Cllr. Ormond calls for Immediate Action for Birr Community Nursing Unit

Cllr. Ormond has called on immediate action regarding the current services being provided at Birr Community Nursing Unit. Due to the unavailability of Nurses to recruit, management have encountered difficulties in securing staff. This is s result of government policy of poor pay for our Nurses in particular. 

This has lead to a cut in services with the closure of 7 respite beds in the last two weeks. These beds provide a great service to the end users and also to the families who provide the care. We have seen in recent weeks people have to secure accommodation in private nursing homes or secure accommodation in other counties. 

Because of the situation we now find ourselves in, there is a potential danger  to other services in the hospital such as Palliative Care beds and the day care centre. Both these services are a vital component of the care that is provided at the unit. 

Birr Community Nursing Unit has provided an invaluable Service to the people of South/West Offaly since its inception and I call on the management of the Hse to intervene to ensure that this unit can provide the level of service that it has capacity for. 

Cllr. Ormond has also criticised Hiqa for its requirement to change the accommodation needs of the unit. These new national standards come into effect on the 1st July this year and will lead to an increase in investment for the unit.

The most valuable resource that this unit has are the current staff who provide an excellent service and go beyond their call of duty to ensure the running of the unit. 

Ends

Fianna Fáil oppose Current Plans for Emmet Square

Fianna Fail Councillors on Birr Town Council, Cllr Michael Loughnane, Denis Tierney and Noel Russell along with Cllr Peter Ormond and Deputy Barry Cowen fully support the people of Birr in their efforts to stop the plans to proceed with the enhancement of Emmet Square in its current form.

At the last meeting of Birr Town Council our Councillors proposed a motion to bring a halt to the development. Unfortunately, our proposal was ruled out of order on a technicality.

We will be pursuing it again next week and we will also be proposing a motion that will aim to ring fence the money for the town of Birr.

The people of Birr came out  in force last Monday night and we fully support them in their opposition to the plan as it currently stands.  The executive of the Council must listen to the people. We also have a job to do as elective representatives in not only bringing your views to the table, but to carry out our functions and overturn this decision. We are in agreement and in support of the chamber of commerce in that the Square needs enhancement that is acceptable to all parties.

Our position has not changed and the meeting last week further enhanced our position of opposition to this development.

We are proposing that the motion below will go before Birr Town Council and Offaly County Council at the April Meeting.

  

Motion

"That Birr Town Council and Offaly County Council ring-fence the allocated money that is in place for the enhancement of Emmet Square. This enhancement can only happen after consultation with and agreement of all vested interests".

Cllr. Ormond calls for Medical Card Review

Cllr. Peter Ormond has called for a review of the Medical Card system and stated that he is unindated with people who have lost their medical cards in the last three months. Cllr. Ormond stated that following the budget their has been a review of all medical card holders and we have seen a huge amount of them been refused. In the HSE budget, there was a reduction in the medical card budget and we are now seeing that being implemented with cuts to peoples medical cards.

Cllr. Ormond stated that people with sick children over the age of 5 are being refused to people who are over 85 years of age being refused. The criteria seems to be completely changed and the majority of reviews don't take medical evidence into account.

Cllr. Ormond also stated that the nationalisation of the system has been nothing short of a disaster. We have people based in a warehouse in Finglas in Dublin who have no access to files. When you contact them, they have to send the query somewhere else. There is also a huge problem with the amount of information that is required and we have people who have to submit the same information over and over again. Also when you are appealing the decision, you have to appeal to an office in Donegal.

The medical card issue has now become a real worry for people. We have people who are just over social welfare limits and have serious illnesses and they are now expected to pay for a monthly visit to the doctor and to purchase medication after that. For these people, something else will be short as there is not enough money to go around. Cllr. Ormond stated that he has expressed these views to the Ministers office in recent days and is waiting for a response.

Cll. Peter Ormond Welcomes Road improvements at Dunkerrin.

Cllr. Peter Ormond has welcomed an allocation from the Department of Transport to carry out improvement works at the junction of Clashagad on the old N7 in Dunkerrin. According to Cllr. Ormond this junction has been quite dangerous for some time and there has been many accidents in the past. There is poor visibility for people coming from Clashagad on to the old N7 and the new plan will eliminate that problem. Cllr. Ormond also stated that design plans are drawn up for the work and that he hoped once tenders are received that work will commence within the next couple of months.

