This evening I spoke with Peter O’Reilly, Project Manager of the Greater Dublin Drainage Scheme at a public consultation in Fingal County Council head office in Swords.

You will also find a new category on the right hand side of this blog where all Greater Dublin Drainage info will go. More [...]]]>

This evening I spoke with Peter O’Reilly, Project Manager of the Greater Dublin Drainage Scheme at a public consultation in Fingal County Council head office in Swords.

You will also find a new category on the right hand side of this blog where all Greater Dublin Drainage info will go. More info as it comes in.

In this case and to this post, most of the detail is in the audio anyway which is also on Ballyboughal’s facebook/ twitter page.

More details:

• web: www.greaterdublindrainage.ie
• email: info@greaterdublindrainage.ie
• lo-call: 1890 44 55 67

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Oh hold on a second…..? The above image is what was supposed to happen. The one below is what has existed for close on…. 2 years [...]]]> Ah yes welcome to the beautiful countryside, farming rural town of Ballyboughal where the sheep sleep all day and the leaves of the trees rustle in the wind….

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Oh hold on a second…..? The above image is what was supposed to happen. The one below is what has existed for close on…. 2 years [?] and today. Yes Folks this is what Dublins very own Emmerdale Farm ended up with instead….

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I was wondering what if anything was the news with the delightful semi-pile of bricks that sits opposite Connors pub. And today I got an email in from Michael Kennedy. Fianna Fáil.

I’m mildly confused here…. because I’m guessing [at least] the €101, 895 [see below] will be going into tidying up the peripheral of the ghost estate that sits there at the moment….? Maybe it could be taken from transportation…. doesn’t seem like they have done anything with the roads….?

Maybe we should all call one could call Liam or email him and find out if anything will ever happen to the site….. ? My guess, Fingal co co will do nothing. I figured that one out on my etch-a-sketch.

At least one politician did something. Eventually.

Anyhow, Deputy Kennedy has been communicating with the Ballyboughal Community Council…. [?] and emailed me this [quote] detailed breakdown of development levies for the Swiftcourt Developments Site from Fingal County Council.

It’s the only news I can get….. What I think believe stinks is the closing quote on the bill of fare [see below]. Why don’t Fingal County council contact someone, anyone and just say here…. here is where this village stands. Here’s what we propose. Here’s when it will happen by.

Instead this…

I have emailed both Michael [Michael.Kennedy[at]Oireachtas[dot]ie] and Liam Kindregan this post.

To the the politcians of Ireland [from the top to the bottom] and to you in fingal county council – I have paid my taxes and levies – you have taken your salaries and pensions – will you do something in return. Will you….?

Deputy Kennedy

The approved development is for mixed use and is calculated on 1383 sq metres of commercial development and 9431 sq metres of residential development.   There are numerous different house types and changes under Additional Information so it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to quantify a unit based levy if that is what is required.  There is also a separate levy for open space shortfall.

The amount outstanding is €1,480,000 of which €1,175,000 is the standard levy and €305,000 is for open space shortfall.  All of the latter figure goes to Parks Division and the former figure is broken down as follows; 48.84% to Transportation, 34.9% to Water Services, 15.68% to Community/Parks and 0.58% to Regeneration.

A sum of €493,310 has been paid to date and has been apportioned in accordance with the above %’s as follows;

Transportation                           €191,167

Water Services                          €136,603

Community/Parks                      €61,374

Regeneration                             €2,271

Parks-Open Space Shortfall     €101,895

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Total                                            €493,310

Can I suggest that if the Ballyboughal Community Council have any further queries in relation to this matter that they contact Liam Kindregan direct on 01-8905760 or liam.kindregan[at]fingalcoco[dot]ie

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can you 'smell' the logic epa ...?

Firstly, I am not a big fan of landfills. Full stop. No-one wants them on their doorstep. But – but, everyone ‘on the doorstep’ uses them. A fair point? I think so. To the matter in hand…

I got a press release [...]]]> view the original post is over on this blog…

can you 'smell' the logic epa ...?

Firstly, I am not a big fan of landfills. Full stop. No-one wants them on their doorstep. But – but, everyone ‘on the doorstep’ uses them. A fair point? I think so. To the matter in hand…

I got a press release [read it in full here] to my mailbox that Clare County Council had received a *Non-Compliance Order From the EPA* regarding odour issues at its Central Waste Management Facility at Ballyduffbeg, near Inagh in County Clare.

