Hi
By now the fruit tree project has well and truly started. We began planting in  with Sean O hArgain, Muniteoiri agus na Paisti. It was such a great day and our little orchard will hopefully mature over coming years. On Thursday 5th of March, I planted six trees with sixth class and my son Colm who is in Junior infants at St Canice’s National School. Then it was on to the Castle Park on Friday for the main event. What a great turnout and we had a film crew from Glass Eye Productions in Thomastown. I hope to have footage of this up on this site when the edit is complete.
Finally I went to the Model School on the Comer Rd and prepared the planting holes for the parents who were coming in on the Saturday. I had to be in Wexford at our Party Conference on that day so I haven’t gone back to see how they got on yet.
All in all it has been a really inspiring project, one that I hope will leave a lasting mark on the 400 celebrations. Here’s the press release I put out that week, we will be back in Autumn to complete the planting.
Malcolm

Celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the signing of the City Charter will take place this week in schools around the city and will culminate in the planting of an orchard in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle. The 400 fruit tree project will see the planting of orchards around the city to leave a lasting legacy of the 400 celebrations.

Speaking on the significance of the event, steering committee member, Cllr Malcolm Noonan stated that it was particularly poignant given that the theme of this years National Tree Week is ‘Our Trees, Our Culture’. ‘Kilkenny City and County is steeped in a tradition of growing and self reliance and this project seeks to reconnect communities with growing our own food, while enhancing wildlife in our urban areas’.

Three primary schools will take part in the first phase of the project, Gaelscoil Osraí, St Canice’s National School and The Model School and will plant small orchards of old native varieties of fruit trees including one native to County Kilkenny. On Friday March 6th, a group of twenty trees will be planted on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle formally marking the start of the project.

Brian Dillon of Future Proof Kilkenny who are involved in the coordination of the project acknowledged the support of Kilkenny Local Authorities, the OPW and other partner organisations and schools. ‘Claire Murphy of Kilkenny County Council has been instrumental in sourcing the right trees and we are most grateful for the support of the Local Authority and the 400 Celebrations Committee. Also the OPW have been most supportive of this project since it was first mooted’ he stated.

Elaine Bradshaw of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful is hopeful that the project will enhance Kilkenny’s chances in this year’s tidy towns, particularly under the wildlife and biodiversity categories.

It is hoped that the project will be completed in late autumn 2009 and the committee will be announcing a sponsor an orchard scheme to raise further funds to complete the planting. They are also hoping to identify more suitable sites throughout the City that are secure and will be well maintained.

This is a press release I issued last week. I find it incredible that many of the alternatives I put forward during the Oral Hearing for the Central Access Scheme now form part of this proposed policy. The same consultants were used here and they referenced the ’2020 Vision Sustainable Travel and Transport’ document to inform this policy shift. Yet during the oral hearing they admitted they weren’t aware of the new policy direction of the Department of Transport. Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted they’re taking many of my recommendations on board, including the transport forum, but I am left wondering if this were presented at the Oral Hearing, the rationale for the road would have been completely debased. In any event I could have saved the Council a few quid by letting them use my submission!
M
Many aspects of a new mobility plan for Kilkenny City and Environs have the potential to make the City one of the most progressive regional towns in the Country in dealing with urban mobility and Transport. Cllr Malcolm Noonan believes that many measures of the plan if fully implemented can offer planners a viable alternative to the Central Access Scheme and at a fraction of the cost. He also disagrees with the Consultants contention that ‘soft’ measures in the draft plan cannot be implemented without the Central Access Scheme.

The Draft Urban Mobility Plan for Kilkenny City and Environs was presented to members at last Monday’s meeting of Kilkenny Borough Council. Among the main measures in the plan are provisions for an extended cycle lane network, options for park and ride scheme, public transport options and educational programmes including ‘walking buses’ for schools. However the plan states that many of the measures such as one way systems and pedestrianisation of High St cannot be introduced unless the Central Access Scheme (CAS) is given the go ahead.

‘There are many innovative proposals in this plan that are in line with alternatives put forward during the CAS Oral Hearing. I am encouraged by the fact that the Council is now seriously considering public transport and taking on board my call for the establishment of a County Transport Forum to oversee all these measures. Emerging policy from the Department of Transport (DoT) is encouraging us to change the way we plan our transport systems. The Local Authority is now using the DoT ‘2020 Vision-Sustainable Travel and Transport’ document to inform this plan but failed to use it to inform their justification for the Central Access Scheme’ stated Cllr Noonan.

Cllr Noonan stated that a mobility plan cannot be considered in full until a decision is made on the Central Access Scheme by An Bord Pleanala. ‘Many of the measures outlined in the plan can be brought forward without a decision, however we can only plan the movement of people around the city when we know the full context within which we are working’ he said.

He also said that public transport may not require heavy subvention from the Local Authority if a partnership approach were to be adopted with State Street, businesses in the Purcellsinch Business Park, the Watershed and other large transport users and if it were linked with an integrated system involving rural transport providers.

