Friday, October 30, 2009

IN PLACE OF THE ‘OLD LIBRARY’
and other Tidy Towns news
Many of you will have noticed that the ‘Old Library’ is long gone and, now, in its place is a brand new building. This will be used to provide storage for the FÁS workers tools and machinery, a small meeting area for the CDA, and the BME Tidy Towns Group, and shelter, washing, refreshment break, and toilet facilities for the FÁS workers. The erection and internal fittings are complete. All that remains is the connection to sewer / wastewater drainage, electricity and water supplies. The FÁS team are landscaping, paving, and tidying up the site. The consensus seems to be that this development is a worthwhile improvement.

None of this would have happened without all the hard work, determination, organisation, and supervision during the planning & construction stages by Jimmy Pearse. This project was Jimmy’s idea and he carried it through from inception to fruition with his usual enthusiasm and thoroughness.

The CDA have temporarily funded the costs to date. We have applied for a grant from the KTK Grant Scheme, but our application, submitted in April 2009, has not been acknowledged and this gives us some cause for concern.

Some additional Tidy Towns snippets:

· Results of the 2009 Tidy Towns Competition.
The results of the 2009 Tidy Towns Competition were announced at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, on 7th September. Ballymore Eustace has achieved a magnificent and well deserved increase in their score, by twelve points, to 274. Thank you to all the people who contributed to this success:
· the Tidy Towns group and other stalwarts who work continually and quietly behind the scenes
· local businesses for their financial, material and moral support
· local individuals who gave generous donations
· last, but not least, all the people of Ballymore Eustace who have ‘kept their patch clean’ and for their help and encouragement

The Adjudicators’ report, which can be downloaded from the Tidy Towns website – at: http://www.tidytowns.ie, then go to The History, Adjudication Reports, 2009, Kildare, Ballymore Eustace - will be included in October’s Bugle; the comments contained in it provide useful pointers to help us achieve even better scores in next year’s competition.


· Damage to the River Liffey Bridge
In early August, vandals dislodged some capping stones on the wall of the River Liffey Bridge at Ballymore Eustace, along a length opposite the Ball Alley. The stones were left on the highway; which presented a serious hazard to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The vandals were apprehended by local Gardai. David Hall, Naas Area Engineer, Kildare County Council is, at present, seeking to reach an acceptable agreement with the culprits regarding the repairs.


· Water Damage to River Walk at Doran’s Meadow.
Following very heavy rain, during the “summer” that was in it, the bank at Doran's Field along the River Walk collapsed. Damage has extended to the pathway alongside the stream. The damage has been reported to Kildare County Council, Councillor Martin Heydon, and COVA Properties (the present owners of Doran’s Meadow). At the time of writing, KCC had not carried out any of their promised actions. COVA Properties expect their fencing contractors to carry out remedial work on their side of the stream. They will be sinking posts close together along the old fence line and back-filling to replace the eroded material.

Recession

So what’s new? Nothing much, we’ve just come through another long wet summer and facing into a wet autumn if our weathermen are right. Recession is the only show in town and seems to be the main topic of conversation whenever two or three are gathered together unless you want to get into the pros and cons of Lisbon which is still with us and now Nama has joined the ranks. I’ve written about Lisbon in a previous article so my views are well known on that subject: stay with Europe no matter what! Nama is a different subject altogether and is been designed to get us out of the financial mess that so called experts and financial wizards in banking circles have landed us in. Already there are opposing opinions about Nama. Our government says it’s the way to go, while some economists think the opposite. Frankly I don’t understand all the manipulations that were worked on by these so called experts and financial wizards. However I feel I’m standing tall with the best of them for the said experts didn’t seem to know either what they were about! Vanity investing might best describe their actions. Apparently the banker builder bubble was allowed to grow while our Central Bank, Financial Regulator and the Department of Finance stood idly by The one message that is appearing loud and clear from these shenanigans is that the rescue operation is going to come from the pockets of you and me the ordinary taxpayer. Put that in your pipe and smoke it at your ease!
Questions will be asked as to what will happen to those who got the country into this mess. I believe there has been a resignation or two but is that sufficient? It’s too early to speculate as to what would happen if these ‘experts’ had to stand up in a court of law and defend their actions. They would probably plead first offence and get away with a caution. I have a different if somewhat more radical plan. I’d arm them all with slash hooks and send them out along the highways, byways, and motorways of Ireland to cut that noxious weed ragwort growing in profusion all along our roadsides and in fields. I mind the time when it was an offence to allow this weed to grow and can remember Guard Carroll from Ballymore coming up our avenue on his bike, the squad car of the time, and advising us to get thistles and ragwort cut that were growing in the fields, otherwise face a stiff fine.
This is not such a daft idea as you may think for I’ve seen it in operation. Allow me to digress. Many years ago I was setting off from Vancouver, Canada on a motorbike to travel the states of America. A fellow biker who had done a similar trip gave me this piece of advice: watch your speed limit if you hit the southern states for they don’t just fine you and send you on your way. No, you get carted off to jail and, depending on your offence you spend some time either rock breaking in a rock quarry or, the lesser of two evils, cutting weeds along the highway. Armed guards with rifles cradled in their arms stood at strategic intervals keeping watch. It was sound advice for it was very tempting to break the 50 mph that ruled at the time. Just imagine, mile after mile of highway as far as the eye could see rising and falling with the gentle undulations of the surrounding prairie with the odd car or freight truck for company. But that was then and this is now and I don’t know if the said practice is still in vogue!
So back to the present. The government tell us that Nama is the way out of our financial predicament even if it takes forever. Some say it will take so long that our grandchildren will be involved in the rescue operation. I’d be very cautious of any grand plan that the present shower in power would put before the country. Didn’t they land us in the soup in the first place paying no heed to the bubble that was growing before their very eyes, and that grand man Bertie wondering why anyone who didn’t believe in the gospel according to Fianna Fail didn’t go out and commit suicide. Arrogance personified, and their present leader doesn’t do apology either. At the next election I propose that instead of giving those in power at present a vote, we give them slash hooks, and send them out along with the bankers and financial wizards to cut ragwort and thistles.
Forget about recession and lets finish on a high note. A recent poll taken among the 24 to 40 year olds showed an upbeat attitude in spite of our economic crisis, and that’s surely a positive. When you’re on the bottom there’s only one way to go and that’s up!
Yrs Jeffers.

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