22 robberies in one day is intolerable - O' Connell

A local Sinn Féin representative has appealed for people to come forward with information to the Gardaí following a spate of robberies in recent times, cumulating in twenty two house burglaries between Duncormick and Fethard in a single afternoon.  Oisin O' Connell said information that might seem insignificant to the holder could be of huge value to the Gardaí and help prevent future attacks.

Mr O' Connell said;

"In a single afternoon twenty two homes were robbed between Duncormick and Fethard.  That's twenty two families violated in one day.  The situation is becoming intolerable.  Sinn Féin is appealing to anyone with any information about these robberies to come forward to local Gardaí now.  This situation will only get worse unless we meet it head on and take decisive action."

"People, particularly the elderly who live alone, are living in constant fear at this stage.  It seems that gangs carrying out these attacks have an intimate knowledge of local areas and know exactly when to strike.  This aside, they are not invisible and many of these burglaries are being carried out in broad daylight."

"Everyone has a role to play in preventing these burglaries.  The Gardaí in this county are doing everything they can but thanks to government austerity cuts, they are too few in number.  There are only 18 Gardaí to every 10,000 people in Wexford compared to a national average ratio of 25  to 10,000.  Rural garda stations, such as the one in Ballywilliam, have been closed down leaving communities even more vulnerable."

"Recently some local communities have started text alert schemes to try and keep their neighbours updated on suspicious behaviour in the area.  It is this type of community spirit and collective responsibility that will be crucial in eventually smashing the gangs who are carrying out these robberies.  It's vital that information is shared to the local authorities.  Even the most inconspicuous piece of information could prevent a robbery or attack"

Phone scammers are targeting Enniscorthy residents too - Mythen

Cllr Johnny Mythen has warned people to be vigilant of phone scams after being contacted by several constituents  recently.  The Vice-Chairperson of Enniscorthy Town Council said that cybercriminals were no longer staying on line and were increasingly engaged in ringing homes and claiming to be representing reputable organisations like Microsoft and Dell.

Cllr Mythen said;

"This international criminal activity has long operated in other countries, but now  it's happening right here in Enniscorthy.  Local people are reporting that they are getting  bogus phone calls from individuals who claim to represent  trusted organisations.  They will tell you that there's a serious problem with your computer or smart phone, gain your trust, and then ask for personal details which they will use to gain access to your bank accounts or steal your identity."

"These cybercriminals will often claim to represent one of the following reputable institutions; Windows Helpdesk, Windows Service Centre, Microsoft Tech Support, Microsoft Support, Windows Technical Department Support Group or Microsoft Research and Development Team (Microsoft R & D Team).  Do not under any circumstances purchase  services or software from these callers and also ask them immediately if there is a fee involved with this call.  Never provide them with your credit card information and never give them remote access to your computer, even if they claim that there is a serious problem with it."

"These scams are becoming more and more prevalent.  Unfortunately with new technology comes new ways to rip you off.  Be aware and alert to phone calls requesting any private information or personal details.  Other scams to watch for are emails claiming that you have won the lotto in a foreign country despite not having purchased a ticket.  They will ask you to cover the admin costs or ask for your bank account details so the money can be transferred.  Another common scam is by means of text congratulating you on winning a substantial prize which can be claimed by ringing a special premium rate number to arrange for collection."

SUSI grants must be processed on time this year - O' Súilleabháin

A local teacher and spokesperson for Sinn Féin has said that Wexford students cannot afford a repeat of last year's SUSI grant scheme debacle.  Fionntán O' Súilleabháin called on local government TDs to insure that their administration guarantee that Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) will process third level grant applications and payments on time for the 2013/2014 academic year.

Mr O' Súilleabháin said;

"Last year we heard horror stories from County Wexford students who found themselves without money for the most basic provisions because of the failure of the governments 'revolutionary' SUSI programme.  Many local students were forced to drop out due to the economic hardships they were experiencing.  All this because thousands of applications were delayed, rejected in error, lost and, even now, some remain outstanding. We cannot have a repeat of that fiasco this year."

"On top of all the hardships already incurred by affected students, those with fees that remain outstanding will not be entitled to graduate."

"Last year the government introduced SUSI to replace the work previously carried out very efficiently by VECs and County Councils as their innovate measure to improve the pay out of college grants.  It was a complete failure from the start and many would have very real concerns that the same thing will happen this year."

