The new combined electoral area covers from the Liffey to Merrion Gates, from Portobello and Christchurch to Dublin Bay. I will continue to work with passion, commitment and energy for the residents of the South East Inner City; I also look forward to working with the residents of Dublin 4 and Milltown in the new area.

About Kieran

I have a degree in Law and French from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Dublin City University. I trained as a barrister in Kings’ Inns.

As well as being a Councillor, I also currently work as a barrister. I have previously worked as a law lecturer in DIT Aungier Street and as a Parliamentary Assistant to Lucinda Creighton TD in Leinster House. Before working in law and politics, I spent time studying in France and working in tourism in Morocco and in Cuba, where I lived for three years.

A resident of Windmill Lane in the South Docklands, I am originally from Charleville in Co. Cork. I have lived in France, Morocco, Cuba and Canada, but am happy to now call Dublin home.

I am a member of the Traffic and Transport Policy Committee and the Housing, Social and Community Affairs Policy Committee on Dublin City Council. I sit on the board of directors of the Hugh Lane Gallery and the Temple Bar Cultural Trust, and also on the board of the Ringsend Community Services Forum.

I work with Eoghan Murphy TD, and Senator Catherine Noone. I also work closely with Cllr. Paddy McCartan, who is also running in the new Pembroke South Dock area. I have enjoyed working with Cllr. Edie Wynne, the outgoing Fine Gael Councillor for the Pembroke/Rathmines electoral area.

Outside politics, I swim and cycle regularly. I enjoy literature, rugby and travel, but since becoming a Councillor I don’t get as much time as he would like for hobbies.

If you have any queries, concerns or issues you would like to raise with me, please do not hesitate to contact me on:

PHONE: (087) 1774365

EMAIL: kieran.binchy@dublincity.ie

  Find me at facebook/cllrkieranbinchy

  Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/KieranBinchy

Kind regards,

Cllr. Kieran Binchy

Cllr Binchy, a Pembroke South Dock candidate in the upcoming local elections, can be seen here proposing his motion at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis.

Cllr Kieran Binchy speaking at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis

Local Tax – Local Budget

From 2015, 80% of the tax collected in a Council area will be kept by that Council, and will be used by that Council to fund the provision of services to its residents and businesses. And from 2015, the Councillors will be able to vote as a Council to vary (up or down) the amount of property tax to be collected from home owners in their local council area. And each Council will decide this based on its ability to cut its costs without withdrawing necessary services.

The cry of no taxation without representation fueled a revolution in the 18th Century; local government in Ireland was for long reduced to representation without taxation powers. For once, the two are aligning, so that residents will vote in their Councillors and will also pay property tax to them, so that they will then have the power to vote them in or out according to how they spend the home-owner’s property tax money.

Local Conditions

If that power is to be exercised wisely, the Councillors in each local Council will act independently and autonomously at a local level, weighing up the pros and cons of cutting the local tax while discussing with those they represent the need for local services.

I am running for election in Dublin on the basis that I will be seeking to cut the burden on house owners in Dublin City Council’s area, just as Fine Gael have managed to cut commercial rates in the city for the last five consecutive years while still balancing the books. I can’t tell you whether Leitrim or Sligo County Councils will be able to raise or lower their property tax rates, and I hope that they won’t be trying to tell us in Dublin.

The level of taxation should depend on local conditions, local services and local property prices. This is maybe the only good thing to be said about the property tax.

Nonsense

And Minister Gilmore’s announcement makes a nonsense of this. If a Minister thinks this can be brought in as a national policy, he is either not thinking this through or he is coming out with cheap policies based on lazy soundbites.

Adopting a national party position on local budgets and local taxes shows a serious disregard for local government, local representation and local decision-making. Maybe this is what happens in the run up to local elections, but the public should see it for what it is: nonsense on a national level.

Cllr. Kieran Binchy and Eoghan Murphy TD discussing the improvement works in Herbert Park, Dublin 4.

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar said: ‘This is not about targeting cyclists. It’s about ensuring that our roads are safe for all of us. Roads are a shared public space and belong to everyone: drivers, cyclists, pedestrian and heavy vehicles. We all have to use them responsibly and obey the rules that protect us all’.

Gardaí have informed the Department of an increased success rate in prosecuting cyclists in court. Following discussions with Gardaí, the Department has decided to extend the fixed-charge system to cycling offences. This would give cyclists the option of paying a fixed-charge penalty within 56 days instead of having the matter dealt with by the Courts.

The final list of offences has not yet been determined, but these are likely to include:

• Going through a red light;

• Cycling on a footpath;

• Failure to yield right of way at a ‘Yield’ sign.

