LEO VARADKAR TD DUBLIN WEST Castleknock, Blanchardstown and Clonsilla. UPDATE SPRING 2014 BLANCHARDSTOWN CHOSEN FOR CHILDREN’S URGENT CARE CENTRE The Government has chosen Connolly be able to deal with minor injuries, Hospital in Blanchardstown as one of respiratory complaints and rashes, two locations for new Urgent Care for example. Centres for sick children. The other The decision to locate one of will be in Tallaght. These Urgent the Urgent Care Centres in Care Centres will operate as satellite Blanchardstown makes a lot of units of the new National Paediatric sense. Dublin 15 and Dublin 7 are full Hospital due to be built on a site near of young families with children, and St James’s Hospital. Emergencies Blanchardstown is easily accessible STAY UP TO DATE will go to the new hospital and from other parts of the city and Leo pictured with Eamonn Coghlan and Olympic WITH IMPORTANT LOCAL NEWS! operations and specialty clinics Co. Meath. Also, there is a lot of medalist Kenneth Egan at the launch of the St You can follow me on the twitter will be based there as well. land around Connolly Hospital, so Patricks Day run. The money raised will go to Our machine @campaignforleo It will be one of the biggest planning permission and construction Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and athletics and best Children’s Hospitals should be relatively straightforward. clubs including local club Metro St Bridget’s in Europe. The Blanchardstown The Unit is expected to open in and Tallaght units will be able to about two years’ time. The decision see children who do not need to be to locate the Urgent Care Centre in IT BLANCHARDSTOWN TO JOIN admitted to hospital, but who do Blanchardstown is further evidence need to see a paediatrician right of this Government’s commitment away. Most cases will be sent in by to the long-term development of our NEW TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY GPs or brought in by parents. It will hospital. IT Blanchardstown has more than 5,000 part of a new Dublin Technological students and is the only third level University as part of the Government’s institution in Dublin West. The decision decision to modernise our third-level HOSPICE to build an Institute of Technology in sector. This would involve a merger with Blanchardstown was taken the last DIT - which is moving to Grangegorman - time that Fine Gael and Labour were in and with IT Tallaght, to form a new three- government back in the late 1990s. Since campus university. It will be able to award then ITB has grown dramatically and has its own degrees, attract more funding, developed some really excellent and research grants and post-graduate modern facilities. The majority of students students. The legislation to enable this come from the West Dublin area and it has major reform is currently being drafted increased participation in higher education and should pass through the Dáil and among school leavers in the area. Seanad later this year. It is another really Now, IT Blanchardstown could become promising move for our area. Leo Varadkar TD, Senator Eamonn Coghlan and Cllr Eithne Loftus pictured with Minister Varadkar and Cllr Eithne Loftus pictured at the annual hospice newly-appointed draw in the Blanchardstown Centre. €1 million has been ring-fenced in Fine Gael the HSE’s budget for 2014 to open the first in-patient beds at St Francis representatives Hospice in Blanchardstown. The annual car draw raises a huge Henry Minogue amount of money for the hospice every year. The generosity of local people and the commitment of the ticket-sellers is remarkable. and Ted Leddy. This year’s car was won by a resident of Ashington, Dublin 7. VARADKAR - Working for You in Dáil Éireann DUBLIN WEST UPDATE MINISTER LEO VARADKAR TD ROYAL CANAL GREENWAY €30,000 TO MAKE OUR ROADS SAFER The Government is developing a new greenway for walkers Minister Varadkar has allocated funds for minor works under the Low Cost Safety Improvements and cyclists along the Royal Canal from the City Centre to Scheme. These include: Maynooth. Eventually, it will form part of a coast-to-coast • €15,000 for an electronic speed reader - which shows the speed of approaching vehicles - will greenway from Dublin to Galway. Some sections are be installed at Church Road in Mulhuddart Village; already complete such as the one at Ashtown. Others are • €15,000 for an electronic speed reader to be installed at the entrance to St Catherine’s Park nearing completion including the section between Ashtown near Lucan. and Castleknock. A total of €80,000 has been allocated to The projects are expected to be completed in 2014. As Minister for Transport, Leo is also do detailed design work on the section between Castleknock responsible for road safety. Experience tells us that reducing the number of deaths and injuries and Clonsilla. This