ANY STEP TO REINTRODUCE THIRD-LEVEL FEES WILL BE OPPOSED

The Government’s move to look at reintroducing third-level fees is disturbing and I support the Labour Party's oppostion to any such backward step:

One of the Labour Party most significant achievements in Government was the abolition of third-level fees opening up third-level education to tens of thousands of students from low and middle income families. The proof of this is in the statistics where we have seen admission rates for third-level increase by 11 per cent between 1998 and 2004.

‘Most significantly, the proportion of students from the semi and unskilled backgrounds going to college increased from 23 per cent to over one third while the number of students from a skilled manual background almost doubled to 60 per cent.

‘I can also testify as an educator in one of the country’s most disadvantaged area that third-level education has been de-mystified by the abolition of fees and has encouraged more and more young people to attempt to fulfil their educational potential.

‘The term ‘better off’ families is also a very broad one and even if fees were initially only applied to what the Government terms as ‘better off families’, it would be only a matter of time before threshold levels were dropped and the vast majority of families would again be facing fees. Given that fees for many courses would now be more than €6,000 per annum, their introduction would simply make it impossible for many families to send their children to third level.

‘The logical extension of this argument is that ‘better off’ families should also have to pay for primary and secondary education instead of availing of free education. Given the government’s track record in recouping any tax from our most wealthy citizens, it would not engender confidence that a reliable system for payment of third level fees would be enforced – the grants system was notoriously corrupted by those with the means in the past.

‘We should ask ourselves whether the third-level sector is under-funded because fees were abolished, or because the abolition of fees was successful, in part, in encouraging greater numbers into third-level - numbers were not matched by appropriate levels of Government funding. At the end of the day we cannot lose sight of the fact that education is a public good in itself, from which the whole of society benefits.

‘The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs recommended that 32 per cent of our workforce should have a degree or third level qualification by 2020, compared to 20 per cent today. We certainly will not achieve this target if fees are reintroduced.

Sale of Clontarf Golf Club

The withdrawal of Capel Developments from the proposed development of the lands at Clontarf Golf Club serves as a lesson for arrogant developers. The manner in which this developer has conducted himself from the beginning of this process has displayed an arrogant disregard for the democratic process. Claims that each member of the club would receive €100,000 from the sale of the land were at best misguided and at worst deliberately misleading.

The sale of Clontarf Golf Club was totally dependent on the support of Dublin City Councillors for the disposal of the lands at the club. The level of green space within the City Boundaries is fastly diminishing and the protection of open green land in the city is a priority. The suggestion that members of the club were in line for a massive payout was an attempt, in my view, to pre-empt the process and to present the sale as a fait accompli. The largest group on the City Council, the Labour Party, were against the disponsal of these lands from the outset under these circumstances.

The process of land disposal is quite clear. The lands of the city is placed in the guardianship of the councillors by the people of the city, a responsibility that the vast majority of councillors take extremely seriously. No land may be sold without the expressed agreement, by means of a vote, by the local representatives. Any attempt to disregard that process was extremely arrogant and the falling through of that plan should serve as a warning to any future developers as to their conduct in relation to these lands.

Cllr O Riordain launches 'Text your Protest' Campaign against DART Car Parking Fee

This morning I launched my 'text your protest' campaign against the planned introduction of Car Parking Fees in Dart Stations from September. The introduction of these fees will not only penalise those commuters who are willing to use public transport but will inevitably lead to parking problems in residential areas that surround DART stations. This morning I have already received remarkable support from commuters at Clontarf DART station who are extremely angry over the proposal.

