ANTHONY LAWLOR TD - Working for the people of Kildare North

I am pleased with the announcement by Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter TD, that the recruitment of new gardaí is set to commence again next year after a five year lapse. It is my hope that this new intake will address the shortage of gardaí in County Kildare, which has been a widespread problem for some time, for it is well known that the ratio of garda per head of population is significantly lower in Kildare than elsewhere in the country. Though the economic crisis made the moratorium of public recruitment necessary, it has had a severely adverse effect on the garda force in Kildare.

I have called on Minister Alan Shatter to give Kildare first preference in terms of garda allocation in order to bring the County’s force in line with other counties, and I look forward to welcoming the new recruits.

GARDA RECRUITMENT RECOMMENCES

NEW ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES FOR 2014 ELECTIONSIn the last local election, the Celbridge electoral area included Leixlip and Maynooth, but the new boundary lines have removed Maynooth from the Celbridge area and merged it with Clane. For voters, this means that the Celbridge-Leixlip area will have seven members as compared to six previously, and the Maynooth-Clane region will have nine County Councillors.

LAWLOR’SL AT E S T

• Free GP care for children under 5 years• 9% VAT rate on tourism and hospitality retained• No change to child benefit• No change to headline social welfare rates• No income tax or Universal Social Charge increases• No increase in excise on petrol or diesel• No increase in class sizes• 1,400 additional mainstream and resource teachers to be

recruited in 2014• New family home improvement scheme for renovation and

maintenance work • Build Your Own Business Initiative to promote SMEs and

entrepreneurship – 2 year income tax exemption for long term unemployed who start a business

BUDGET 2014 HIGHLIGHTSA MESSAGE

FROM ANTHONYSince elected to Dáil Éireann in February 2013 I have tried to make myself as accessible to the public as possible. I have a constituency office in Naas which is open daily, and I encourage you to drop in if you wish to raise an issue with me. I canvass door to door in different towns throughout the constituency on Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings so please look out for letters to your home indicating when I will be in your area. I would also be more than happy to organise tours to Dáil Éireann for individuals, groups or schools. After all it is your parliament! Please do not hesitate to contact me to arrange a tour.

I look forward to meeting with you.

CELBRIDGE

ANTHONY LAWLOR TD | CELBRIDGE NEWSLETTER | NOVEMBER 2013

Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has published the draft Admission to Schools bill which will regulate the admission of pupils to primary and post-primary school. The draft law, which has been in the works for two years, has been approved by the Cabinet and will move on to the Dáil to be legislated. It has become common for parents to put children’s names on waiting lists shortly after birth, paying up to €200 to hold the spot. The new rules ban the fee and put limits on the extensive waiting lists by setting 1 October of the previous year as the first date on which applications may be accepted. Interviewing the parents and child before enrolment will also be banned. While preference will still be given to siblings of existing or former students to avoid disrupting families, the guidelines will put a stop to the unfair custom of cherry-picking some students and discriminating against others on socio-economic, religious, racial, and other grounds. I will support this piece of legislation throughout its passage in the Dáil.

ANTHONY LAWLOR TD • Tel: 045 888488 • Email: anthony.lawlor@oireachtas.ie • www.anthonylawlor.ie

NEW SCHOOL ENROLMENT RULES

Visiting a Palestinian Afterschool club during my visit to Gaza and the West Bank:

CHANGES TO MOTOR TAX RULESIn late September, the transition period of the Non-Use of Motor Vehicles Act of 2013 came to a close. This means that car owners must now notify their local motor tax office in advance of a vehicle being temporarily taken off the road. Previously, such exemptions could have been made retrospectively at a Garda station, but when it was discovered that such a loophole cost the State more the €54 million per annum, as people took advantage by allowing their tax to lapse and then explaining gaps in cover by claiming their vehicle was off the road, Minister for Local Government Phil Hogan took action. Already, the Government took in some €15 million more in motor tax payments than in the same period last year. If your vehicle is currently on the National Vehicle and Driver File, an application to tax the vehicle or a declaration of non-use must be made. Older vehicles must be added to the File to allow for taxing or exemption. Owners of unregistered vehicles should register their vehicles through the Revenue Commissioners, though motor tax will not be sought for the period prior to registration.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte announced on 8 October a new system of “next generation postcodes” to be rolled out by 2015. The system, the first of its kind in the world, will assign a unique, easy-to-remember seven character code to every letter-box in the State, which will aid emergency, postal, and other service providers in locating all households, as 30% of all domestic addresses currently are not distinct. Additionally, both individual apartments and offices with specific post-boxes will each be assigned a unique postcode. The first three characters of the codes will refer to a general area or postal district.

According to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, some benefits of this revolutionary new system include: cheaper and better delivery services; reduced response times of emergency services; better and cheaper mail and express delivery services; better public services and planning thereof; and easier use of online services.

“Householders will be informed of their postcode in early 2015 and will be able to use it from then on,” announced Minister Rabbitte. “In the meantime the groundwork designing the code and updating private and public sector databases to accommodate the new postcode system will be undertaken.”

NEW POSTAL CODES

FINE GAEL IN GOVERNMENT SINCE 2011 HAS:

✔ Agreed upon the promissory note deal, which reduces Ireland’s borrowing need by €20bn over the next 10 years.

✔ Helped Ireland to achieve successive years of moderate economic growth in 2011 and 2012, with unemployment falling to 13.3% in September 2013, its lowest level in more than three and a half years. Over the past year, the number of unemployment benefit claimants has fallen by over 20,000.

