EXCERPT FROM THE RECENT CONNAUGHT TELEGRAPH INTERVIEW

…..We are starting, on an alphabetically basis, to feature the general election candidates in our newspaper on the run-up to next May's election. Today we have an Interview with Harry Barrett, the new Labour Candidate….


1. Has Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte dug himself into a hole by ruling out a post-election deal with Fianna Fáil?

Response:
Tom, Pat Rabbitte is offering the electorate in Mayo a strong alternative to the current government. Pat Rabbitte's decision to coalesce with Fine Gaelwill give the people of Mayo a fantastic opportunity, indeed a historic opportunity, to elect a Mayo born Tánaiste and Taoiseach. The people need to see what's on offer and they will see massive possibilities in a team that would also include Michael Ring and, possibly, Harry Barrett. The media in Mayo has consistently bemoaned the failure of thisgovernment to deliver a fair share of both exchequer and European monies to the West.
Will this ever change Tom unless we have strong representation at Cabinet level and not invisible backbenchers? The current government now want us to believe that it will deliver in ten weeks what it has failed to deliver in ten years. Have we seen the promise of balanced regional development when you still have to travel to Athlone if you want to take the train to Galway?. People in Mayo are demanding a change that will see communities offered a better quality of life in terms of health, cost of living, housing and childcare. Pat Rabbitte has decided that after ten years and billions of euro of taxpayers money, quality of life has deteriorated under this government. New, fresh thinking, to deal with the needs of communities in Mayo is needed and Rabbitte believes that a coalition with Fine Gael is the preferred option. So, in reality, Pat Rabbitte's decision is the best possible decision for this county




2. As a strong critic of the outgoing government, would you be uncomfortable with a FF\Labour Party alliance?

Response:
As you well know Tom, all politics is local and from the point of view of benefit to Mayo, the Labour/Fine Gael team as outlined above cannot be bettered. I want the strongest possible voice at Cabinet for this county and a new Labour/Fine Gael government offers us the chance to catch up on an east coast that has sucked exchequer funds dry for huge infrastructural projects. As far as the current government is concerned, the west must wait and all roads lead to the Greater Dublin Area. Can you honestly see any Cabinet post arising from a FF/Labour coalition, for any elected representative from Mayo, apart from myself! No, this is strictly about local benefit and not about being ideologically uncomfortable; a coalition with Fine Gael will offer that extra benefit by a mile.

3. What has Harry Barrett to offer the Mayo electorate that it does not already have?

Response:
Well Tom, let's take a look at what the Mayo electorate has at present. We have one government TD in Mayo who complained, last year, as part of a rather sizeable group of rural TD's he wasn't being listened to by the Taoiseach. Indeed, who could have blamed him, when we look at the condition of our regional, non national and primary roads; the failure to bring Breastcheck to the west and he appalling situation in our A/E ward in Mayo general. We have two independent TD's. One who criticises the FF lead government for underspends in the BMW region, yet yearns to be back in the FF fold. The other offers a perpetual state of political paralysis as no political grouping, either L/FG/ or FF/SF will need a TD drawn from the ever expanding, Independent quarter. Mayo can do better politically. Harry Barrett, as TD for County Mayo will be work hard as part a government that commits itself to the issues that have been forgotten about in the last ten years. I will commit to delivering to the people of Mayo their fair share of monies for roads, rail and broadband. I want to give our citizens, especially the elderly, the health system they deserve. I want to see free childcare delivered, more Guards visible in out owns and rural areas and more affordable homes for our young people. I understand the concerns of real people, who get up in the morning at seven to travel to work to care for children. I want to see the stealth taxes imposes by the current government lifted to allow them to keep pace with the soaring cost of living. I am a firm believer that hard working families are entitled to a better tomorrow. This idea drives me and I am committing to seeing these policies delivered.


4. How do you rate your changes in what is likely to be a highly competitive contest in the Mayo constituency?

Response: Tom, I firmly believe that I am the dark horse in this race. I believe that I can get my message across in time and that hard working families who want he changes to their quality of life that Labour in coalition is offering,will respond to my campaign. People today will engage you at the doors and will demand an answer to issues that I am raising on a weekly basis in the local media. Peoplem want a change. So, 50 euro on Harry Barrett to win a seat would be a very wise bet!

