An Irish Planning Students Blog

Written a few days ago but quiet interesting to get the figures none the less.

AROUND 40% of Fingal County Council’s social housing waiting list is occupied by singleparent families, it has been revealed.

In response to a question from Cllr Kieran Dennison (FG), the council said that out of 6,691 families on the social housing waiting list, 2,720 were single parent families.

A further question from Cllr Dennison sought information on the nationality of the people on the local authority housing list.

In response to that question, the council revealed that just under half of its waiting list was occupied by Irish citizens (48%). Some 19% of the list was taken up by EU citizens and a further 33% were people from outside the EU.

THE NEW year will bring good news for motorists with the completion of the M50 upgrade and toll reductions for the Dublin Port Tunnel.

Both the northbound and southbound mainline sections of the M50 will be completed by the end of January, a spokesman for the National Roads Authority (NRA) said yesterday.

Upgrading of a number of junctions on the motorway, including the N2 and N3 junctions, will continue for a number of months but should be completed by Easter, he said.

When completed, all junctions will be free flowing with no traffic lights.

The upgrade, which is costing €1 billion, involves converting the route from two lanes to three and improving major junctions.

Tolls on the tunnel are being reduced to €3 at all times over the Christmas period, from Christmas Day to January 2nd, the NRA has said.

In the new year, tolls are being reduced from €12 to €10 during the morning (6am to 10am) and evening (4 pm to 7 pm) rush-hour periods and from €6 to €3 at all other times. Use of the tunnel remains free for heavy goods vehicles.

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PLANS TO develop Spike Island in Cork Harbour as a major tourist attraction moved a step closer yesterday when an inaugural meeting was held of a special steering committee set up by Cork county manager Martin Riordan to develop the island.

Mr Riordan has said he hopes to open Spike Island to the public in 2010 through the provision of a ferry service, but the long-term hope is to develop the former prison into a major tourist attraction.

The Government transferred ownership of the island, including Fort Mitchel, which was used as a prison, from the Department of Justice to Cork County Council last July to enable the council explore the island’s tourism potential.

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HUNDREDS OF thousands of documents, some dating from the late 19th century, are to be destroyed as part of the Property Registration Authority’s move towards e- conveyancing.

In early 2007 the authority – formerly the Registrar of Deeds and Titles – announced that land certificates were to be abolished by December 31st, 2009, and replaced by an electronic system. Land certificates were introduced in 1892 when the Land Registry was established.

The function of land certificates was to certify the ownership of a particular folio of land. The certificates record all relevant details concerning the ownership of registered land which are also recorded on the land register.

The authority estimates there are about 700,000-800,000 land certificates. Although some are in the possession of property owners, many are held by banks or solicitors as security.

Under section 73 of the Registration of Deeds and Title Act 2006, banks are required to pass on any land certificates in their possession to the authority before December 31st where they will be destroyed. While this has no legal ramifications for banks or property owners – the property ownership will be recorded electronically and the banks can register a lien on the property – the original documents are to be shredded.

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Looks like the archeology could strike again, thanks to the majority of it not being visible. However the falling world port traffic might provide a respite for some of the archaeology to be found and to decide what to do about it.

A CAMPAIGN to Save Bremore claims the coastal strip on the Meath/Dublin border may be one of the richest archaeological areas in Ireland, with aspects comparable to the Hill of Tara.

Among the heritage sites in locality is the Bremore passage tomb complex – a designated national monument – a series of several unclassified monuments in the Knocknagin townland and the mid-16th-century Newhaven Bay.

Drogheda Port and companies associated with Treasury Holdings have earmarked the area for the development of a deepwater port, industrial units, a motorway link to the M1 and a new rail link to the main Dublin-Belfast railway.

According to archaeologist Prof George Eogan: “Bremore may have been the first point of entry for the settlements of what is now known as Fingal/east Meath and the Boyne Valley area.”

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Trips abroad by Irish residents fell by 12 per cent between July and September compared to the same period last year. It is the first time in 18 years that overseas travel has dropped year-on-year in the third quarter.

Tourism and travel statistics published by the Central Statistics Office reveal that trips for holiday and leisure showed the greatest decline, at 279,000 or 17 per cent. Visits to friends and relatives increased by 3 per cent, however.

In total, there were 2,137,000 visits abroad by Irish residents in the quarter.

The CSO figures also show a 12 per cent decrease in the number of trips made to Ireland during the same three-month period.

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A SENIOR official of Wicklow County Council who ordered the destruction of a waste permit worth €400,000 repeatedly gave his county manager misleading information in relation to the permit, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to a draft report of the Local Government Audit Service (LGAS), Wicklow county manager Eddie Sheehy claimed he had been given “inaccurate information” on “a number of occasions” in 2003 by his then director of environmental services Michael Nicholson. The report records that Mr Sheehy did not believe the actions warranted any type of disciplinary action. Mr Nicholson is now the council’s director of housing services.

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THE REPUBLIC is now just “two hours wide” with completion of the first “inter-urban” M6 corridor between Galway and Dublin.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey marked the little bit of history yesterday in bright sunshine and freezing temperatures when he formally opened the last section of the 194km motorway in Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

A speed limit of 120km per hour should cut the journey from the M50 junction to Galway’s outer limits to about two hours, according to the National Roads Authority (NRA).
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HOUSEHOLDERS face having to pay the cost of installing water meters in their homes when water charging is introduced in 2011.

Hard-pressed homeowners, already hit with a carbon tax and facing a property tax from 2011, may be forced to pay a standing charge on their water bill to recoup the cost of installing the meters.

Domestic water fees were abolished in 1997 but Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced in the Budget that charges would come back into force, probably from 2011.

However, how the scheme will work has yet to be decided.

The Government is considering the possibility of introducing the charge on a staggered basis, where some homeowners will pay before others as the system is rolled out.
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THE €60 million Samuel Beckett Bridge across the river Liffey in Dublin opened to traffic yesterday with mixed reports about its effect on traffic flows in its first day.

While AA Roadwatch said it had not heard of any specific problems with traffic, a handful of callers to RTÉ’s Liveline programme complained about it.

A spokeswoman for AA Roadwatch said the only problem it had been made aware of was that some motorists had attempted to turn left at the bridge from North Wall Quay. But within “about an hour” this information seemed to have filtered through to motorists.

Callers to the radio show complained at the fact that turning left on to the bridge from the direction of the Port Tunnel and the O2 is not permitted. There were also complaints that no right-turn is permitted coming off the bridge on either side of the quays.

One caller said the arrangement meant the first time a motorist coming from the south side could legally make a right turn was at North Circular Road and Ballybough “which is bringing you right back into all the traffic you are trying to stay away from”.
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