Some better pictures of the work done so far in sralagagh. I'll take another picture when the work is complete

Success in sralagagh

I was just back in Sralagagh, and it seems that work has commenced on repairing the bridge. The whole thing has been excavated. I have not heard anything back from Coillte, but given the more committed approach this time, I assume the bridge is being repaired by Coillte.

This is a good outcome for everyone, and indeed nothing has been done with this road since the 1940s, so the involvement of Coillte in a bit of road maintenance here could be the beginning of a more general improvement to the road. The benefit to Ballycastle would be significant as many people are reliant on Sralagagh banks.

If indeed it is Coillte doing this, then I will write a nice letter to them to thank them on behalf of everyone.

I'll pop over again and take better pictures if i can.

After discovering that in fact Coillte now owns the lands in Sralagagh, I wrote to them instead

Dear sir/madam,
I am writing to you in connection with lands owned by Coillte in Sralagagh, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo (folio 647f -the former of estate of John Mennis). Much of this land is under forestry, but there is also an area that is subject to turbary rights which are owned by many people in the locality. The roads in and out of this area are relatively busy for bogland -with turfcutting in the summer, heavy machinery passing up and down and also local tourists using the area for the "Sralagagh loop walk" and also deer spotting.

Unfortunately, one of the bridges into the bog has become dangerous. Despite some well meaning repair attempts by locals, the situation has not improved and the bridge is slowly crumbling. Please see pictures attached. This bridge has been dangerous for some time, and has gotten worse over the winter. I believe it is only a matter of time before there is a serious accident at this bridge and a vehicle will topple into a big gulley (possibly with a heavy cargo on board) creating a serious danger to human life. At the very least there is a risk to the property of visitors.

As the landowner in this location, and conscious of the Occupier's liability acts, and furthermore conscious that previous spontaneous repairs (in this location and elsewhere on the bogs) by locals have been counterproductive at times -I ask you to move quickly to repair this bridge. The rest of the roads on this land would also benefit from a general upgrade (and indeed they are relatively short and would be inexpensive to improve) -however, this spot is an urgent risk to human life and turfcutter's property, and regardless of whether the rest of the road is improved it is vital that this bridge is repaired ASAP..

I attach a map to identify the location of the bridge I speak of.

Submission to the Constitutional Convention

Dear convention members,

Article 15.14 states that noone can be a member of both the Seanad and the Dáil at the same time. However, it imposes no further restrictions on politicians crossing over from one house to the other. In practice, a great many senators/TDs have spent time in the other house. This movement of personnel from one house to the other has harmful effects for politics. It allows political parties to use Seanad seats as a publicly-funded promotional tool for future potential TDs. It also allows parties to preserve the political status of TDs who have been voted out of office by the people, but who may be reelected in future. Neither use is in keeping with the role of the seanad as a true second house.

 

Furthermore, the European parliament is used in much the same way, with candidates standing without any serious intention of dealing with EP business, but rather as a means of publicising themselves for future Dáil seat contests.

 

I propose a revision of 15.14 to extend it to the European Parliament and to impose a delay of 3 years for any politician leaving one of these bodies before they can take a seat in one of the others. In this way, candidates running for a Seanad or a European Parliament seat could not use it merely as a platform for a future Dáil election. They would have to commit to the house they seek election to and take the seat with the intention of performing that specific role for its own sake.

 

Here is my proposed text:

 

"No person may be a member of the European Parliament, Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann within 3 years of having been a member of another of those bodies.".

Further letter to Leo Varadkar about Aer Lingus

Minister,

the recent controversy about Ryanair proposing to sell off Aer Lingus' slots at Heathrow should underline the importance of these slots for Ireland. Michael Vaughan of the Hotels Federation made a strong case for their retention on Morning Ireland before Christmas.

