Council pre-empting water charges

Councillor Ted Tynan has accused Cork City Council of pre-empting the introduction of water charges by installing meter-ready stopcocks in parts of the city over the past five years.

Cllr Tynan said that meter-ready stopcocks had already caused water outages in some areas during the recent freeze-up. He had seen such appliances in the Mayfield area which had a screw-on plastic cap with could be removed in a matter of minutes to install a meter. Many of these covers had burst during the recent freeze. (see photo).

“While Minister John Gormley has this morning announced that installation of water meters would begin next year, the fact is that Cork City Council have been preparing for this for several years and have jumped the gun on this issue”, said the Workers Party councillor.

Councillor Tynan said that the debate on water charges was totally skewed and householders were being blamed for water losses through leakages which were mainly due to years of underinvestment in the public water system. “For the past few weeks we have been bombarded with propaganda about people leaving taps running and wasting water but not one city or county manager can tell you how much of the water is being lost in this way and how much is being lost in the public mains through leakages”, he said.

“There is going to be a major battle in opposition to water charges which are a precursor to privatisation. These charges are another tax on working people and a totally unjust form of double taxation. It should be remembered that public opinion forced the scrapping of water charges over ten years ago. We are confident that this can be done again through a rigorous and determined campaign of opposition”.

“The Workers Party is already preparing its own campaign against water charges and we will work closely with others who oppose these unjust charges in building alliances around the country to oppose them. Water charges make no sense whatsoever, they are against the interests of public health, and water privatisation has been a disaster for ordinary people wherever it has taken place. The battle starts now and Minister Gormley will find he is facing a formidable opposition to charging for water.”, said Cllr. Tynan.

Tynan condemns closure of Ardbhaile council office

Councillor Ted Tynan has said that the closure of local Cork City Council offices around the city, including the one at Ardbhaile in Mayfield,  is a backwards step and will have a negative knock-on effect for both the public and the council alike.

The Workers’ Party councillor said that the move, forced on the City Council due to cutbacks in government funding, would cause difficulties for people who find it difficult to get into City Hall to report local problems or simply pay their rent. 

Cllr.  Tynan said that the local offices, such as the one at Árd Bhaile, had proved their worth and had been essential in building better links between the local communities and City Council staff and officials.  

“The value of these local offices is that people can get to know the officials who in turn can build up a working relationship with people in the local community.  They can also deal with people on a one-to-one basis and for instance, if a person runs into difficulty with rent they can identify the problem sooner and can make an arrangement with that person.  It also provides a link for people to report local problems be it broken street lights, pavements or housing maintenance issues”

Councillor Tynan praised the work of staff at the local offices and said it was a disgrace that all their good work was being undone by a petty cutback but he laid blame squarely at the door of the Fianna Fáil / Green Party government.  “This is just another one of the many effects of their slash and burn policy of cutbacks.  It is also short-sighted as the closure of these local offices will cost the council and the state money in the long run”.

Christmas Greetings from Cllr. Ted Tynan

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of the North East Ward for their support for me during 2009 and wish you all a safe and peaceful Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Ted Tynan

Running a city on a shoestring not possible says Tynan

Workers Party Councillor Ted Tynan has said that government cutbacks will seriously affect Cork City Council services and that the allocation from central government to the local authority it totally inadequate.

Cllr. Tynan was speaking in advance of tonight’s meeting of the City Council which will vote on the financial Estimates for the coming 12 months. The Workers’ Party councillor will be voting against the Estimates because they contain domestic refuse charges and because he considers the central allocation as totally inadequate.

“The Minister for the Environment expects councillors to perform a ‘loaves & fishes’ miracle with funding for the city council cut by a further €7 million this year. Already the council has lost in the region of 140 staff through a combination of layoffs of temporary staff and non-replacement of permanent staff. Despite the best efforts of a dedicated staff this is inevitably leading to cuts in services in the area of housing maintenance, roads and other areas”, said Cllr.Tynan.

The Workers Party councillor has called for a more drastic cut in the Lord Mayor’s salary and allowances demanding that instead of an €8,000 cut to €94,000 per annum the mayoral salary should be cut to equal the average industrial wage of €32,000. He is also calling for a complete embargo on conference travel by councillors both within the country and abroad.