I am asking all those who oppose the introduction of these fees to text 'NO PARKING FEE' to 086-8190336 followed by their name and address. The petition will be sent to the Chief Executive of Irish Rail and to the Minster for Transport.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin's move to Clontarf explained

My reasons for my move to the electoral area of Clontarf has created some interest amongst political writers.
Since my election as a Councillor in the North Inner City in 2004 I have been working tirelessly for the benefit of all those who live in this remarkable area of our city and I have been privileged to have been given the opportunity to pursue the issues that I greatly care about, primarily educational disadvantage.
However with my appointment as principal in my beloved school in Sheriff Street I consider it impossible to be able to represent the same area politically. Staying politically active in an area where I serve the community as a school Principal would lead to too many conflicts of interest and I need to be fully focused on the job at hand.
Simultaneously there is another constituency on my doorstep which is bereft of Labour Representation and with needs a strong Labour voice to promote those eternal ideals of equality, comminty and justice. I was asked by Labour members to consider to move to the Clontarf ward which includes Marino, Donnycarney, Fairview, Killester and Clontarf.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to represent a new area and I was honoured that the membership of Dublin North Cenral backed me to run for the Labour Party in the Clontarf ward in 2009.
I have begun working on important issues already, Croke Park Event day parking, the rezoning f Marino,m the proposed redevelopment of Clontarf Golf Club and the CCE dispute with the disbanded Clontarf Branch. This proud area of Dublin needs Labour. I am happy to provide that representation and hope that it will result in a council seat in 2009.

Wheelock Investigation

The decision by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to open its first ever public-interest investigation to inquire into the death of Terence Wheelock is to be welcomed. I have been campaigning with the Wheelock family since Terence’s death in September 2005 for an independent inquiry to find answers to the many questions that remain unanswered to this day.
Terence Wheelock died at the Mater hospital in Dublin. He had spent three months in a coma after he was found unconscious in Store Street Garda station on June 2nd 2005. Gardaí told the coroner’s inquest that he had attempted to hang himself with a cord from his tracksuit bottoms. His family continues to dispute this and claims he was mistreated in Garda custody.
Many questions remain unanswered and demand to be answered if An Garda Siochana are to continue to have any credibility in Dublin’s North Inner City or indeed nationwide. Why did it take almost a year of legal wrangling with the Garda Commissioner's office until the Wheelocks were granted access to his clothes last November?
The clothes worn by Terence Wheelock were extensively stained with blood and vomit, according to a forensic report commissioned by his family's legal team. No gardaí who arrested Mr Wheelock or who were at Store Street Garda station in June 2005, when he fell into a coma, mentioned blood or vomit on his clothes at the inquest. However, at the adjournment of the inquest last year, Michael Norton, forensic scientist at Garda headquarters who examined Mr Wheelock's clothes, said there were bloodstains on some of the undergarments. According to the independent forensic analysis of the clothes, commissioned by the Wheelock family legal team, these bloodstains could have been caused by injuries and trauma to the anal area.
Photographs taken in the Mater hospital by a hospital photographer of Mr Wheelock's body and seen by myself show extensive bruising on his arms, legs and torso as well as cuts on his knuckles and single ligature mark around his neck. The photographs of his clothes show clearly bloodstains on his boxer shorts and T-shirt. I have been quoted widely as stating that these photographs are particularly troubling.
A T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and boxer shorts were examined on behalf of the family at the Dublin Forensic Science laboratory by Lee John Fagan, a forensic scientist with Keith Borer consultants in Durham, England. An opinion on his findings was given by Dr Carl Gray, consultant forensic pathologist based in Leeds. Mr Fagan, in his report dated December 8th, 2006, notes bloodstaining on the tracksuit bottoms, including a heavy soaked-in stain on the upper inside back of the trousers. The blood is said to have soaked through to the outside of the tracksuit bottoms.
Mr Wheelock's boxer shorts are found to have similar stains on the inside back. Mr Fagan is of the opinion that this blood is likely to have soaked through the shorts and tracksuit bottoms from the inside and while they were being worn. He notes vomit-staining down the front of the T-shirt as well as bloodstaining.
In his opinion on Mr Fagan's report, Dr Gray says that although vomiting may occur from an initial hanging attempt which would be nauseating, he notes that there was no double ligature mark on Mr Wheelock's neck to suggest repeated attempts at hanging and he says the most likely explanation is that the T-shirt was previously vomited upon. He also says anal bleeding is not a usual feature of hanging cases. Though it could be explained by minor anal trauma or a cut caused by constipation, it could also have been caused by injury and trauma to the anal area.The coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of death by suicide earlier this summer, but only by the narrowest of margins – by four votes to three. There are other issues in relation to the surgical cleaning of the cell that Mr Wheelock was held in the day after the events in Store Street. Hopefully the Garda Ombudsman Commission will find the answers so that the family can put the death of their son behind them. They deserve no less, decent Gardai deserve their good reputation, and society in general needs to know that everyone has the right to know the truth.

