Tuesday 19 December 2017

Brady welcomes the green light to reopen Donard Garda Station

Wicklow Sinn Féin TD John Brady has welcomed the announcement that the process of reopening Donard Garda station is to commence. It comes following the establishment of a pilot scheme to reopen six of the139 Garda stations that were closed across the State in 2012 and 2013.

Speaking after the decision was made Teachta Brady said “The news that Donard Garda Station is set to reopen is to be welcomed. Fine Gael and Labour closed both Donard and Hollywood Garda Stations in West Wicklow. Unfortunately we are now seeing the impact of this, so far this year there have been 114 burglaries in West Wicklow, up dramatically from a total of 76 burglaries in 2016. This signals an alarming increase of 50% in crime in the area.”

“The acting Garda Commissioner has submitted his final report in relation to the pilot scheme and has written to the Office of Public Works to progress the reopening Donard along with five other Garda Stations. I have been raising the need to reopen Donard since it was first closed and have raised it directly with the Minister for Justice numerous times.”

Teachta Brady concluded “This is reopening of Donard Garda Station is positive news positive news for the people of West Wicklow. It follows on from the recent deployment of a number of new Gardaí, including two new Detective Sergeants to West Wicklow in order to deal with the dramatic increase in crime, one in Baltinglass and one to Blessington. Once open Donard Garda Station will play a critical role in helping deal with rural crime.”

Wednesday 13 December 2017

Brady unanimously selected to contest next General Election

Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady was unanimously selected by Sinn Féin members from across Wicklow to contest the next General Election.

The convention took place on Tuesday evening in the Arklow Bay Hotel with guest speaker Deputy MaryLou McDonald.

Accepting the nomination Teachta Brady said:

“I am absolutely honoured and humbled to have been unanimously selected again by the Wicklow Sinn Féin members as the party’s General Election candidate when the election is held.

“It has been a privilege to give the people of Wicklow a strong voice in Leinster House since making history in 2016 by winning the seat.

“As the only opposition TD representing Wicklow I've worked hard to represent everyone without fear or favour and I look forward to continuing that work if given the mandate by the people of Wicklow again.

“In the next Dáil term I want to be part of a Sinn Féin government that will tackle the crises in housing, homelessness and our health service, build a United Ireland that really does cherish all our children equally.

“I will continue to work hard for all of the people of Wicklow and I look forward to doing so in 2018.”



Tuesday 12 December 2017

Welcome progress made on tackling lethal N11 road safety issue in Kilmacanogue-Brady

Wicklow Sinn Fein TD John Brady has welcomed progress on addressing the serious road safety issues on the N11 in Kilmacanogue at the petrol station on the southbound lane.

The Wicklow TD who has been working on this serious safety issue for a number of years said “I welcome the good progress that has been made on trying to address the serious safety issue on the N11 at the petrol station in Kilmacanogue. The situation is lethal because of traffic exiting from the petrol station onto the southbound lane of the N11. Thankfully now action is finally been taken to deal with the issue.

“I have been in constant contact with Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Minister for Transport Shane Ross in relation to this issue. Thankfully Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has given approval to progress the situation in Kilmacanogue as a safety scheme. Kildare Road Design office have been appointed to project manage the scheme and they are in the process of appointing consultants. It is hoped that will happen before Christmas. Their remit will be to carry out investigations on site and then provide options to address the safety issues.

“I have spoken to the project manager who informs me that it is planned on have one to one meetings with all stakeholders in the New Year. When a preferred option emerges there will be a full public consultation process and that it will go through the Part 8 planning process.

“A number of options have been looked at in the past. One option was to construct a dedicated service road utilising the hard shoulder. This would have involved placing a barrier between the service road and the N11 itself. This would force all traffic coming out of the petrol station up the slip road for Kilmacanogue before rejoining the N11 on the opposite side of the bridge.

Brady concluded “I hope that the consultants when appointed will bring back their proposals as quickly as possible. I believe that the construction of a dedicated service road is the best option to address the lethal situation that is in Kilmacanogue at present; however we must let the consultants do their work. The important thing here is that the current unsafe situation is ended and that must happen as soon as possible.”

Monday 11 December 2017

Public Transport fails people with disabilities again- Brady

Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady has today raised the case of a gentleman who was left on the DART unable to get off at his destination while getting home to Bray from work. He also said that when it comes to access to public transport people with disabilities are discriminated against.

Speaking this morning Teachta Brady said:

"I am horrified to learn that a Bray man who is in a wheelchair was unable to get off the DART due to nobody being at the DART station to assist him off the DART. The man who has contacted me has told me that he was unable to reach the emergency button and was left stuck on the train as it travelled to Greystones.

“Clearly there was a break down in the Irish Rail communications system between where the man got on the DART in Lansdowne Road and Bray.

"On what was one of the coldest nights of the year he was left sitting in Greystones in the freezing cold until another train arrived to bring him back to Bray.

"This is absolutely unacceptable and is exactly why we cannot allow the unmanning of DART and train stations to continue.

"I have contacted the CEO of Irish Rail and Minister Shane Ross in relation to this matter and I intend to meet with them on this issue as soon as possible. As it currently stands people with disabilities are being discriminated against and this latest incident serves to highlight this again.

"I recently launched an online petition calling on Minister Ross to put an end to Irish Rail's plans of unmanning DART stations which can be found at www.change.org/p/minister-shane-ross-oppose-the-unmanning-of-dart-and-train-stations. Nearly 1500 people have already signed it since I launched it. I would urge the public to support this petition by signing it online." ENDS

Friday 8 December 2017

Slow but welcome progress on Cold Winter Initiative for the Homeless in Wicklow – Brady

Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady has welcomed moves made by Wicklow County Council to progress the cold winter initiative for the homeless in Wicklow.

Speaking this afternoon, Teachta Brady said:

“I welcome moves by Wicklow County Council to introduce the cold winter initiative for the homeless. This initiative will mean the opening up of a premise in order to provide shelter for the homeless during the cold weather. Over the last two months in the run into the cold winter months i have been requesting that this initiative be rolled out.

“Given how cold the weather is already, there is an urgent need for this initiative to become a reality urgently.

“I welcome the Council’s consultation with the Five Loaves and the Simon Community in introducing the cold weather initiative which is so desperately needed at this time of year.

“I also would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have dropped off shoeboxes for the homeless as part of Wicklow Sinn Féin’s own initiative to help to support the homeless this time of the year. Shoeboxes can be dropped into my constituency offices in Bray or Arklow between now and Christmas.” ENDS