NAMA confirms it has No properties in Wicklow suitable for Social Housing

Sinn Féin councillor John Brady has called on the Fine Gael/Labour
Government to change their failed social housing policy and to bring
forward a Social Housing Initiative to allow the immediate
commencement of the construction of social housing projects across the
Country to help try resolve the housing crisis in Wicklow. His appeal
to the Government follows confirmation from NAMA that there are no
suitable housing units for social housing on their books in Wicklow.
The Government has said it expects to reach its target of getting
2,000 residential units from NAMA across the state for social housing.

Cllr Brady said "Their is a serious housing crisis in Wicklow and the
current housing policies of Fine Gael/Labour are compounding the
problems for families who are on housing lists with the local
authorities in Wicklow. The Government has adopted a policy of
building no more council houses, this is partially because of the
number of vacant properties across the state on the books of the
National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). However following a question
i had submitted to Wicklow County Council it has been revealed there
are no suitable housing units in Wicklow currently held by NAMA."

Cllr Brady continued "A total of 27 properties, in 3 estates in County
Wicklow were initially identified as potentially suitable for Social
Housing in 2012. 2 of the estates are in Bray and 1 in Greystones.
After further investigation by the Housing Agency, none of the
properties have been deemed suitable for social housing. The estate in
Greystones and one of the Bray estates are no longer available and the
remaining estate in Bray is not suitable due to the size of the
properties."

"There are over 5,000 families on housing waiting lists in Wicklow,
families are now being told that it could be 10-12 years before they
are even considered for a council house. This is completely appalling,
I have always argued that Wicklow is not like other Counties, we don't
have expanses of ghost estates across the County that can be used for
social housing and this has now been proven in the response i have
received. The other Government housing initiatives have also failed
completely. Private landlords have not signed up to the Rental
Accommodation Scheme (RAS) in the numbers they were hoping and only 1
build to lease scheme has progressed in the County, this is mainly
because developers cant secure the funds to progress any major housing
developments. Many people in receipt of rent allowance are now in dire
straits because their allowances have been cut and their landlords are
simply refusing to reduce rents to reflect the reduction, this has
resulted in many families being forced from their rented properties
and desperately looking for a council house."

Cllr Brady went onto say "The current Government policy of not
building any more social housing is a flawed one. Over the last 5-10
years the local authorities in Wicklow have spent millions of Euro
purchasing land for housing, 2 sites alone cost Bray Town Council and
Wicklow County Council over € 9 million, the plans for hundreds of
houses have been drawn up at great expense by the councils in Wicklow,
but unfortunately these plans have been shelved by the Government and
the local authorities have been told that there will be no council
houses built for at least the next 2 years."

Cllr Brady concluded "Over 5,000 families in Wicklow are on the
housing list in Wicklow. It is safe to say their is a housing crisis
and the current Government policy is adding to this crisis. We don't
have the vacant ghost estates like other Counties and the response
from NAMA proves that. The Labour Minister for Housing Jan O'Sullivan
must look at the failed policy of not building council houses and
reverse it. What is required is a Social Housing Initiative, this will
stimulate the building and construction industry, both through funding
additional dwellings and increasing expenditure on repairs and
maintenance. This will help stimulate businesses which supply
construction materials and help to retain jobs in the industry and
also house the thousands of families currently lingering on lengthily
housing lists. The Minister has up until now refused to met public
representatives from Wicklow, I intend on writhing to the Minister and
asking her again to meet a delegation from Wicklow and i will be
requesting special meetings of the councils to take place to address
the housing crisis in Wicklow."

Bray Town Council funding towards a new clubhouse for Bray Boxing Club is welcomed

Bray Sinn Féin Councillors John Brady and Rossa Murray have welcomed
the provision of €40,000 in funding for a new clubhouse for Bray
Boxing club which is the home of Olympic gold medalist Katie Taylor.
This funding is on top of the €190,000 that was allocated towards the
new facility in December through the Sports Capital Funding programme.

Speaking after the Bray budget meeting which was held on Tuesday
evening Cllr Brady said "I warmly welcome the provision of €40,000
towards a new clubhouse for Bray Boxing club. There is fantastic
talent in the club and this money coupled with the €190,000 the club
received in December through the sports capital funding will go along
way towards building a state of the art facility for the club which is
home to the Olympic champion Katie Taylor. A site has been identified
in Ballywaltrim for the development of the clubhouse which must now go
through the planning process.  Unfortunately due to an illness in the
family i missed the meeting on Tuesday but i fully support and welcome
the provision of the funding".

