Election Launch Night!

Friday night saw the Labour Party in Mayo launch the 2007 Election campaign, in the Imperial Hotel, Castlebar with an appeal to the electorate to vote for change and to vote for the strongest hand for the county, a new Labour/Fine Gael coalition. This option will,"give Mayo Government ministers and government T.D.'s as opposed to the invisible deputies that we have at present."





The following is an excerpt from the press release which has just gone out for the to support the launch

"Harry Barrett, Labour's general election candidate, launched his campaign on Friday night, in the Imperial Hotel, Castlebar with an appeal to the electorate to vote for change and to vote for, what he termed," the strongest hand for the county in a new Labour/Fine Gael coalition. Barrett maintained that this option will,"give Mayo Government ministers and government T.D.'s as opposed to the invisible deputies that we have at present."

Barrett spoke to a packed audience that included party and family members and was applauded when he made a number of stinging attacks on the present governments record in relation to infrastructure, education and the "squandering of our natural resources in terms of the Corrib gas find.". He also set out his own vision for the development of the county and the way in which a new government could address the ongoing road, rail and network upgrades, so badly needed in the Mayo.

Cllr. Johnnie Mee, spoke of the candidates passion and his hardworking nature and he committed himself to helping him in every aspect of the campaign. Cllr. Mee staed that, "Mayo has not had strong representation in Dáil Éireann since 1997. The time has come for a change, for a new voice and for a man that will work hard to deliver the healthcare system, the infrastructure and the quality of life issues that people have been denied in this county in an era of great prosperity."

Cllr. Keith Martin added to those words of support and commended the candidate on his stance on unfinished estates both in Castlebar and Wesport and on his work for areas affected by poor quality wter supplies. Martin maintained that the candidate was the, "dark horse in this election and that when people realise that a Labour T.D. would mean a government T.D., many more voters would opt to vote for the candidate to get another government T.D. working for the county.

Barrett also had a word to say about one outgoing T.D., that he said was in the "Trolly wing of FF, about to be wheeled into the ward wing of the party after a long wait as soon as the election was over. " He said that the candidate must be, " held accountable for the neglect of the county as her voting record has never shown protest against the government on issues such as Breastcheck, BMW underspends or the crisis in our A/E departments. Barrett stated that she had, "sat on her hands for five years on these crucial county issues"

Another Health Fiasco..

While canvassing, the other night, I was asked at one door in Castlebar to find out about the services for sufferers of eating disorders in the county. I was shocked at the results. No specialised beds. No specialised treatment. No public or private beds and worst of all, there is no presence of the support group Bodywhys in the county. The only real option for a child or adult with this serious complaint is to travel to Dublin and buy a private bed in either St. Patrick’s Hospital or St. John of Gods, both in Dublin.

The health and recovery of a person in Mayo, with an eating disorder is solely a matter of whether they can afford to pay the astronomical cost of a private bed in a Dublin hospital.

To make matters worse, I read that there are only 3 public beds in the country for adults with eating disorders. I find it astounding that the Health Service Executive has not contracted beds in our regional hospitals to deal with this growing issue. This is a prime example of the way the public patients is treated as a second class citizen. If you have the money to pay you get treated: if not, you suffer on a waiting list which currently stands at an 18 month wait time.

“This is unacceptable and wrong. Eating disorders are on the increase, they can cause long term damage if not treated quickly and they can be fatal. Sufferers need very specialised help to overcome the disorder and as of March, 2007, in Co. Mayo, there is no help from our Health service for the public patient. Indeed, the private patient must travel to Dublin to access the luxury of immediate care in a private bed.

Martin Rogan, assistant national director with the HSE admitted the current level of service provision “struggles” to provide an adequate response. He also accepted there was a lack of inpatient beds for children and adolescents with mental health problems, but said there were plans for 80 more beds at four centres around the state.

Mental health was the Cinderella of the Irish Health Service and that it would take a new government to take on the challenge of investing in bed capacity to deal with such serious conditions so that sufferers could be gaurenteed a bed regardless of their financial status.

Closing Time....