5. Is there a strong enough organisation behind you in your efforts to make a serious impact?

Response:
I have a strong election team in place under the guidance of Cllr. Johnny Mee, Cllr. Keith Martin and Director of Elections, William Walshe, We are small in number, yes, but the team is fully behind my campaign and are rearing to go. The team is also assisted by my family and a large group of supporters who are not members of the Labour Party. Yes, the team is strong enough to fight this campaign and to get a result.

6. What's you response to those who believe you are simply trying to raise your profile in advance of the 2009 local elections?

Response:
I will not be contesting the local elections in 2009, as I will be a sitting TD for County Mayo, busily engaged in the business of delivering much needed infrastructure to the county and passing social legislation that will hugely impact on the lives of hard working families from Blacksod to Claremorris. I can think of easier ways of raising a profile. Wearing out shoe leather and losing about 2 stone in weight over a 4 month campaign on Mayo roads isn't one of them!

Ends: Harry Barrett......
m: 087 9713268,
e: harrybarrett1@eircom.net,
w: http://harrybarrett.blogspot.com

Privatisation of the Bin Service causing distress.

I've made several calls to community welfare offices throughout the county, seeking help for pensioners who are finding it very difficult to pay the bin charges.

Mayo Co Co walked awayt from the bin service recently and left its opler citizens to pay the full whack.I'm told by Community Welfare officesd that they can do nothing for them as the HSE will not pay. The HSE says that waste collection does not fall into ite area.

This is a disgrace. Labour will fund a waivewr scheme for the eldely to help older people with this awful charge.

Maggie Thatcher would be proud of this government as it rushes to privatise public services.

Price increases wipe out Pension gains


The recently announced increases in fuel and energy prices, combined with the loss of the Council bin waiver scheme and soaring inflation, will mean that many older people in Mayo will see their pension increase wiped out. I am calling for a national waiver scheme to be established for older people to cover the increasing cost of waste collection and fuel charges.

Friday the 5th of January is a black day for elderly people , in this county, especially those living on their own. The Council has seen fit to walk away from a waiver scheme that was giving a substantial reduction to older people on their bin charges. All a pensioner had to do was to produce a pension book to obtain the waiver.

This facility is now withdrawn. In some rural areas, pensioners living on their own can face a charge of up to 300 Euro for a small bin. After the 5th of this month, these vulnerable people will have no support to help with this cost. This is the real effect of privatisation and the handing over of the county bin service to private operators.

If we combine this extra burden, with the recently announced ESB increases and cost of living increases, it amounts to a wipe-out of the pension gains contained in the Budget. This government has turned giving with one hand and taking with the other, into an art in itself. It sees privatisation of health and other public services, like refuse collection, as the way forward, regardless of the consequences on those who cannot pay.

Labour is committing, as a partner in a new government, to the introduction of a waiver scheme to cover refuse charges for older people and it will also provide substantial assistance to cover the increasing cost of fuel. This will ensure that older people in Mayo are protected from heavy and ever increasing waste and fuel charges.

Decentralisation Debacle

Budget Day, was the 3rd anniversary of the promise to decentralise 10,000 civil service jobs to the regions. The people of Knock and Claremorris are still waiting for the promised 300 civil service jobs to be delivered. The recent revelation that not one of these jobs has materialised, 3 years later, is another example of a government that has failed to deliver to the west.

The promise was to deliver 142 jobs to Claremorris and 160 jobs to Knock. Not one of these has come about due to government incompetence. The reality is that decentralisation was a ploy to soften the blow of some of the stealth taxes imposed on people after the pre –election splurge of 2002. Clarlie McCreevy began to claw back monies from hardworking families using taxes like 40-euro charge on credit and debit cards. To make this more palatable, he concocted a grand plan to decentralise 10,000 civil servants around the country in 3 years, 300 of which were to come to Mayo.