"Local government TDs, Deputy Paul Kehoe, Minister Brendan Howlin and Deputy Liam Twomey need to represent the students of this county now by insuring that their government does not allow SUSI to collapse for a second year running.  They need to move now because it will be too late when students are hungry, impoverished and being forced to drop out in October."

Sinn Féin choose O' Connell for New Ross

A Foulkesmills farmer has been chosen to contest next years local elections in the New Ross district for Sinn Féin.  Oisin O' Connell, a trained economist, was chosen at a packed election convention in the Horse and Hound, Ballinaboola last night.

Speaking after being elected unanimously to represent Sinn Féin in New Ross, Mr O' Connell said;

"The New Ross district has been crippled by the austerity policies of this government and their predecessors.  Unemployment is rampant and communities have been purged of their young people, who through no fault of their own have been forced to emigrate to find work.  A change of direction is long overdue."

"Sinn Féin have stood against the policies of austerity from the beginning.  We have offered fully costed, solid alternatives which have been ignored by the very people who got us into this economic mess.  As a Sinn Féin candidate, I pledge to push for stimulus and job creation in South Wexford and to oppose the failed plan of cuts, cuts and more cuts which has clearly not delivered economic recovery."

Cherishing all the children of the nation equally

County Wexford Sinn Féin Back to School Paper 2013

 

Introduction

Never before have so many Irish families found themselves struggling to equip their children to go back to school in September.  A combination of five years of recession, failed government austerity measures and an unwillingness by successive Ministers for Education to tackle the very obvious burdens within the system have created a situation where many parents in County Wexford will borrow, let other bills go unpaid and even cut back on food just to meet the back to school costs.

The Irish Proclamation of 1916 laid out the very progressive ideal that the state would cherish 'all the children of the nation equally'.  A century later, this ideal does not hold up to reality.  Its estimated that one in five Irish children have gone to bed hungry and woke up cold on a regular basis in the past year.

Social benefits like the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and childrens allowance are not sufficient for families who are in serious debt and mortgage arrears.  Despite the best efforts of parents across the land, children are going to school hungry, without proper clothing or equipment.

Article 42.4 of the Constitution states, “The State shall provide for free primary education”.  Clearly this is not the case and it is our children who are suffering as a result.

 

2013 Survey

In order to gauge an accurate view of the expenses faced by parents of school children in County Wexford today, local Sinn Féin commissioned their second annual Back to School Survey.  The survey was completed by just over four hundred parents from New Ross to Gorey during the months of June and July 2013.

The findings of the survey have been summarised here;

91% of parents surveyed find back to school time expensive

62% of parents surveyed find school books to be the biggest expense during the back to school period.  29% cited school uniforms, while 6% said footwear and 3% identified school transport as the biggest expense.

83% of parents surveyed find secondary school to be the most expensive period in a child’s education.

96% of those parents surveyed felt that any cuts to, or the introduction of means testing to the children’s allowance would impact seriously upon their families.

91% of parents surveyed believe that school crests that could be affixed to a supermarket-bought school jumper should be made available to cut the high costs of school uniforms.

81% of parents surveyed said that the introduction of a book rental scheme in all schools would cut education costs. 

89% of parents surveyed find that the children’s allowance is not adequate to meet the cost of sending children to school in 2012.

56% of parents surveyed are in receipt of the back to school allowance.

57% of parents surveyed said that they would like to see schools switch to using laptops, e-books and iPads in order to cut down on the expense of school books, writing materials and constant updates to the school curriculum.

48% of parents surveyed spend over €350 on back to school expenses.  39% of them spend more than €400.

19% of parents surveyed believe that the back to school allowance should be available to all parents while a further 56% felt that the back to school allowance should be available to all families but means tested.

7% of parents surveyed are forced to sell personal belongings to finance back to school expenses.  Another 13% rely upon loans taken out from the provident and other door to door loan agencies.

 

Comments from Parents

Its a worry on us from the time they get the holidays.  You're trying to think of what else you could cut out to make sure they have everything they need

Voluntary contributions are not voluntary.  Its just another bill and if you dont pay it, your child is stigmatised

The last two years I borrowed money off the provident but I wont even be able to do that this year.