In a controversial statement this week I called for a local review of pub closing times in Mayo. I made the call after a Garda report revealed that public order offences in Tralee Co. Kerry, have decreased “significantly” since a reduction in late night pub and club opening hours by a mere half an hour.

“In every town an village in this county, families have to endure the late night rowdiness of those that have drank to excess in bars and clubs every weekend. The impact of lengthening the amount of time that people can drink on in pubs can be seen in our A/E unit in Mayo General, in our Courtrooms, and indeed in our homes. Gardaí will tell you informally that the decision to allow late night drinking has had a dramatic effect of public order offences in Mayo and this is backed up by this recent report issued by the Garda Síochána in relation to Tralee, in Co. Kerry.

“Last October, a judge at Tralee District Court agreed to a Garda application to curtail serving times of late night pubs and clubs to 2 a.m. throughout Kerry. Gardaí had objected to applications at the annual licensing court for special exemptions to 2.30 a.m. in the belief that an earlier closing time would curtail violence and disturbance and assaults on gardaí on the streets.
“According to Garda figures, the first four months of the earlier closing time had seen a reduction in public order offences, which include disorderly conduct, intoxication in a public place, and abusive and insulting behaviour. From October to January, arrests for these types of offences were down by one third compared to the same period the previous year.

“As a public representative, I cannot ignore these figures, especially in the context of the number of calls that I receive from families in both rural and urban areas that have to bear the brunt of the shouting, car revving and vandalism being carried out late at night, right across the county.

“I am calling on the Garda authorities in Mayo to follow the same route as applied in the Kerry case. We have to deal with the reality of late night binge drinking and to the damage it is causing to the social fabric of our community. If we are serious about dealing with the abuse of alcohol and the human consequences of such abuse, we cannot, as a community, ignore the facts,” concluded Harry Barrett.
Ends: Harry Barrett…..087 9713268 see Irish Times, 14/3/07

Mayo left out again.......

I have pointed out, yet again, the neglect of Mayo, in this years round of funds for festivals around Ireland. I was infuriated after reading the list of festivals granted funding for this year. It has also emerged that almost 20% of the monies allocated in festival grant aid announced yesterday, by Minister for Arts John O’ Donoghue has been allocated to events in his own constituency of Kerry.

WHERE ARE THE SUMMER FESTIVAL MONIES GOING..........KERRY!

This is another good example of the neglect of Mayo when it comes to exchequer funding. We have fine summer festivals right around Co. Mayo, from the Ballina Heritage Week to the Belmullet Sea Angling Festival. Not one of our summer festivals has been grant aided for this year.

Yet, we learn that the Minister has allocated 20% of the total monies totalling 1.43 million euro to his own constituency for a raft of festivals in Kerry. Indeed, I do not blame the Minister for looking after his own people in this regard. This type of funding distribution is exactly what happens when you have a strong voice in government. We in Mayo have not had this in over ten years, and will not have it until we vote for our own in power. “Fortunately, the people of Mayo will have a chance to rectify the situation in 12 weeks. A new government with Pat Rabbitte as Tanaiste, will provide a strong political voice for Mayo and will guarantee the county its fair share of funding in all department areas.

GIVE US WI FI BROADBAND NOW!!!!!

This week I have called for Castlebar, Westport and Ballina to be made into a public access wireless broadband zone similar to UK cities such as Manchester and Birmingham.

I am calling on the Government and Mayo Co. Council to transform our town centres into a broadband wifi zone where anyone with a mobile phone or laptop computer could access the internet from any point within the zone. “Such a scheme is already in place in both Manchester and Birmingham, where it is possible to log-on to the internet from the comfort of a park bench in the centre of both cities . I am proposing that as a first-step, areas around Castlebar, Ballina and Westport should become a wireless zone for Mayo people. “

An ICT enabled Mayo town will be a hallmark of our urban areas as the 21st century progresses. It is a shame that there have been no real initiatives in Ireland to ensure that we might lead the way in providing widespread accessible and affordable internet access. The development of a public access wifi zone in Mayo towns would be a means to redress the balance in Mayo.