On the 3rd anniversary of this gimmick, not one job has been delivered into the towns of Knock and Claremorris. It is too late now to call for government action. Instead of treating its staff like smarties, to be dished out for political gain, it should have first consulted and engaged with the unions that represent these people. It will take a change of government to deliver on this 3 year promise.

“New figures showing that only about 750 of the promised 10,300 public servants have actually moved to new locations is just the latest evidence to show that the government’s original programme, as announced three years ago this month by Charlie McCreevy, is simply unworkable. Indeed we also know that of these 750 staff only about half are actually based in Dublin and the balance are simply moving from one location to another outside of the capital

However, we read that Brian Cowen, who is now in overall charge of decentralisation, was able to open the first multimillion euro, purpose built office for staff in his own department. 135 of them are scheduled to move to Minister Cowen’s hometown of Tullamore, and 112 are already in situ. As ever, it is a case of the west will wait. This is no longer acceptable and will not be tolerated.

I suspect that government ministers know that the McCreevy plan is unworkable but are unwilling to admit this prior to the general election. It would be far better for the government to be honest with the electorate and with public servants by accepting that this plan has to go back to the drawing board.

The Labour Party has always believed that a properly planned programme of decentralisation can play a vital role in promoting regional development but, unlike the current shambles, it must be a proper plan, with realistic targets and done with the cooperation of the staff. If you are affected by this issue or other issues like it, we would love to hear from you. You can air your views here or contact the campaign team on 087 9713268.

Anger at the Fuel Scheme Form

Recently I took it upon myself to write to the Department of Social and Family Affairs in relation to the form used by hundreds of elderly people in the county to apply for the fuel allowance. What I found was that its complicated format would take the efforts of a Nobel Prize winner to fill in and that it threatens people with a visit by an inspector, which can frighten elderly people away from applying for the allowance.

I take issue with the section of the form that states: “A Social Welfare inspector may call on you to examine your application and may ask to see documents about your household means.”

The National Fuel Scheme is a scheme that is intended to help households in in Mayo who are dependant on long-term social welfare or Health Service Executive (HSE) payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs. I am finding that the form, which is four pages long, confuses elderly people and that they are frightened by the threat of an inspector calling to their homes.

This is unfair and unacceptable in the context of the hugh jump in oil, electricity and gas prices our the last few months. If the government was serious about the needs of the elderly it would increase the thresholds that remain ridiculously low, it would make it simpler to apply and it would remove the appalling threat of an inspection of household documents.


Older people in this count have been paying their taxes for years and now when they need some respect and dignity shown them they are hounded by the Department using a form that would take over an hour to fill. This is not social welfare, this is an illusion of welfare as it tries to frighten people away from their rightful entitlements.

Concern at cost of living and Mayo’s new “working poor”

I meet them in Castlebar, Westport, Ballina and all over. They are the group that qualify for almost nothing but pay for everything. They are outside the limits for benefits such as back to school allowance, rent allowance or medical cards and are exposed to the full brunt of cost increases. The strange thing is that these hardworking families are experiencing financial difficulty and are what I would call the working poor......

Figures show that while the rates of poverty have fallen, the proportion of families which are at risk of poverty, even though the household is headed by an employed person, increased by almost 50% during the boom years.

Even those few entitlements directed at low income families in Mayo feel more like a sleight of hand than a hand-out. The doctor only medical card entitles someone to free GP visits. Yet that person may not be able to tackle the prescription to tackle the illness.

And then there are the big hits coming down the line, such as gas increases and an expected ESB price hike of between 10 and 20 per cent and the recent prediction that prices for a whole range of household goods will rocket by 10% in the final quarter of the year. All this means that many households in Mayo will see no change in their circumstances as they struggle with household debt and trying to afford the basics for their families.

This government’s dead hand approach to ordinary peoples lives cannot continue. It is spending less on welfare, sickness, old age and disability at 16.5% GNP than the average European level of 27.3%. If serious inroads are to be made into helping hardworking families in this county beat the cost of living we need higher spending on social protection and greater equality in the areas of health and education. The government has the money but is so out of touch and arrogant that it cannot see the need.

If this issue is of concern to you please feel free to air your views on this site, any feedback is appreciated.

