‘Mulhuddart/Clonsilla area shortchanged in Council Annual Works Plan – Dennison’

Dublin West Fine Gael Representative Kieran Dennison has hit out at the poor deal the Mulhuddart Area has received from the 2008 Council Works Programme.

Two thirds of the package worth €3.9m will be spent in Castleknock and only one third in the Mulhuddart electoral area. Mr. Dennison, who has just been appointed one of the party’s local representatives in the area, says he “felt that local Councillors had failed the Mulhuddart Ward and had some explaining to do”.

Of the 26 Special Roads Contribution Schemes totalling €1.1million, only 4 are in Mulhuddart with a spend of €135,000. Castleknock will benefit from 18 footpath improvement schemes as against 11 for the Mulhuddart Electoral Area. Similarly, 2 of the 3 new pedestrian crossings will be provided in the Castleknock area along with 7 of the 10 new lighting projects. Of the 9 Flood Relief projects only 2 will be in Mulhuddart.

Under the Parks Program the Council will spend €183,000 in Castleknock on improvements to open spaces such as railings, footpaths and lighting and provision of new playgrounds leaving a measly €50,000 for all of Mulhuddart, Clonsilla, Ongar, Tyrrellstown and Clonee.

Kieran Dennison asked “where were the FF and left wing Mulhuddart Councillors when this largesse was being handed out”. He noted that a Castleknock Councillor was quoted in a recent issue of Community Voice as “being very pleased with the programme as it contains a large number of projects that I have sought funding for”. He said that “while the roads and footpaths in Castleknock were getting higher and higher from resurfacing, residents in Mulhuddart had to settle for broken pavements and endure gridlock from outdated signalling at traffic lights. Meanwhile another €100,000 is being allocated to ‘look into’ changing the wasteful one way system on the Clonsilla Road”

At €3.9 million the Castleknock/Mulhuddart area received the lowest allocation from the total of €13.3 million the Council will spend on the Scheme in its Local Areas. This is in spite of the fact that the area generates the greater proportion of Fingal’s income. In a parting shot Dennison added “It seems that areas with a Fine Gael Councillor such as Castleknock, Malahide and Swords are getting much better representation, perhaps it’s time Mulhuddart had one as well”.