I have written to you about this before, but to reitirate:

• we acquired these slots (and all our international slots) easily, at a time when airport slots were freely available and under a far sighted government policy of improving our flight connections. Because we acquired them so easily, we do not appreciate their value and the difficulty there would be in replacing these slots at any reasonable price once they are surrendered. If you recall my previous letter, I suggested that an oil rich state with lots of cash and poor connections would probably make a bid for AL to gain control of the slots. This appears to already be underway.
• a sell off of Aer Lingus will not be able to provide necessary surety that the slots would be protected. Safeguard clauses in the sale could lose their effect if the carrier was subsequently reflagged, bankrupted etc.. Allowing Aer Lingus to be sold with its slots is not an acceptable safeguard of our needs as an island to maintain connections.
• the slots should be returned to State ownership and held in a holding company which would ensure that they would be used for flights into Ireland. There are 3 steps necessary to achieve this:

1. A sale-and-leaseback agreement must be agreed with AL in regard to the slots. This agreement should take place as part of the overall deal on selling the State's share and settling the question over the pension scheme. The slots should be sold to the state and leased back on a long term lease to the airline.
2. The slots should then be transferred to a holding company within state control
3. Once (in the far distance) the leases have expired, the slots should be rented out to any airline (foreign or domestic) to service flights into ireland. This should be spelled out at the beginning as a long term commitment of the slots to AL would probably fall foul of State-aid rules. A mere sale and leaseback arrangement that brought assets within state control should be OK though -and indeed, the protection of transport links for islands is specifically provided for in EU state aid rules.

So Minister, I urge you, as part of the overall negotiations on pensions and the sale of the shareholding -please ensure that AL's overseas slots are held in the title of the State. Clever clauses in any sale agreement are no substitute for ownership and we should not lightly give away an incredibly valuable legacy of previous state policy -one of the few things we got right in the last century.

 

Further letter to Simon Coveney

Dear Minister,
I am writing to update you about the situation in Sralagagh, Ballycastle, where the road over your lands had become dangerous for people using the right of way.

As you you can see from the photos, some well meaning, but poorly conceived repairs have been done by people locally. They seem to have used gravel to fill up the cavity that had developed in the bridge and make it passable again. However, these repairs resulted in a blockage to the drain, which then overflowed and tore the side off the bridge on the downstream side.

Basically, what would have been a relatively minor repair a few months ago when I first wrote to you, has now become a more expensive job. The bridge is likely to deteriorate further with every heavy rainfall.

I urge you not to delay in doing something about this as the bridge is still dangerous and the side of it could give way under any vehicle at any time.

Letter to several European Commission staff on the topic of the Internal market for Services

Dear sirs/madams,

I am writing to urge you to bring forward a proposal for a new services directive.

 

 

In particular, I am urging you to bring forward a proposal based on mutual recognition of services between member States -as is already in effect for Goods -and which unfortunately had to be removed from the previous services directive.

 

 

Despite that earlier setback, I believe that now is a politick time to bring forward such a proposal again -for 2 reasons. Firstly, unemployment levels across the Union have been climbing and jobs are a focus for most of the Governments across Europe.

 

 

Secondly, and more importantly, the escalating talk of a British exit from the EU gives other Member States a powerful incentive to make EU membership more attractive to the UK. I believe that any proposal for mutual recognition of services will benefit from the desire of the other Member States to entice the UK to remain within the Union. A decision to deepen the services market at this time would be a powerful incentive for the UK to remain within the Union to benefit from access to the emerging services market and also to retain a voice as the rules of the services market are developed.

 

 

Furthermore, those British who are upset by the proposed Banking Union would also be among the main beneficiaries of a services market -thereby giving some political cover for the British Government to cooperate with the Eurozone Banking Union proposals.

 

 

I would suggest a Directive with a strong and universal principle of mutual recognition for services -with a long implementation period, possibly staggered across different sectors. Such a proposal, would be less intimidating to the MSs than immediate universal opening of services.

 

 

In any event, I believe we should use the present angst over a possible British exit to develop the services market. Whatever the UK's ultimate choice, the uncertainty created by their possible departure will be a powerful motivational tool for agreement. Agreeing to launch the services market will never be easy, but right now is as good a chance as we are likely to receive -I think the Commission should seize the chance.