The report relates to out-of-hours odour surveys carried out by an EPA inspector, who was based in the vicinity of the landfill from 31 January to 4 February 2009.

[who] …reported an odour, which he described as “moderate and impersistent” on 14 out of the 54 occasions. The EPA definition of a moderate odour is one that is ‘’easily detectable while walking and breathing normally, possibly offensive’’.

I emailed the PR company who drafted the release. They put me in touch with Clare County Councils Director of Service Ger Dollard. A nice guy. Here’s our conversation:

I emailed the PR firm first:

A Chara Mark

I was wondering if Clare County Coucil may be able to give details reagrding the ‘odour patrol’ – what exactly is an odour patrol ?

many thanks

Peter,

Your query below refers.

An odour patrol relates to staff representatives not working at the landfill driving a predetermined route on a regular basis to assess any odour issues at pre determined points.

The HSE also undertakes a separate odour patrol on a fortnightly basis whereby staff from the HSE drive around the general area and make a determination whether or not odour is evident at any particular location.

Hope this addresses your query.

Regards,

Gerard Dollard

Director of Service

A Chara Ger,

thank you for replying to my mail. For someone who knows little about this, do do they use specific equipment or is it just a sense of smell?

many thanks

Just a sense of smell. Staff not involved in the site are used so that it is a “fresh” perspective.

Eventually Ger called me. And so it seems The EPA’s specialist equipment for measuring smells is the nose they were born with. You heard me correctly… I know for example with aeroplanes we can measure noise levels. But your nose

We are getting new paths but this time they (Fingal) appear to be getting it right.  I wonder did someone from the council decide to walk the village and maybe bring a few kids along [...]]]> I recently posted about the dire conditions of the main road and hoping they wouldn’t be left in shite as they had.

We are getting new paths but this time they (Fingal) appear to be getting it right.  I wonder did someone from the council decide to walk the village and maybe bring a few kids along to discover the risks.  I’m guessing probably not.  In the past walking to the shop was a bit of a dare.

If the cars passing didnt mount the path and clip you, they’d get you on the bend after loosing control.  Probably catching you with a bit of a flip and landing in Donohoe Agri’s field.

We’re getting super paths.  Man, they are high and believe me that is a good thing.  I don’t think there is a chance of a tractor mounting that curb without someone behind the wheel noticing. A car definitely couldn’t mount them.

Yes, they will damage a car (tough luck- slow down- watch the road), but at the same time they will keep the cars where they should be (on the road) and probably save a life.

If you had ever tried to pull out of my road on a wet day, you know the prayer ” I hope to shit no one come speeding around that corner” because they would, did and have lost control in the past, mounted the curb and add additional shock and loss of control and you’ve got yourself into a right mess.

I’m delighted, people will be safe.  Fair play to Siearra and Fingal for getting it right first time.  No one needs to cross the road at that point so the height of the curb isn’t an issue.

Also a few kids are starting to play on that green so the worry of the cars is not so much.

Like many a self builder I had to pay for the privilege to build a house on my on land.  Fingal County Council call it the Development levy.  Basically, for ever square meter of development you have to pay €130.00.  Fingal County Council say its your contribution to [...]]]> Is Fingal County Council doing a good enough job?

Like many a self builder I had to pay for the privilege to build a house on my on land.  Fingal County Council call it the Development levy.  Basically, for ever square meter of development you have to pay €130.00.  Fingal County Council say its your contribution to maintain road frontage amongst other things.  That is all well and good, if they get out there and fix/maintain stuff.

To this day I have not seen a Fingal County Council worker doing anything of the sorts in the village.  Granted, I’ve not gone out of my way to look for them and in fairness I have seen one or two water division vans along the way.

I suspect Fingal County Council would rather out source and contract projects.  At this minute work is taking place but I wonder has anyone asked Fingal County Council if they are inspecting same.  It wasn’t so long ago the (for example) main street of Ballyboughal village was resurfaced.  It was a two part project that stretched as far as Roganstown.

It was a perfect drive, not a single pot hole so to speak.  It didn’t last very long as contractors are back out there ripping up the road to lay new pipes. Whats got my goat up is the state they leave it in?

I could bang on about how we all pay road tax and how we are getting ripped off having to put up with sub standard roads however I wont, instead I’ll get a few snaps of the conditions the road surface is being left in and wait and see how it turns out after the pipe makes its way to the new housing estate being developed.

I’ll also drop into Fingal County Council and make some inquiries, to see what they have to say about it.