DE PAUL SWIMMING POOL – FUNDING PROVIDED
Minister for Sport, Michael Ring TD has informed me of that his Department has provided funding of €865,509 to the Daughters of Charity for the refurbishment of the DePaul Swimming Pool on the Navan Road. This funding has been made available to the Daughters of Charity through the Local Authority Swimming Pool Programme administered by the Minister Ring’s Department. This pool has been immensely popular with local residents and I am delighted to have played a role in ensuring that this vital community asset can be refurbished and be open to the public. I will continue to provide whatever support I can to the Sisters and the DePaul Swimming Pool as work now proceeds to the construction phase of the project.
FUTURE OF CABRA GARDA STATION
There has been much speculation about the future of Cabra Garda Station. Many people have contacted me asking that the Station remain open. In response to these representations, I spoke with the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter TD and the local Chief Superintendent to highlight my clear view of the necessity of the Station remaining open to serve the needs of the local community. The Garda Commissioner has taken the decision to change the public opening hours of the Station. The front desk of Cabra Station will be open to the public from 8am – 10pm on a daily basis. This means that during the night the station desk will not be open to the public – however the Station will remain fully active. The Garda presence and their operations remain entirely unchanged at night. There will be no change in community policing or patrols due to this decision. The key change is that, at night, a member of the public will no longer be able to walk into the Station to the public desk. Apart from this, Gardai will continue to be located in the Station on a twenty-four hour, seven days a week basis to provide the highest level of policing in the area.
TACKLING LOCAL CRIME
Many local residents have been in contact with me to express their concern about the number of homes that have been broken into recently. Unfortunately, a number of these robberies have included attacks on elderly residents and those responsible have been too successful in stealing treasured possessions and other belongings. In response to this problem, I contacted the Chief Superintendent to establish what steps are being taken by the Gardai to apprehend those responsible for these crimes. The Chief Superintendent has assured me that his officers have an undercover operation in place to tackle this situation. Indeed, this operation has led to the arrest of an individual in relation to these robberies. I will continue to liaise with the Gardai and residents to keep you up to date in respect of the current situation.
BLACKHORSE AVENUE
Further improvement works on Blackhorse Avenue are expected to be undertaken by Dublin City Council throughout 2012. The stretch of road from Cabra Gate is currently in an extremely poor condition. Councillor Mary O’Shea and I have been liaising with the Roads Maintenance Division of the Council in respect of the problems associated with continuous surface water on this part of Blackhorse Avenue. We understand that these problems have been caused by groundwater emanating from land adjacent to Blackhorse Avenue and the Phoenix Park wall. Council engineers believe that this water is coming from Poor Mans Well. As a result, the improvement works planned for this part of Blackhorse Avenue will have to be delayed until this problem is resolved. Council officials have informed both Councillor O’Shea and I that work is continuing in resolve the problems. Mary and I will provide you with a further update on this and other improvement works which will be carried out by Dublin City Council on Blackhorse Avenue during the coming year.