✔ Kept our promise to not raise income tax rates, because a tax on income is a tax on jobs.

✔ Defended Ireland’s corporation tax – which is crucial for maintaining existing jobs and attracting new jobs. Groups have shown confidence in Co. Kildare, such as the Kerry Group, which will bring approximately 1,000 new jobs to Naas and the surrounding region over the next several years.

✔ Attracted new companies to Ireland – including eBay, Facebook, Twitter, and PayPal.

✔ Increased mortgage interest relief to 30% for 2004-2008 first-time buyers and forced State-owned banks to pass on reduced ECB interest rates. Applications to the Insolvency Service of Ireland commenced in September 2013 (to be added to point on mortgages). Some mortgage holders are still struggling – a point I continually highlighted in Dáil Éireann.

✔ Increased the minimum wage by €1 per hour, reversing the mean cut by Fianna Fáil in 2010, and changed the Universal Social Charge so that 330,000 people now do not have to pay it.

✔ Developed existing trade relationships with Great Britain and the USA, while building new ones with vibrant economies like China.

Meeting with Palestinian fishermen during my recent trip to Gaza and the West Bank:

ANTHONY LAWLOR TD • Tel: 045 888488 • Email: anthony.lawlor@oireachtas.ie • www.anthonylawlor.ie

LOCAL NEWS...

ARTHUR GUINESS COMES TO CELBRIDGEThe historic hometown of Arthur Guinness is now also the home of a bronze scuplture of the brewer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. I am hopeful that this new landmark will boost tourism in the region as part of a “Guinness trail” from Celbridge to Leixlip, where he had his first brewery, Oughterard cemetary, where he is buried, and Dublin, where the Guinness Storehouse is today. Be sure to check it out!

GREENWAY FACILITYA proposed shared pedestrian and cyclist greenway facility, stretching from Canal Harbour, Maynooth, to the Kildare/Meath border – approximately 17km – is in the works. The path is to be a place of mutual respect between pedestrians and cyclists, but due to current policy, horses should not be allowed on the path.

ENERGY UPGRADEThe Celbridge GAA Club has been awarded an energy upgrade which will save the club €2,000 per annum. This is a part of Minister Pat Rabbitte’s Better Energy iniative, to see 3,500 homes and 290 community buildings with energy efficiency upgrades nationwide.

CELBRIDGE FUNDRAISINGCongratulations to the Sisters of the Holy Faith, Celbridge, who during the month of September, raised €1,300 for education in Southern Sudan, where less than 2% of the population have access to primary school education. This mission began in January, when three sisters travelled to Riwoto, Sudan, to start a primary school there.

QUESTIONS:Since the Dáil resumed in September, I have tabled a number of Dáil Questions to various Ministers covering issues including guarantees that the SUSI Grant system has been approved to avoid problems which arose last year; assurances relating to the quality standards for the installation of water metering; and the rates being imposed on our national stadiums

– the Aviva and Croke Park.

SPEECHES: I have raised two issues during Topical Issues Debates in the Dáil in recent weeks. The first was an exchange with Finance Minister Michael Noonan with regard to the ongoing situation in Newbridge Credit Union. I, along with a number of my Fine Gael colleagues, also raised the urgent need for Dáil Reform and was delighted to have the Taoiseach in the

Chamber to answer our queries.

OVERSEAS TRIP:I was honored to be invited by Christian Aid to visit the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the first week of October. On this tour, Senator Averil Power FF, Derek Nolan TD, and I saw first hand the living conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a result of the ongoing political conflict in the region. I believe that the situation there is more of a human rights issue, than a humanitarian one.

MY ROAD TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT) BILL 2012

I recently introduced a Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill to Dáil Éireann. This Bill will make the clocking of cars an offence. It is necessary to introduce this Bill because the practice of tampering car odometers not only deceives the car buyer but can also be a safety issue. I am hoping that this Bill can progress

through the Oireachtas in 2013.

To keep track of all my Dáil contributions check out my website page

www.anthonylawlor.ie or follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

DÁIL BUSINESS

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Competition Time! For the opportunity to win a tour to Dáil Éireann followed by a meal in the Dáil Restaurant for two people, email me the answer to the following question:

Q .Who is the current Minister for European Affairs?

All correct answers to anthony.lawlor@oir.ie. Deadline for receipt of entries 1st December 2013

SOME USEFUL CONTACT DETAILS:Kildare County Council, (045) 980200, www.kildarecountycouncil.ie

Maynooth Community Council, www.maynoothcc.com/maynoothcc@eircom.net. 01-6285922

Maynooth Health Centre, 01 610 6130

Maynooth Citizens’ Information Centre, Main Street, 01 6285477

Maynooth Social Welfare Office, Town Hall Mall, 01 6106000

Maynooth Garda Station, 01 6291444

Central Fire Station, (045) 431470

Maynooth DOC (out of hours GP Service) 01 4539333

ANTHONY LAWLOR TDEmail: anthony.lawlor@oireachtas.ieConstituency Office: 56 South Main Street, Naas, Co. Kildare.Contact Number: 045 888488Opening Hours: 9am -12pm & 3pm – 5pmWebsite: www.anthonylawlor.ieFind me on Facebook

YOUR LOCAL NAAS FINE GAEL TEAM:

Email: griffins@eircom.netAddress: Ballygoran, Maynooth, Co. Kildare. Contact Numbers: 01-6285177 and 087-2331267

COUNCILLOR SENAN GRIFFIN