Wheelock Investigation

As the summer comes to a close, it is time to review some of the events of the summer. The decision by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to open its first ever public-interest investigation to inquire into the death of Terence Wheelock is to be welcomed. I have been campaigning with the Wheelock family since Terence’s death in September 2005 for an independent inquiry to find answers to the many questions that remain unanswered to this day.
Terence Wheelock died at the Mater hospital in Dublin. He had spent three months in a coma after he was found unconscious in Store Street Garda station on June 2nd 2005. Gardaí told the coroner’s inquest that he had attempted to hang himself with a cord from his tracksuit bottoms. His family continues to dispute this and claims he was mistreated in Garda custody.
Many questions remain unanswered and demand to be answered if An Garda Siochana are to continue to have any credibility in Dublin’s North Inner City or indeed nationwide. Why did it take almost a year of legal wrangling with the Garda Commissioner's office until the Wheelocks were granted access to his clothes last November?
The clothes worn by Terence Wheelock were extensively stained with blood and vomit, according to a forensic report commissioned by his family's legal team. No gardaí who arrested Mr Wheelock or who were at Store Street Garda station in June 2005, when he fell into a coma, mentioned blood or vomit on his clothes at the inquest. However, at the adjournment of the inquest last year, Michael Norton, forensic scientist at Garda headquarters who examined Mr Wheelock's clothes, said there were bloodstains on some of the undergarments. According to the independent forensic analysis of the clothes, commissioned by the Wheelock family legal team, these bloodstains could have been caused by injuries and trauma to the anal area.
Photographs taken in the Mater hospital by a hospital photographer of Mr Wheelock's body and seen by myself show extensive bruising on his arms, legs and torso as well as cuts on his knuckles and single ligature mark around his neck. The photographs of his clothes show clearly bloodstains on his boxer shorts and T-shirt. I have been quoted widely as stating that these photographs are particularly troubling.
A T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and boxer shorts were examined on behalf of the family at the Dublin Forensic Science laboratory by Lee John Fagan, a forensic scientist with Keith Borer consultants in Durham, England. An opinion on his findings was given by Dr Carl Gray, consultant forensic pathologist based in Leeds. Mr Fagan, in his report dated December 8th, 2006, notes bloodstaining on the tracksuit bottoms, including a heavy soaked-in stain on the upper inside back of the trousers. The blood is said to have soaked through to the outside of the tracksuit bottoms.
Mr Wheelock's boxer shorts are found to have similar stains on the inside back. Mr Fagan is of the opinion that this blood is likely to have soaked through the shorts and tracksuit bottoms from the inside and while they were being worn. He notes vomit-staining down the front of the T-shirt as well as bloodstaining.
In his opinion on Mr Fagan's report, Dr Gray says that although vomiting may occur from an initial hanging attempt which would be nauseating, he notes that there was no double ligature mark on Mr Wheelock's neck to suggest repeated attempts at hanging and he says the most likely explanation is that the T-shirt was previously vomited upon. He also says anal bleeding is not a usual feature of hanging cases. Though it could be explained by minor anal trauma or a cut caused by constipation, it could also have been caused by injury and trauma to the anal area.The coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of death by suicide earlier this summer, but only by the narrowest of margins – by four votes to three. There are other issues in relation to the surgical cleaning of the cell that Mr Wheelock was held in the day after the events in Store Street. Hopefully the Garda Ombudsman Commission will find the answers so that the family can put the death of their son behind them. They deserve no less, decent Gardai deserve their good reputation, and society in general needs to know that everyone has the right to know the truth.