Cllr Murray added "The funding from the council coupled with the
provision of a site has to be welcomed. It has been a long process and
for many years the club received no support at council level and only
for the work and continued pressure from my party colleague councillor
John Brady the club would have never got its current facility in the
harbour and probably would be still homeless. It has to be said the
added interest in the club since Katie won gold last year has sped
things along and ultimately helped secure this funding. Whilst i had
to vote against the overall budget on Tuesday because of the Home Tax
and the councils provision of €82,000 to pay Phil Hogan and the
Government the tax for the councils housing stock, i however fully
supported the inclusion of the €40,000 for the Boxing Club".

Cllr Brady concluded "Hopefully things can now move along smoothly and
swiftly to ensure the new clubhouse is constructed to cater for the
club and its new members who have taken up the sport because of the
exploits of their hero Katie Taylor. The allocation of the funding is
little more than the club deserves from the council and is a
recognition of the excellent talent within the club from the boxers to
the coaches".

Brady slams vulgar fake letter claiming to be from Little Bray Residents

Sinn Féin councillor John Brady has reacted angrily to a letter that
has been posted to a number of media outlets in Wicklow and to at
least one school and to other public representatives. The vulgar
letter which claims to be from Little Bray Residents objects to the
flood protection scheme on the Dargle River and claims councillor
Brady is the guest speaker at a protest on 26th January to oppose the
scheme.

Cllr Brady speaking after a tip off from a local school said "On
Monday last i was contacted by the principle of a Bray school who
received a copy of this very vulgar letter in the post. The principle
brought it to my attention because they were so concerned about the
content of it and the fact that my name was attached to it. I
immediately got a copy of the letter and i am truly appalled at its
content and i am very angry that my good name has been included on the
letter which claims to be from the Little Bray Residents. The letter
strongly objects to the ongoing never ending works on the river
Dargle, however it is not signed by anyone or no contact details are
given. The letter goes onto to name other locals in Little Bray and
claims there is a protest on the 26th January to oppose the works and
that i am the guest speaker. Since Monday i have been informed that
the letter has also been posted to some media outlets within Wicklow
and to some of the TD's"

Cllr Brady continued "Firstly it has to be said that i am fully
supportive of the Dargle River flood protection scheme having
campaigned and worked tirelessly for many years to get it to the stage
its at. I have also worked with campaign group SWAP and the community
of Little Bray to ensure that the scheme is done to the highest of
standards which will ensure the people of Little Bray are protected
from the risk of flooding. Secondly i am not aware of any group in
Bray, particularly from the Little Bray area that is campaigning
against the scheme and certainly i have never been asked or indeed nor
would i agree to speak at a protest to stop the works on the Dargle.
There are some concerns from local people about elements of the work
such as noise from trucks at night time, the height of the wall in the
Peoples Park and the width of footpaths. However i am working with the
officials from the council and engineers from SIAC to have these
issues addressed"

Cllr Brady went onto say "I have spoken to many constituents, friends,
family and supporters from the Dargle area who are also puzzled by
this bizarre letter and they are also unaware of its origin and they
are also appalled at its vulgar content and certainly don't agree with
its content. It is quite clear that whoever was behind this letter
does not enjoy the support of the community which it claims to come
from, nor does it have any support from me or Sinn Féin and i totally
disassociate myself from it".

Cllr Brady concluded "I am taking the sending out of this letter with
my name on it very serious. It appears that someone for some reason,
whether its politically motivated or not is trying to bring my good
name into disrepute. They have gone to some effort typing out this
letter, handwriting envelopes and posting out these letters, however
they are very cowardly as they would not put their name to it. I have
taken legal advice on the matter and i will get to the bottom of who
sent these out and i urge anyone, any group or organisation who may
have received one of these letters to please contact myself and to
ignore the fabricated non existent protest that is advertised for the
26th January"

Demolition of Dawson's Amusement eyesore begins on Bray Seafront

Sinn Féin County Councillor John Brady has welcomed the commencement of work on the Seafront in Bray to demolish the old unused Dawsons Amusements which is located at the Bray Head end of the prom. In 2012 Bray Town Council gave permission for the demolition of  the unsightly building and the instillation of 130 surface carparking places.

Speaking after the commencement of works on site Cllr Brady said "I must welcome the fact that over the next few weeks we will see the old Dawsons Amusements building removed from the landscape. The buildings was erected in the 1980's and it received enormous amounts of controversy because of its appearance and its proximity to Bray Head. In 2012 Bray Town Council gave the go ahead to demolish the unsightly building and to construct a new surface carpark. This week has seen the contractors move on site and the process of stripping the old building has begun".