He ripped his new jumper at the end of September.  We had only been able to afford one.  We went without food to get a new one so he wouldnt be laughed at.  Its like a third world country.

 

Our proposals;

Stop further government budget cuts to our education system. 

Make school crests that can be easily affixed to supermarket bought school uniform jumpers available.  An average school jumper costs around €60 when its true value is less than a third of this price. 

Establish a book-lending scheme across all primary and secondary schools in the county.  Such a scheme should be centralised and would see books provided free of cost to schools for children’s use.

Abolish the charge for the leaving certificate, junior cert and the mocks.

Extend eligibility for the Back to School Allowance to include all families in receipt of Family Income Supplement in addition to those in receipt of social welfare.

Provide every primary school child in the state with a free lunch meal.  Its been estimated that one in five children have gone to school hungry at some point since the recession began.

Wexford County Council should begin consultation with the Department of Education, every school in the county and suppliers of electronic tablets and similar devices in order to launch Wexford as the first county to go completely over to digital learning.  If the tax on digital devices used for learning was to be removed in line with school books and attempts were made by the state to do a deal with providers of such devices, then digital learning would be considerably cheaper over the course of a child’s education.

Oppose third level fees through any guise and reform the grants system to take into account the real costs of going to college.

End the system where schools are reliant on voluntary contributions from parents by raising the capitation grants to cover the real cost of running a school.  An estimated 76% of parents are requested to make voluntary contributions to schools, amounting to €130 on average per child.  Capitation grants which pay for the day-to-day costs of running the school were reduced by 2% in 2011 and a further 1.5% last year.  These cuts combined with the freezing of the summer improvements scheme is making it increasingly difficult for schools to meet their daily running and maintenance costs.

Abolish the post primary transport scheme which unfairly discriminates against students in relation to where they live.  The cost of school transport should be capped at €100 per year, with free transport for primary school children.

End the state subsidy for private education and cap the salaries of university and college heads at €100,000.

Kelly commends customs drug seizure

A Wexford Borough Councillor has commended the customs team that seized €1.5 million of heroin in Rosslare Europort today.  Cllr Anthony Kelly said the huge haul had no doubt been destined for the towns and villages of the south east, including Wexford town which has seen a worrying increase in people seeking help for heroin addiction in recent months.

"The customs officers at Rosslare Europort have done another huge service for this county and the whole of the south east," Cllr Kelly said.  "The 10.26kg of heroin seized by them today was destined our local town and surrounding areas across the region.  This drug has been a cause of misery and death across this country and every effort to eradicate it from our community must be made."

"Recently there has been a worrying increase in people seeking help for heroin addiction in the Wexford area.  We can't hide our heads in the sand and pretend that heroin is only a problem for cities like Dublin and Limerick when it's clear that it has penetrated every town and village in the region.  This huge bust indicates the potential market that dealers believe now exists in the south east.  Local politicians need to combat the threat posed by this drug now and stop pretending that our town is somehow immune to its growth."

O' Connell calls for reopening of Duncormick Post Office

The Chairperson of County Wexford Sinn Féin has reiterated his party's call for the reopening of the village post office in Duncormick.  Oisin O' Connell, who visited the closed post office with Cllr Anthony Kelly last week, said that its continued closure was causing huge inconvenience for locals and was putting massive strain on small businesses in the area.

"Duncormick Post Office was closed without warning fourteen months ago," Mr O' Connell said.  "No explanation has ever been given by An Post.  The closure has had a shocking effect on the area.  Local businesses have seen a massive fall in custom since the post office was closed proving that it was the lifeblood of the local community."

"While visiting the village last weekend with Cllr Anthony Kelly, I was stunned by how much of an inconvenience this closure has caused to the local community.  Publican John Sinnott, whose business joins the now empty post office told me that local elderly residents have to book a taxi to travel up to eight miles to get to their next nearest post office in Bridgetown to draw their old age pension."

"The parish of Rathangan is the third largest in the diocese of Ferns and has no post office.  The neighbouring parishes of Kilmore and Bannow have three and two respectively.  Duncormick itself had a post office for one hundred and sixty years until the unexpected closure in May 2012."

"The loss of Duncormick's post office is another clear example of the erosion of services currently being witnessed across rural Ireland.  It is unacceptable that people on benefits have to hire a taxi to go collect them.  It's unacceptable that struggling rate paying businesses are sent to the wall because government services are being withdrawn from the local area.  It's unacceptable that Duncormick has gone fourteen months without these basic services or any explanation as to why they have been removed."