“Despite the most serious financial crisis in the city’s modern history, we still have dozens of councillors from the three party pact of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour travelling to conferences in every corner of the country. Some councillors have attended multiple conferences and I can see no benefit whatsoever to the city or the city council of such conferences which are little more than junkets. It is time to call a halt to them”, said Cllr. Tynan.

A Diabolical Budget

Cllr. Ted Tynan has described Wednesday's budget as diabolical and utterly perverse, saying it targets working class people and only working class people with a vicious round of cutbacks in their incomes and in public services.

Cllr. Tynan said that Minister Brian Lenihan’s budget was drafted to an agenda set down by IBEC and big business and that the minister had bent over backwards to grant their demands while tightening the thumbscrews on working people, the poor and their families.

"The reduction in excise duty on alcohol and the car scrappage deal is an affront to society. This budget will force some people to cut back on food and home heating. It is a perverse government indeed which can cut child allowance but give an effective subsidy to the drinks industry and the motor trade".

"Nowhere in this budget do we see any effort to seriously tax the ostentatious wealth that is still being flashed around by the moneyed elite in this society, the one percent who hold one-fifth of this country's wealth. Nor has any effort been made to reform the banks as part of the NAMA process. Having gambled away billions they have been given a massive top-up which has been raised by bleeding workers dry and throwing the most vulnerable people to the wolves”, said Cllr. Tynan.

"This is a budget which makes historic figures like Richie Ryan and Margaret Thatcher seem benevolent. It is a slash-and-burn budget which has reduced the most marginalised people in society, not just to poverty, but to abject poverty. The decision to slash Jobseekers payments for young people and cut it for everyone else, in addition to the cut in child benefit is an outright attack on the poor. Not one single job will be created as a result of this budget, but still we have handouts to businesses in the name of so-called competition”.

“In short Minister Lenihan’s budget is an abomination. It is the product of a government which has been bought by big business but paid dearly for by ordinary workers and their families. It is a government with no morals, no mandate and no shame”, said Councillor Tynan

WAS QUAY WALL DAMAGED BY MECHANICAL DIGGER?

Workers Party councillor Ted Tynan last night asked City Manager as to whether the quay wall beside the Mercy Hospital may have been damaged by a mechanical digger weeks before the wall collapsed in the recent severe weather.

Speaking at a meeting of Cork City Council which was dominated by the recent flooding crisis, Cllr. Tynan says that he had seen photographs showing a large mechanised excavator (traxcavator) working at the same spot where the wall was to collapse early on the 20th November at the height of the heavy rain and high tides. He has been informed that large amounts of stone, possibly old cobblestones, was removed from the River Lee at Grenville Place around a month before the wall collapsed. His source and a number of others he spoke to say that the excavator’s bucket hit off the quay wall on several occasions.

Cllr. Tynan has tabled a series of questions to the City Manager, Mr. Joe Gavin, in an attempt to find out if the machine in question could possibly have damaged the quay wall and to ascertain why it was removing this material in the first place.

“The recent floods have had a devastating effect on parts of the city centre around the Marsh area. It is estimated that damage at the Mercy Hospital alone was in the order of €2 million and the hospital was almost put out of action. We need to find out why this happened and if there is any connection between the removal of the stone and the wall’s collapse. I haved asked the City Manager tonight to investigate the reports and give his opinion on the matter”, said Cllr. Tynan.

Photos shown were taken with a cameraphone on 19th October - one month before the wall collapsed, and show the traxcavator machine working at Grenville Place.

Tynan praises council staff, emergency services for flood response

Councillor Ted Tynan has praised Cork City Council staff and the emergency services for their efforts in response to the flooding crisis in the city.

The Workers’ Party councillor said that staff at all levels had worked tirelessly to deal with the crisis and many of them had stayed at their posts for two or three days with no more than a few hours sleep. He said that the response proved the worth of public service workers and contradicted much recent negative comment on the public service.

“Over the past few days I have travelled to various locations around the city, especially around Mayfield and the North East Ward, and have seen City Council workers doing Trojan work. They have been faced with an extremely difficult situation but have coped very well with it. I would like to thank all those involved including council workers, the gardaí, fire and other emergency services and individuals who have volunteered to help. It was truly a team effort by all concerned”, said Cllr. Tynan.

“This should give advocates of privatisation plenty of food for thought. I have no doubt if these were privatised services we would not have had the same level of response. The public service has stepped up to the mark in a severe emergency and comes out with full marks for dedication, effort and determination”, he declared.