‘An approach like this will give public transport the necessary critical mass and facilitate the roll out of bus shelters and signage. I am encouraged by the ambitious programme for the expansion of the cycle lane network but this must be backed up by adequate cycle parking facilities in the city’ he said. ‘I would urge members of the public to make submissions on the draft plan in the coming weeks to the Borough and County Council’, he concluded.

Speaking at the adoption of the Traveller Accommodation Programme at the January Meeting of Kilkenny County Council, Councillor Malcolm Noonan commended Council staff and other agencies such as KCAN working on Traveller Development issues on progress over the life of the previous plan but stated that there remains significant challenges in bringing about acceptable living standards for traveller families in some areas of the City and County.

He stated that while good progress has been made in the accommodation programme in Hebron, the same could not be said for the Wetlands Halting Site. He also called on Kilkenny Local Authorities to take on board the recommendations from the submission of the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) in relation to the Wetlands site and observed that the retaining wall surrounding the site should be dismantled, questioning its legality in terms of planning guidelines for traveller accommodation.

‘While welcoming the adoption of measures in the plan to address the upgrade and refurbishment of traveller accommodation in Kilkenny, I would also ask that the transient culture that still prevails in some traveller families, be respected and accommodated where possible. Much work also needs to be done in terms of developing capacity within the traveller community and addressing issues of poverty and educational disadvantage. I am disappointed that the traveller horse project failed to materialise in the county. Organisations such as KCAN have done groundbreaking work with traveller women and I think that we as local authorities should support such initiatives’ he stated.

The Traveller Accommodation Programme covers a period from 2009 to 2014 and was prepared with consultation from the Local Traveller Consultative Committee and the Housing Strategic Policy Committee of Kilkenny County Council

Proposals put forward by Fine Gael to address the increase in class sizes in Primary Schools as proposed in November’s budget have received support from Kilkenny Green Party Councillor, Malcolm Noonan. Councillor Noonan said that the proposals are worth considering by Government and could prevent the overcrowding situation in many primary schools from getting worse. He also welcomed the non partisan approach taken by their frontbench spokesperson on Education, Brian Hayes TD in putting the proposals to Minister for Education and Science, Batt O Keeffe.

Cllr Noonan agrees with the contention that the decision to increase the general staffing schedule at primary school from 27 pupils per teacher to 28 will lead to a loss of teachers in some schools and further disadvantage children with special educational needs.

Deputy Hayes proposals include;

• no school should lose a teacher if they are one child under the schedule

• where eight teacher schools lose a teacher under the schedule, thereby merging two years into one year, some consideration should be given for allowing schools to retain eight teachers
• a more flexible approach to be taken in determining appeals brought by schools on teacher numbers
• where a school has 80 or more newcomer pupils, the cap on two language support teachers should be lifted to allow the allocation of a third language support teacher.

‘This is the type of politics people in this country are crying out for right now’ stated Cllr Noonan, ‘from talking to people over the past number of months since the recession hit, I feel that we need an end to the political point scoring and back biting and for a cross party approach to be adopted to this and so many of the other challenges facing our society as the economic crisis deepens.

‘Also we must protect the most vulnerable in our community from the worst effects of the recession. There should be no threat to the quality of our primary education and I feel that the Minister for Education should seriously consider Deputy Hayes proposals and also accept the gesture of support from Deputy Hayes if the Minister were to implement them. It could go a long way towards addressing the very real concern among teachers and parents about the future wellbeing of our children’.

The lack of any recycling facilities on the Eastern Environs of Kilkenny is seriously hampering the efforts of communities in that area to recycle waste. Kilkenny Borough and County Councillor, Malcolm Noonan has asked that Kilkenny County Council would identify suitable secure sites for recycling facilities in the area.

‘This is one of the most densely populated areas of the City and it is essential that people living here, particularly those with no access to transport, have access to a full range of recycling facilities’ stated the Green Party Councillor. ‘While some uncertainty exists around markets for recyclables at the moment, this won’t always be the case. Kilkenny is well ahead of National and Regional Targets in terms of recycling and Kilkenny People are extremely conscious of the importance of reducing both the waste packaging they purchase and of reducing the waste they send to landfill’ he stated.

‘I have received a positive response from our Environment Section that facilities will be put in place following consultation and this will be a welcome step for communities in the area’ he said.

Meanwhile, Cllr Noonan has commended Kilkenny County Council staff at the Dunmore Civic Amenity Site for their work during and after the Christmas period where many people from the City and County go to recycle the large volumes of Christmas packaging. ‘By all accounts this was one of the busiest post Christmas recycling sprees at Dunmore and our staff there are so helpful and at all times courteous to customers. I would urge people in Kilkenny to continue their efforts in keeping Kilkenny at the top of the recycling league in the South East’ concluded Cllr Noonan.