FAMILY INCOME SUPPLEMENT

Family Income Supplement (FIS) was introduced five years ago to alleviate hardship in working families with children whose earnings are only marginally better than if they were unemployed and claiming social welfare payments. To date only 18,500 families have availed of the scheme despite the fact that it is estimated that 60,000 are entitled to
do so.

For some time I have been concerned about the number of families in Mayo who are entitled to Family Income Supplement (FIS) but are not receiving it. The Minister for Social Welfare, recently revealed that only 18,500 families are claiming this payment despite the fact that 60,000 are entitled to do so and that last year over €100 million went unclaimed.

Throughout Mayo, hundreds of families can benefit from this extra money. The method of calculating FIS is fairly simple. For a family of 1 or 2adults and 1 child the weekly income limit is €465 after tax and this continues to rise depending on the number of children. For a family of 5 children the limit is € 705. If a person’s income is less than this,they may be entitled to a payment of 60% of the difference as long asthey are working a minimum of 19 hours a week or 38 hours a fortnight.

The Department’s response to the low take-up rate has been to run a TV ad campaign, but the campaign only ran for a week. Most commercial campaigns run for months, not days. Blink or make a cup of tea and you would have missed it. The campaign only succeeded in generating 2,800 calls to a lo-call phone number. If there is any improvement it is happening at a snail’s pace. For my part, I will only be too glad to assist any family with a claim if contacted at the constituency office on 087 9713268.

More Home Care Packages for Mayo

Home Care Packages deliver a wide range of services to the elderly. In Mayo the Home Care Packages (HCP’s) are delivered after an assessment by a Public Health Nurse. A grant is then given to the elderly person or designated person by means of a cheque issued, then the older person or designated person is responsible for sourcing the additional care to allow the older person to stay at home

In this day and age, with more money than ever floating around the coffers of the Government, I find it appalling the number of Home Care Packages allotted to elderly people in the county. Getting information on this scheme is as accessible as Osama Bin Laden and that older people in the county are suffering as a result.

In my investigations on this issue, I tabled a Dail question to find out how many Home Care Packages were allotted to the county for 2006; the way in which they are distributed and the criteria used to identify need. The response was not very specific.

For the entire western region, only 525 Home Care Packages were sanctioned. These are entirely based on need. The number given to Mayo was not forthcoming and the number waiting or applying for the service was not mentioned either. Having contacted AGE ACTION, in Castlebar, I found out that of the 525 HCP's only 25 were allocated to the county this year, an absolute disgrace.

With nearly 20% of the population of Mayo over 65, I find it appalling that more HCP’s are not sanctioned for Mayo. They would help older people to leave hospital earlier, they would reduce pressure on A/E departments and they would support older people in this county to live in their own communities. Older people or their relatives should contact their community welfare office to access this service immediately. If this or other issues like affect please submit a comment and tell me your views

Homebuyers, not developers, will pay for Energy labellng

As you may be aware, the Government has introduced the new energy labelling of houses in a way which benefits developers and disadvantages home buyers.

The new regulation implementing the EU Directive on the Energy Labelling of buildings, makes it clear that from 1 January 2009, all houses and apartments which are being sold or let must have an energy label. However developers will only have to produce an energy label for dwellings for which planning permission was applied for from 1 January this year. In other words, developers will be allowed to build homes WITHOUT an energy label for the next two years, even though the subsequent owners will have to have such a label.

This is an inexplicable concession to property developers at the expense of the homebuyer. This will add to the costs of young couples in Mayo who may have to trade up from an apartment to a starter home, with the arrival of children. Or indeed, an older couple, planning retirement, trading down when the kids leave home.

The Government has known for the past five years that the labelling system would have to be introduced. They delayed its introduction and indeed got a three-year deferral until January 2009. Now they are belatedly implementing the measure, but in a way which imposes no burden on developers, and all the burden on homeowners.

This is a further concession to the building industry. If the Government had been serious about its Kyoto commitments on carbon emissions, this directive could have been implemented years ago. Please let me know what you think. If we dont fight on issues like what other concessions will be made to big business without us ever knowing?