Cllr Brady continued "Once the eyesore is removed it will visually enhance the area. Other plans that had been in place to erect apartments on site have been shelved and any long term plans to redevelop the area must go through the planning process and be respectful of the location. For now however there are plans in place to enhance the area and to make it vibrant again and this has started with the demolition of the old amusements"

Cllr Brady concluded "Whilst everyone will be happy to see the back of the unsightly structure, one must bare in mind the amount of employment it did provide over the years particularly to young students during the summer months. This really is the end of an era for many reasons".

Wicklow County Council Budget pushed through by Hypocrites in Fianna Fáil, Labour and Fine Gael

Wicklow County Councils annual budget was pushed through at Mondays
council meeting, but it has been described by Sinn Féin County
Councillors John Brady and John Snell as hypocritical, unfair and
doing the Governments dirty work of introducing unfair stealth taxes.
After a lengthily debate the budget was pushed through by Fianna Fáil,
Labour and Fine Gael with Sinn Féin opposing it.

Speaking after the meeting Sinn Féin County Councillor John Brady said
"The Wicklow County Council budget meeting which was held on Monday
last was nothing short of a joke. We seen the established party's of
Fianna Fáil, Labour and Fine Gael circle the wagons to protect their
own lavish expenses whilst agreeing a budget which cuts from frontline
services and does the Governments dirty work of paving the way for the
introduction of the Home tax and Domestic water Charges."

Cllr Brady continued "Myself and my party colleague John Snell went
into the budget meeting with the intention of protecting frontline
services, funding to community groups and ring fencing funding for
economic development and at the same time tackling the lavish expenses
some of the select Councillors are given. Unfortunately what we
witnessed at the budget meeting was the circling of the wagons by the
establishment parties on the council. Sinn Féin put forward an
alternative budget proposal that would have seen cuts of 20% to the
lavish expenses paid to some Councillors, this proposal included cuts
to the Chairpersons allowance which is €37,918.60 a year and including
his other expenses and allowances results in a total of €60,628 a year
or €1,165.92 a week. We also proposed further cuts of 20% to the
€6,564 paid to the vice chair of the council which is given on top of
his other payments, a cut of 20% which is given to the 5 chairs of the
Strategic Policy Committees (SPC) which is €1,500 per meeting and
further cuts to the Junket fund which contains over €100,000."

Cllr John Snell went onto say "The cuts that Sinn Féin proposed would
account for some of the funding that was needed to balance the books
it would have shown leadership and not to be hypocritical by imposing
cuts whist protecting their own lavish expenses. Unfortunately after a
lengthily debate on the Sinn Féin proposal and every excuse given not
to cut their expenses the Sinn Féin proposal was voted down by the
majority of Councillors."

Cllr Brady stated "The budget that was adopted by Labour, Fianna Fáil
and Fine Gael is an attack on frontline services and results in
funding being cut from the maintenance of local authority housing, the
fire-service, Economic and Development promotion, and Beeches to name
a few areas. The passing of the budget also paves the way for the
introduction of domestic water charges with €171,000 provided for
domestic water meter surveying staff. The budget also makes provision
for the unjust Home tax which i stated at the meeting would be final
nail in the coffin of many families who are already on the breadline
living with distressed mortgages and in negative equity and coupled
with domestic water charges would compound the difficulties families
are enduring. The County Manager Eddie Sheehy also stated that there
was no provision in the budget for the payment of property tax on
local authority houses even though the government said that local
authorities will have to pay for the tax for local authority
dwellings, he informed the meeting the council will now have to carry
out an evaluation exercise on local authority houses to calculate what
they owe starting from 1 July and he refused to rule out rent
increases to those in council houses."

Cllr Brady concluded "The budget which was adopted by the County
Council and rejected by Sinn Féin is unjust and unfair and has been
imposed on the people of Wicklow by hypocrites who are only too
willing to do the governments dirty work whilst protecting their own
outrageous and lavish expenses."

Wicklow County Council Gravy Train must be Halted at Annual Budget

Wicklow Sinn Féin County Councillor John Brady has said that the Gravy
Train that exists on Wicklow County Council must come to an end and
the veil of secrecy that covers the expenses paid to Councillors that
sit on committees outside the council must be lifted. Figures the
Councillor obtained show that some Councillors are paid a staggering
€6,000 a year to chair four meetings, that's €1,250 per meeting.