Fianna Fail Councillors Support the Communities of Kilcormac, Cadamstown & Kinnity.

Fianna Fail Councillors in the Birr/Ferbane Electoral area, Cllr. Eamonn Dooley and Cllr. Michael Loughnane, Cllr. Sinead Moylan-Ryan and Cllr. Peter Ormond would like to reiterate their support for the communities of Kilcormac, Kinnity and Cadamstown areas in their efforts to prevent large-scale wind turbines being constructed in their respective areas. The councillors would like to congratulate the committee on organising the petition and carrying out surveys of the areas concerned. The message is clear from the surveys that was conducted that the areas of the Slieve Bloom and its hinterland is not suitable for wind energy development of any size.

In developing our Wind Energy Strategy back in 2008, we made it quite clear that this area was not suitable for wind energy development. We have again made it quite clear  in the Draft Development Plan 2014-2020 and we intend to uphold that at the next stage of the Development Plan. The area is protected through a number of ecological designations including Special Area of Conservation, Natural Heritage Area and Special Protection Area. These considerations make the region unsuitable for wind energy developments as is stated in the Development Plans.

Yet, we have companies looking to sign up landowners in this region that is not deemed suitable for Wind Energy development. This does not set a comforting precedent for future wind energy developments in the region. There must be a framework by which such developments must be checked and approved by local and national governmental bodies before they can proceed. We are calling on the Department to make compliance with the County Development Plan obligatory before a planning application can be made to An Bord Planaela.

The people of these areas have followed the correct process in making submissions to the County Development Plan and we will continue to work on behalf of the Communities to protect their areas from such Developments.

Cllr. Ormond expresses disappointment at dissolution of Dungar Burial Board.

Cllr. Peter Ormond has expressed surprise and disappointment that Dungar Joint Burial Board is to discontinue from 1st June next. The Chairman of the burial board, Cllr. Ormond stated that they had their AGM only two weeks ago and there was no word or mention of it dissolving. We received confirmation on Monday last that two Ministerial Orders were signed the previous week dissolving the board and all assets and liabilities were to be transferred to the local Authority,.ie Offaly County Council.

The board has operated since the foundation of the state at a minimal cost to the state. We were also very lucky to have the Maloney Family as Caretakers since the 1930’s and the dedication and pride they have provided to the people in  the surrounding areas is clear to be seen.

On hearing the news, Cllr. Ormond has made immediate contact with the Environment Section of Offaly County  Council with a view to coming to an alternative arrangement that will seek to provide the status quo in terms of providing the same level of service in the graveyard. However this will take some time and they are no guarantees of a successful outcome.

This is another attack on rural Ireland and the savings that the state are making here are in the region of less than €5,000 per annum. There were only six joint burial boards in the Country and there was no need to make this decision without any consultation. The burial board was made up of people from North Tipperary, Offaly and Laois and met on an annual basis.

Cllr. Ormond would like to express his thanks to Mr. Liam Maloney for his dedication and service to the board and he hoped that after 1st June 2014, there would be a mechanism put in place to facilitate him in his work as care-taker of the cemetery.

Cllr. Ormond calls for halt to Irish Water

Cllr. Peter Ormond is calling on the government to suspend Irish Water and revert back to the current system whereby the local authorities look at water.  While I was astonished to hear last week that over €50 million was spend on consultancy alone, one has to ask the following questions. Who set up Irish Water and what was the need for it? The local authorities of this country have done an excellent job in the past along with local group water schemes in providing quality water to homes.

Cllr. Ormond stated that the local authorities have the expertise and the staff to deal with the issue of supplying water. Irish water strips away these functions from local authorities and places them in this new agency.  What we have seen here is an agency that is running to hundreds of million of euros alone in just setting up. The people of this country will commence paying water charges in early 2015. We all want to see value for money and to see that our money is spent in a transparent and appropriate manner.

Under current government plans, costs are estimated to rage from between €100 and €300 per household without a clear plan for the overall upgrade of the network.

In the past few years, there has been a decrease in capital money available to carry out improvements in our infrastructure, yet we have all this money been spent on consultants and the setting up of Irish Water. We would like to hear from Irish Water and to see their business plan and to hear how they are hoing to recoup this money. The obvious answer at present is that the public is going to pay for this, which is totally unacceptable.

Its never to late to say stop and I call on the government to do this immediately.