Repossession Bill is anti-homeowner, anti-family and is one of the most stringent unfair bills ever to pass through Dail Eireann

Enniscorthy Sinn Féin Cllr Johnny Mythen has described  the governments 'Land  and Conveying Law Reform Bill' as being anti-homeowner and anti-family.  The Vice-Chairperson of Enniscorthy Town Council said that the bill was  "shameful piece of one sided legislation and runs contrary to common justice."

Sinn Fein Cllr. Johnny Mythen stated “The passing of the Land and Conveying law reform bill and the repossession bill has given the lenders and financial institutions complete dominance over citizen’s rights and their right to a decent living. The Governments claim that this is somehow a fairer way or a just way to deal with mortgage arrears and debt couldn’t be further from the truth."

"On close examination, here are some of the facts. The lender (bank) is the sole arbitrator of the process and they decide whether a mortgage is sustainable or not. They are no restrictions on the hours or amount of visits bank officials can call to your door. Banks can make up their own policies on communication with families. They can coerce citizens to give up their tracker mortgages without proving they are getting sufficient value for doing so. Banks have not allowed or built in a minimum income for householders. They have not allowed for sufficient income for the full range of living costs, and are ignoring unsecured debts, such as, car loans, education loans, extension loans etc."

"On top of all this, there is no proper appeal system. The process and M.A.R.P.  will not be part of a repossession case if it winds up in the courts. This also brings the risk of losing the case and winding up with costs and fees compounding the problem even further. There are no provisions for people who have separated or left the country leaving one partner to pay the mortgage. This is a shameful piece of one sided legislation and runs contrary to common justice and will result in multiple ordinary people losing the roof over their heads and the reintroduction of evictions to our shores again."

No justification for abandoned buildings during social housing crisis - O' Connell

Abandoned buildings in Mary Street, Bewley Street and Barrack lane are not only an eyesore but also a discernible waste as thousands of families linger on the growing social housing waiting list.  That's the view of Oisin O' Connell, the local spokesperson for Sinn Féin, who said abandoned buildings could not be justified during a social housing crisis.

"Waiting lists for local authority houses are growing across County Wexford," Mr O' Connell said.  "This is down to the recession and the fact that social housing spending has been slashed by 19% since Fine Gael and Labour entered power in 2011.  There are 98,313 households currently lingering on social housing waiting lists across this state."

"When you consider these figures, it's hard to understand why we have multiple boarded up, abandoned buildings across New Ross town.  The situation is particularly bad in Mary Street, Bewley Street and Barack lane.  The buildings are a eyesore on an picturesque town and a threat to health and safety."

"The  buildings left abandoned in Barrack Lane are in a very bad state.  The gardens are now completely overgrown, ivy is climbing the walls and rubbish is being dumped outside the bottom apartments.  I would have to ask why the town council has allowed this situation to develop in the first place."

"New Ross has shown what it is capable of during the recent JFK festival.  A town of this merit should not be left with any run down areas and urgent action needs to be taken to rectify this now."

Vice-Chair of Enniscorthy Council slams electoral reform

The last Vice-Chairperson of Enniscorthy Town Council has strongly criticised the governments electoral reform which will close town and borough councils across the state from next year.  Cllr Johnny Mythen said the decision to abolish town councils and replace them with a larger county council was undemocratic and did not serve the best interests of the local citizens.

The Sinn Féin Councillor said;

"Sinn Féin has called for reform of our electoral system and an overhaul of local government .  However, reform without power is like having a guard dog without any teeth - useless. Democracy is best served as close to the people as possible. Minister Phil Hogan has swept local democracy away from the people by closing down 80 Town councils, and using the new district councils as mere tax collectors for central Government."

"Local government's  sole purpose is to serve the  interests of the local citizens and to make sure all areas are treated equally.  Sinn Féin has consistently called for radical reform to allow the devolution of powers from central government to local councils so that they may serve a fruitful purpose."

"Losing local Town Councils cannot  be hailed as reform  when the price to pay is the destruction of local democracy on a scale never witnessed before or since the foundation of this state. Somehow I don't think this Government will go down in history as the great reformers of the 21st. century."