Newly elected Mayor outlines priorities for the coming year
Issued : Friday 19 June, 2009
Cllr Mick Duff's acceptance speech following election as Cathaoirleach of South Dublin County Council
Colleagues, staff and distinguished guests, it is a great honour for me personally, and also for my family, to be elected Mayor of South Dublin and I would like to thank my fellow members for their vote of confidence. Also I would like to thank my family and indeed my friends, as without their wholehearted support I wouldn't be here to address this gathering today.
I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Councillor Marie Corr, who carried out her duties as Mayor with great dignity and honour and was indeed, an inspirational leader. I must also acknowledge the work carried out as Deputy Mayor, by Councillor Guss O'Connell. He too attended to his duties with dignity and charm and I know from conversations with my colleagues from Lucan that Guss is held in very high esteem and I look forward to working with him.
Mayor Corr said in her address to this Chamber last year "I hope that my term in office will in some way encourage the participation of more women in politics" Well, it certainly did and I am so glad that Councillor Pamela Kearns heeded your call.
My own journey to this Chamber started back in 1977 when my wife, Phyllis and I first arrived at our brand new Council house in Tymon North. A bit reluctant to live in Tallaght at first, we quickly settled in and I got involved with setting up our first Tenants and Residents Association, leading delegations to meet with the then Dublin County Council to complain to Councillors Mervyn Taylor, Larry McMahon and Sean Walsh and indeed Eamon Walsh and Stanley Laing, about public lighting, footpaths and lack of street signs. One of my fellow delegates then was a good friend and neighbour, Margaret Farrell, who served with distinction as Councillor on Dublin County Council and was one of the first group of Councillors to sit on the new South Dublin County Council. Her untimely death last year was not only a great loss to her family and friends but indeed to the greater Community of Tallaght. May she rest in Peace. From those early meeting with our Public Representatives on local issues, I continued to meet with them as a member of Tallaght Community Council, where we met to discuss wider issues that affected all of Tallaght.
I was always impressed by the dedication and willingness shown by those elected men and women and the leadership they gave and continue to give to our Community in South Dublin and I hope that as Mayor, I too can offer leadership and service in the same manner of those who have given it before me.
One of the biggest problems that affects not only South Dublin, but every County and City in Ireland, is the scourge of illegal drugs. The supply of illegal drugs continues to be the biggest growth industry in this Country. Across our County, communities have acknowledged the problem and have engaged with statutory and voluntary agencies in delivering services within their own community, to those in need of treatment and rehabilitation. Through the work of the Local Drug Task Forces and with the co-operation of the community, elected representatives and statutory agencies, projects are now in place to deliver Education and Awareness, Family Support, Treatment and Rehabilitation. Campaigns such as "Dial to stop Drug Dealing" have been rolled out to assist in Supply Reduction. I acknowledge the work of South Dublin County Council in engaging with the Task Forces and indeed, with the management boards of many of the Community Projects engaged in drug work and with the provision of the premises from which the Projects operate. I also acknowledge and thank those Councillors who have represented the Council on the Task Forces and I will do all in my power as Mayor to continue to support and promote the excellent work carried out by the community projects across South Dublin.
I will now set out our priorities
Anti-social behaviour
We propose the adoption of a more vigorous process to end the tenancy of the minority who act in an Anti-Social way towards their neighbours. Not withstanding the proposed new powers to be included in the Housing Bill, presently before the Oireachtas, we believe that this Council must commit itself to protecting its tenants against fear, intimidation and harassment.
The Environment.
In recent years progress has been made in improving our environment including making it a cleaner place to live. This Alliance will ensure that the Council continues to encourage and involve the community in making our County a cleaner, more environmentally friendly and safer place to live.
A continuation of the Name and Shame policy, for those who litter our environment and those convicted of illegal dumping.
Encourage and incentivise more schools to participate with this Council and An Taisce, in the " Green Flag" awards, to promote recycling and protection of our environment.
Ensure that the Council works with young people in the Community to divert those who are engaged in the newest form of littering, Graffiti, into structured arts activities and to find innovative ways of dealing with this problem. We will oppose the introduction of domestic water charges and ensure the provision of brown bins across the county.
Planning and development priorities.
We believe that there is a sufficiency of rezoned land in the County for residential development, with a capacity for 30,000 housing units and do not see the need for any further residential rezoning.
- Promote and support the expansion of Allotments, through sensitive use of public land and collaborative projects with farmers
- Protect the County's "Green Belts" and the mountain amenity areas
- Push for the Newlands Cross Upgrade and the Metro West Project
- Protect Liffey Valley and work for the designation of the entire valley as a National Park
Value for Money Priorities
- Ensure that South Dublin County Council gets maximum value for money in its expenditure of public funds
- Work with the Manager to improve transparency to the public on Council budgets and spending
- Publish on the Council website appropriate information on companies and consultants who successfully bid for Council contracts
- Develop a more efficient and effective meeting/working system for councillors
- Support the use of direct labour to provide efficient services and boost employment
Housing
In many of our local authority housing estates, unoccupied houses stand boarded up for months on end, a blight on the community concerned and attracting anti social behaviour. I believe as Mayor this is unacceptable and unfair, in consideration of the people on the waiting list for housing and indeed in consideration to the communities where these empty houses stand. We believe that all vacant Council houses should be renovated and occupied by year end and set and achieve a target of eight weeks for the reallocation of future vacant Council houses .
We call for the reversal of the Governments decision to refuse funding for the Council to build new homes in the County.
- Ensure compliance by landlords and tenants with legislation governing the private rented sector
Homelessness
Despite being Ireland's second largest Local Authority, South Dublin County Council currently has no crisis accommodation for homelessness people and it is our intention to deliver an Emergency Homeless Accommodation Project:
To demonstrate our commitment to the achievement of this during the term of this Council, the 13 members of the Alliance will not claim any monies from the Fund allocated by the Council for attendance at Conferences, so that the money thus saved can be allocated to the Homeless Project. We invite all elected members of the Council to take a similar decision in support of the project.
I wish to thank the Manager, Joe Horan, his staff and all involved in South Dublin County Council for their warm welcome and advice. Once again, members I thank you for your support and I look forward to an interesting and fruitful year as Mayor.
Cllr 
