vote at the end of the debate, but we didn't have sufficient numbers to get it through.
The situation in Burma continues to be a cause of concern. We had an all-party debate on the matter in the Seanad on Thursday. My speech can be seen here
Friday saw the Drogs visit Tolka Park in the top-of-the table clash against Shamrock Rovers. There were about 700 of us in the visitors section. It's a long time since I've seen that level of support for an away league game. It was a cracking match which we won 2-0. The game next Friday in Drogheda could end up being the title-clincher, so it could be a great night to be in Drogheda.
Every month or so we get the opportunity to introduce our own Bill or Motion in the Seanad. This week we introduced a motion on Education, calling for a new National Convention to tackle the whole issue of school access. My contribution can be seen here. We called for a vote at the end of the debate, but we didn't have sufficient numbers to get it through.
The situation in Burma continues to be a cause of concern. We had an all-party debate on the matter in the Seanad on Thursday. My speech can be seen here
Friday saw the Drogs visit Tolka Park in the top-of-the table clash against Shamrock Rovers. There were about 700 of us in the visitors section. It's a long time since I've seen that level of support for an away league game. It was a cracking match which we won 2-0. The game next Friday in Drogheda could end up being the title-clincher, so it could be a great night to be in Drogheda.
# posted by Senator Dominic Hannigan @ 11:46 AM 
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The IDA map of Ireland on the left side of the IDA website homepage does not show the ashbourne dual carriageway or the Clonee dual carriageway. However the IDA does show the N11,N4,N7 dual carriageways in kildare and wicklow. Surely you should get this corrected straight away. It might seem unimportant but its the first map any prospective investor has access to.It should be changed for the sake of east meaths investment potential.
# posted by 
: 1:32 PM, October 17, 2007
: 1:32 PM, October 17, 2007
Well spotted. I take your point completely. We had a debate in the Seanad on the IDA last week (see http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DZoom.aspx?F=SEN20071018.xml&pid=DominicHannigan), it's a pity I didn't see your comment until now. However, I will get on to it and see if they can update it right away.
You should seriously press the minister and NRA on why the N2 Ashbourne Bypass is not a Motorway yet. The only physical difference is a broken yellow hard shoulder line as opposed to continuous yellow line on motorways, and ofcourse the signs are currently green instead of blue. The road already has a 120km/h limit. The Roads Act 2007 allows the minister to redesignate a dual carriageway as a motorway. I emailed the times motor section and they ran an article on it on august 15th saying leaving it as dual carriageway made a mockery of the Motorway Restrictions everywhere else and also made a mockery of the rules of the road which say green sign roads have a max speed limit of 100km/h. Type "Roads Act 2007 Ashbourne" into the ireland.com search engine to see this article which questions why the ashbourne road has not been redesignated. There is no doubt a motorway is much more destinctive on national maps and probably is a greater magnet for economic development. To understand from an engineering point of view how the change could be made, go to wikipedia . org and type in "Roads in Ireland" Its half way down that article. Why was the law changed if they wont use its provisions, development cant open onto a motorway but can to a dual carriageway, we dont want people opening private gates on the ashbourne bypass like has happened on the clonee bypass Please go public on this and get ashbourne its badly needed motorway status.It would be of major benefit to the town in the ways pointed out above. Dont forget to check the two links I mentioned.Thanks, I look forward to hearing about this in the papers, it would go down well in ashbourne which would look like you were showing a interest in creating jobs and keeping the roads safe. Please release a press release. Three blue M1, M2 and M3 motorways on the map would make East Meath look very attratcive to business.
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# posted by : 5:50 PM, October 20, 2007
: 5:50 PM, October 20, 2007 << Home