Ombudsman Investigation into Wheelock case

As the summer closes it is time to review some of the positive and negative events of the summer. The decision by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to open its first ever public-interest investigation to inquire into the death of Terence Wheelock is to be welcomed. I have been campaigning with the Wheelock family since Terence’s death in September 2005 for an independent inquiry to find answers to the many questions that remain unanswered to this day.
Terence Wheelock died at the Mater hospital in Dublin. He had spent three months in a coma after he was found unconscious in Store Street Garda station on June 2nd 2005. Gardaí told the coroner’s inquest that he had attempted to hang himself with a cord from his tracksuit bottoms. His family continues to dispute this and claims he was mistreated in Garda custody.

Many questions remain unanswered and demand to be answered if An Garda Siochana are to continue to have any credibility in Dublin’s North Inner City or indeed nationwide. Why did it take almost a year of legal wrangling with the Garda Commissioner's office until the Wheelocks were granted access to his clothes last November?

The clothes worn by Terence Wheelock were extensively stained with blood and vomit, according to a forensic report commissioned by his family's legal team. No gardaí who arrested Mr Wheelock or who were at Store Street Garda station in June 2005, when he fell into a coma, mentioned blood or vomit on his clothes at the inquest. However, at the adjournment of the inquest last year, Michael Norton, forensic scientist at Garda headquarters who examined Mr Wheelock's clothes, said there were bloodstains on some of the undergarments. According to the independent forensic analysis of the clothes, commissioned by the Wheelock family legal team, these bloodstains could have been caused by injuries and trauma to the anal area.

Photographs taken in the Mater hospital by a hospital photographer of Mr Wheelock's body and seen by myself show extensive bruising on his arms, legs and torso as well as cuts on his knuckles and single ligature mark around his neck. The photographs of his clothes show clearly bloodstains on his boxer shorts and T-shirt. I have been quoted widely as stating that these photographs are particularly troubling.

A T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and boxer shorts were examined on behalf of the family at the Dublin Forensic Science laboratory by Lee John Fagan, a forensic scientist with Keith Borer consultants in Durham, England. An opinion on his findings was given by Dr Carl Gray, consultant forensic pathologist based in Leeds. Mr Fagan, in his report dated December 8th, 2006, notes bloodstaining on the tracksuit bottoms, including a heavy soaked-in stain on the upper inside back of the trousers. The blood is said to have soaked through to the outside of the tracksuit bottoms.

Mr Wheelock's boxer shorts are found to have similar stains on the inside back. Mr Fagan is of the opinion that this blood is likely to have soaked through the shorts and tracksuit bottoms from the inside and while they were being worn. He notes vomit-staining down the front of the T-shirt as well as bloodstaining.

In his opinion on Mr Fagan's report, Dr Gray says that although vomiting may occur from an initial hanging attempt which would be nauseating, he notes that there was no double ligature mark on Mr Wheelock's neck to suggest repeated attempts at hanging and he says the most likely explanation is that the T-shirt was previously vomited upon. He also says anal bleeding is not a usual feature of hanging cases. Though it could be explained by minor anal trauma or a cut caused by constipation, it could also have been caused by injury and trauma to the anal area.The coroner’s inquest returned a verdict of death by suicide earlier this summer, but only by the narrowest of margins – by four votes to three. There are other issues in relation to the surgical cleaning of the cell that Mr Wheelock was held in the day after the events in Store Street.

Hopefully the Garda Ombudsman Commission will find the answers so that the family can put the death of their son behind them. They deserve no less, decent Gardai deserve their good reputation, and society in general needs to know that everyone has the right to know the truth.