section, known as ‘the deep sinking’ is on our roads is all about education, enforcement and engineering. Engineering includes ensuring the trickiest part, as the canal is several meters below the that our vehicles are safe through programmes like the NCT. But it also includes making changes towpath along this section. to our roads, particularly the most dangerous spots. SPORTS CAMPUS Minister Varadkar pictured with hockey players from The King’s Hospital on one of the new hockey pitches at the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown. A pavilion and a dozen all-weather pitches for soccer, Gaelic games, rugby and hockey are now available on site for athletes of Leo with Ted Leddy, at work in the constituency office on all levels. The sod will soon be turned on the FAI and GAA Castleknock issues training centres with work expected to begin on the indoor track and arena by the end of the year. THIS GOVERNMENT’S ACHIEVEMENTS Fine Gael has been in government for three years now. We haven’t got everything right and we have made mistakes. But enormous progress has been made and the country is now in a much better place than it was when we took office. Ireland is back on track and our prospects for the future are looking bright. Below is a list of some our achievements in government. We can achieve more again in the next two years. JOBS HEALTH (FAIR CARE) PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM • 60,000 more people at work than a year • More medical cards than ever before – 2 million • Croke Park Agreement replaced with Haddington Road • Thousands fewer public servants doing a lot more work ago • Medical cards for all under-sixes this year • 100 fewer State agencies and public bodies • Unemployment down to 12.3% from peak • Waiting times and numbers on trolleys down of 15% • MRSA infection rates at all-time low SOCIAL PROGRESS • Minimum wage restored THE ECONOMY, THE NEW POLITICS • Children’s Rights included in the constitution • Ban on Corporate Donations • Dedicated Child Protection Agency set up BUDGET AND THE BANKS • Gender quotas/more women in politics • No cut to basic weekly Social Welfare payments • First country to exit the Troika Programme • Whistle-blowers protected • New laws on Personal Insolvency and Bankruptcy • Bank Guarantee, Anglo, Irish Nationwide, • Lobbying regulated • New legislation on adoption/surrogacy IBRC, Promissory notes – all are now history • Referendum on marriage equality next year € • Fewer Ministers, Fewer Advisers – all are paid • Over 10bn recovered from banks already less, and fewer State cars in use • Trials of bankers underway; Public Banking • Fewer TDs from 2016 Inquiry to start soon • New and open public appointments process OTHER MATTERS • National Debt to start falling this year (as a • Successful EU Presidency • Stronger Oireachtas committees percentage of GDP) • Ireland’s reputation restored overseas • Fewer Councillors, Fewer Councils, More Local • Budget Deficit down from 30% to less than • Tourism recovery – best year since 2008 with The democracy 5% in 2014 Gathering 2013 • Constitutional Convention is reviewing the • No increase in income tax or USC as • Transport Construction resumed – Luas Cross City, Constitution promised Newlands Cross • Bus route competition from 2016 Visit Leo Varadkar’s Website at www.leovaradkar.ie for more information on local news..... Below is short list of some of the improvements that have been made in Dublin West since the Fine Gael/ Labour Government took up office. It shows that even in tough times and with tight budgets, real progress MINISTER LEO VARADKAR TD LOCAL ACHIEVEMENTS can be made. We plan to continue our work and get much more done for our area in the coming years. HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE Gymnasium, Security Fencing € • St Oliver Plunkett Eoghan Ruadh • MRI for Connolly Hospital up and running ( 1.5 • New bridge at Mulhuddart for flood relief € million) € GAA Club - 22,783, Playing Surface scheme ( 2 million) development (natural), Equipment • St Francis Hospice to open in 2014 (€1 million) • Sewerage network investment in € • Westmanstown Gaels/Garda GAA Club • Urgent Care Centre for children at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown ( 500,000) - €18,244, Goalposts to open in 2016 • St Mochta’s Football Club - €18,040, • Primary Care Centres due in Corduff (2015), and Equipment Navan Road/Ashtown TOURISM • Tyrrelstown GAA Club - €5,000, • Restoration work underway at Shackleton Equipment Gardens (€413,000 from Government/Fingal) • Hartstown/Huntstown Football Club - EDUCATION €10,000, Dressing room • New secondary school at Luttrellstown Community College (open) • FAI Leinster Football League, Phoenix CYCLING/WALKING Park - €20,000 • New primary school at Mulhuddart National School • Ongar/Castaheany Cycleways completed – •