Sinn Féin Councillor John Brady said "The annual budget of Wicklow
County Council takes place on Monday 17 December and in the draft
budget there are many proposals to cut from front-line services.
Critical areas such as Fire Services, housing maintenance, libraries
along with roads and funding to residents associations and community
groups are all planned to be cut because of a further cut of funding
to the council by central Government. However in the draft budget
which was approved by the councils corporate policy group, which a
number of Councillors sit on, there are no plans to tackle the
exorbitant expenses paid to some County Councillors who sit on
different committees."

Cllr Brady stated "I had requested a full break down of committees
that Councillors sit on and i am surprised at the reaction that i have
received from some Councillors. I have obtained a breakdown of the
figures since 2009, however i have been told that i can only have
figures for committees that Councillors sit on and chair within the
council itself and if i want a list of expenses paid to Councillors
for committees that Councillors sit on by virtue of being elected to
the Council i must write to these organisations and request it
myself."

Cllr Brady continued "The information i have received certainly paints
a picture that certain Councillors on Wicklow County Council are on
the gravy train. The chairpersons of each of the councils Strategic
Policy Committees (SPC's) get an allowance of €6,000 and on average
each committee sits 4 times a year. That means the chair is paid a
staggering €1,250 per meeting. There are 5 SPC's on Wicklow County
council, Nicky Kelly is chair of Housing and Corporate Estate, Vincent
Blake chair of Water and Environmental Services, George Jones chair of
Community, Cultural and Social Development, Pat Vance is the of chair
Planning and Economic development and Christopher Fox is chair of
Transport and Roads Infrastructure."

Brady went onto say "In the figures it also shows that Fine Gael
Councillor George Jones is also paid a further €6,000 for sitting on
the County Development Board which again sits on average 4 times a
year. So Cllr. Jones alone is paid €12,000 for 8 meetings. These
payments to Councillors are on top of the other standard allowances
Councillors are given and does not include expenses for conferences or
other trips they may attend. At the first AGM of this council in 2009
we seen Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil join a pact to try exclude
Sinn Féin from key positions on the council, its quite apparent now
the real reasons for that. Its not because they think their policies
are better or anything, no its because they are on the gravy train and
there they want to remain."

"This gravy train must be stopped and the County Council budget is the
ideal time to start. There are many front-line services that the
council are proposing to cut with the blessing of some of the
Councillors that sit on the corporate policy committee of the council.
I don't know how they can propose to cut funding from front-line
services such as libraries and the fire service whilst still making
provision in the budget to pay themselves €1,250 per meeting. Myself
and my party colleague John Snell would be only too willing to take up
chair of any of the committees and we would not be looking for a penny
in return, so if these Councillors cant chair a meeting for less than
€1,250 they should let someone else take on the roll." said Brady

Cllr Brady concluded "I will be putting forward proposals at the
council meeting to see theses expenses cut, i hope to receive the
support of the other Councillors, however i wont hold my breath
because as the saying goes Turkeys don't vote for Christmas."

Wicklow Sinn Féin to launch 'Tax Wealth Not Homes' campaign

Wicklow Sinn Féin are to launch their campaign 'Tax wealth not Homes'
campaign on Thursday 13 December in John Joe's, Arklow at 7.30pm. The
details of the budget and the alternatives will also be discussed.

Speaking ahead of the launch of the 'Tax wealth Not Homes campaign'
Arklow Sinn Fein representative James Charlton said Sinn Féin is
opposed to the government’s tax on the family home. The Government
call it a property tax– But it is a tax on the family home, full stop.
It is clear that the government is prepared to use all means to take
this tax from struggling families. It is unacceptable. It must be
stopped, Sinn féin will campaign against this tax and we are launching
the Wicklow campaign on Thursday 13 December in Arklow at 7.30pm in
John Joe's."

Wicklow Sinn Féin County Councillor John Brady said "Many families up
and down the country will not be able to pay the home tax, there are
160,000 distressed mortgages at the moment and people cant afford a
home tax on top of everything else. Sinn Féin will be actively
campaigning to resist the introduction of this unfair tax on the
family home.
Sinn Féin has an alternative that is fair. A wealth tax – that is
levied on the property of the wealthy. The government had the option
of a real wealth tax and chose not to take it.
Instead Labour/Fine Gael chose to impose a punitive tax on the family home."

James Charlton concluded "Sinn Féin is calling on every citizen to
make a stand and resist the imposition of this unfair home tax. I
believe there is time to get the government to reverse this decision.
If the government is allowed to legislate for it, then it will be the
tipping point for many families across the state. We will be launching
our campaign on Thursday and we will be actively campaigning against
the tax right across the County."