“Enough of the problems – Time for solutions!”

A.J. Cahill’s

Plan to create Jobs & Solutions

The number of people signing on in Galway City alone has increased by 74% in last 12 months from 6,198 to 10,810 people.

Many of you are worried about keeping or getting a job. Ongoing local problems with traffic, schools and crime affect every one of us.

“Talk“ is not going to solve our current problems. We need a plan and new leadership - I have prepared a plan to create good local jobs that depends on good local solutions. To implement it, I need your number 1 vote so I can use the platform afforded a city councillor in the media and the city to drive this plan forward.

Jobs

The reality is we could be waiting a long time before we see an international economic recovery or for a government plan that will produce an economic turnaround. None of us have time to wait. We need to look to ourselves to come up with a plan to help Galway families weather the economic storm and create a model of economic and social recovery for the rest of Ireland.

Inward investment is dead along with the housing market. The government has a massive need to reduce spending without impacting on public services. This presents an opportunity for Galway to lead the way in reforming our public sector and creating a “smart economy”.

With this in mind we can begin now to create new businesses that will create local jobs and wealth for the benefit of all the citizens of Galway. When elected I will champion the establishment of new businesses in Galway with the initial target of 1,000 new local jobs. With the right plan and leadership, new businesses can be created centred around the following sectors

• Software - As A Service (SaaS)
• Tourism
• Construction
• Energy
• Call centres

I am working on plans to create jobs in all these areas. For example, in the software sector we will create software services using the private sector, which will be offered to the city council and other government agencies such as the HSE to reduce costs and make the services they provide to the public more efficient. We will then look to export these services throughout the public service nationally and then internationally to other governments and the private sector as these businesses grow.

Call centres employing significant numbers of people will be required to service the support requirements of these software products.

These software products will be provided in conjunction with Irish third level educational institutions whose knowledge will be traded in return for “real world” experience and financial return. The first of these products will be available before the local election in June.

Because of Galway’s location and facilities, we are ideally placed to benefit from the reduction in foreign holidays. I will work to develop this tourism opportunity.

West of Ireland companies are already producing leading edge green energy technologies, if expanded and supported Galway and the west can become a global player in both renewal energy technologies development and manufacturing. France and Germany have not given away their manufacturing, neither should we, we should adapt, lead and expand.

We are being asked to share significant pain by the government in return the government must now be open to creative thinking when it comes to allocation of scares resources. The simple diversion of rents for school prefabs to mortgage payments would allow for a schools building programme in excess of €1 Billion nationwide allowing unemployed Galway construction workers to begin building the schools required in Knocknacarra.

I need a public platform as a councillor to drive job creation and keep it centre stage in Galway city over the next 5 years.

SOLUTIONS

New Corrib Bridge

I will campaign for the earliest completion of the new Corrib Bridge while seeking the new bridge’s tolls to be paid for by a 2 cents per litre fuel levy as recommended by the AA. A fuel levy will allow payment to be made by use of a shadow toll paid to the toll operator by the government rather than the use of traditional direct tolling that will inhibit use of the ring road by local traffic. Galway must not repeat the mistake of directly tolling a ring road as has happened in Dublin with the M50 and Drogheda with the M1. Direct tolling will add costs to businesses and goods while leaving local traffic clogging the streets of Galway for years to come as commuters avoid a yearly tolls in excess of 1200 euro, shadow tolling as proposed by the AA is the only answer to this problem.

New Knocknacarra schools & Community Centre

We need the immediate construction of new schools to replace prefabricated classrooms in Knocknacarra and throughout Galway. This will be paid for by convincing the government to convert the rent paid by the Department of Education for prefabs into mortgage payments for new schools. What the government currently pays in rent for prefabs nationally could service a €1 Billion euro schools building programme. This will provide proper schools for children and valuable work locally for the construction sector. I will seek to have the new school required in Knocknacarra build in this way.

The most pressing educational requirements currently in Knocknacarra are the funding of equipment for the new national school under construction and the establishment of a local secondary school.

A lack of provision of a community centre in Knocknacarra has been is a monument to bad representation, if elected I will ensure this is built or I will not seek re-election.

Isolation of our elderly & housebound

Many of our elderly after raising their children and the death of a husband or wife live in isolation inside the four walls of their homes alone with their memories. Our community has never needed their wisdom, experience or love so much.

I will champion the introduction of practical measures that begins to remove the isolation of our elderly.

• A “Good Morning Galway” daily contact phone service to end the isolation and co-ordinate the home help, medical, city council & Gardai needs of our elderly. (Modelled on the existing “Good Morning Blanchardstown” Project in Dublin).
• A good neighbour scheme.
• City Council supplied list of tradesmen & odd jobs persons for the elderly.
• Expansion of meals on wheels.

Alcohol, drugs & suicide

Last Christmas we saw the banning of a television adverts for the sale of Christmas cribs while our screens were flooded with adverts for alcohol. Yet an estimated 300,000 people have a problem with alcohol in Ireland. Alcohol and drugs misuse along with suicide is destroying our society, ruining lives and families. More people die from suicide than from road traffic accidents in Galway and Ireland. I will work to stop this destruction in the following ways.

• Lead by example - Demand the removal of all alcohol from council functions.
• Establish a council led co-ordinated plan to reduce the level of suicides by use of evidence-based solutions.
• Demand the council provide practical support for the Samaritans, Alcoholics Anonymous AA, NA, GA and other treatment and recovery programmes.

Children

• Expansion of the Big brother / Big sister programme to mentor our youth
• Indoor playing facilities
• Speech and language therapy, disability services e.g. hearing aids

Community Renewal

• Lets (Local Exchange Trading System) - see note 1 below

• Citizen drop-in centre for networking, social interaction and skills & services exchanges;

• Practical advice service re budgets, cooking food, growing food, re-using materials, energy conservation;

• Providing community allotments to allow people grow food together – improves health, builds bonds, provides food security;

• Building local democracy via neighbourhood councils;

• Delegating some of the Council’s budget directly to the neighbourhood councils so they can directly invest in improving their locality and community supplemented by local contributions.


note 1: Lets (Local Exchange Trading System is a community barter system for the exchange of goods and services.

Hospital & disability services

Many of the community services for Children with disabilities are very difficult to access e.g. hearing, speech therapy etc.

More hospital beds and improved services can be produced through the costs saving and efficiencies produced by the use of the computerisation of health service – see software jobs plan.

Unfinished housing estates & Development Sites

Unfinished and abandoned development sites where work has stopped need to be made safe and maintained in a sightly way. As your councillor, I will campaign to force developers and banks (where a site has been foreclosed) to live up to their responsibilities.

Law & Order

It is essential that people feel safe in their homes and walking the streets. When elected I will seek a revamp of the neighbour watch scheme plus put in place a youth diversion scheme for those at risk of taking the wrong path in life.

• Revamping of neighbourhood watch
• Creation of an at risk youth diversion scheme – active diversion into sports (e.g. GAA, Soccer etc), school attendance monitoring, prison tours etc.