No decision has been taken on the fines but they are likely to be €50 or higher – lower than equivalent motoring fines, but sufficiently high to act as a deterrent. The measure will free up Gardaí for other policing duties and free up court time.

The target for the introduction of fixed charge notices, as set out in the Road Safety Strategy, is the second quarter of 2014. However, they will be introduced at an earlier stage if possible, in conjunction with An Garda Síochána.

Dear Minister Howlin,

I welcome the news that the Freedom of Information Act will be amended in the coming months to include NAMA within its remit. I urge you to use this amendment to close a loophole within the current scheme of the Freedom of Information legislation.

As it currently stands, the legislation does not cover companies owned by local authorities, even when those companies are owned by a local authority, and are funded by the local authority, and the company’s staff are remunerated with local authority funds. This means that a company which is carrying out a public function using public money is not currently transparent and accountable through the Freedom of Information legislation.

Local authorities are included within the remit of the legislation. Private companies owned by Government Departments are included within the remit of the legislation. But at the moment a loophole allows local authorities (city and county councils) to set up companies and to carry out public works through those companies without public scrutiny. Those companies often operate in the arts, culture or community development sectors, areas which should demand the highest levels of transparency and accountability.

As a board member of two such companies, and as someone who has worked to bring the highest standards of corporate governance to both of those boards, I am asking that these companies be included in the scheme of the Freedom of Information Act. This proposed amending legislation is the perfect opportunity to do so. Please do not waste it.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr. Kieran Binchy

Cllr. Kieran Binchy

Fine Gael

South East Inner City

(087) 177 4365

kieran.binchy@dublincity.ie

91, The Windmill,

Lime St,

Dublin 2

www.kieranbinchy.ie

www.facebook.com/cllrkieranbinchy

www.twitter.com/KieranBinchy

1. The punitive approach

Litter wardens have the power and responsibility for fining the owners of dogs who leave their faeces behind (under Section 22 of the Litter Pollution Act). In order to successfully fine a person they must have a case that would stack up in court, with full proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In practice this would mean eye-witness evidence of an actual act of faeces being deposited and not picked up.

This is one of the reasons both dog dirt and casual littering offences are so rarely prosecuted. From what I see with litter fines generally, virtually no one is ever fined for dropping a sweet wrapper – almost all of our successful prosecutions are for full bags of household litter being left in a public place. This is because the number of litter wardens which would be needed to actually catch people in the act and have evidence would be impractically large. The same applies to dogs – the chances of a warden being in the right place at the right time is so low as to be negligible. And having a warden present would in all likelihood not lead to offences being detected – it would lead to dog owners seeing the warden and making sure the dog didn’t do anything until out of sight of the warden. Which goes some of the way towards explaining why there were only 3 (yes, 3), fines collected for dog fouling between 2007 and 2011 by Dublin City Council.

Dog wardens do not have a direct role in tackling dog dirt, but they do indirectly deal with it by keeping strays and untended/uncontrolled dogs off the streets.

The idea of using CCTV was mooted. Dublin City Council’s own CCTV system is used for monitoring traffic and cannot be used to monitor individuals for other purposes. I suppose in theory where a litter warden believes that an offence was committed they could ask a business owner whose CCTV covers the spot for video, but the time and money that would be involved in trying to prosecute a dog owner on the basis of CCTV footage would be extremely high.

As a Council we have made a representation to the Minister for the Environment for an amendment to the litter Acts which would combine the punitive element with the encouragement/socialisation element considered below, asking it to be an offence for someone to be in control of a dog in public without a poop-scoop on their person. Litter wardens could fine any dog owner who didn’t carry one, which would mean almost all would carry one. There would be no guarantee (beyond the current offence under Section 22) that they would use it, but it would both make them way more likely to use it and as no one would have an excuse for not picking up after their dog it would create a general positive peer/social pressure to clean up after one’s dog. It wouldn’t solve the problem, but it might change habits and attitudes and thereby change how certain dog owners act.

I should mention however that if someone is asked for their name and address, a litter warden has no way of knowing whether it is true or not. He can call a Garda to get the Garda to verify their identity, which would be an option if they refuse to give a name and address or if they give one that is obviously fake. It is not fatal to the punitive approach, but adds another administrative weakness.

2. The cleaning approach

We are currently negotiating the overall budget for the city, and expect to be able to increase the funding for street cleaning to around €32 million. I have to admit to being surprised when I first saw the figure, but I gather that in the last 5 years or so it was cut from €38 million (2008) to around €29 million (2012) – I am relatively new to the Council so I do need to re-check the 2008 figure. For that, we create a hierarchy of streets. The commercial ones get cleaned every day (including footpaths). Residential streets get cleaned 4 times a year. There are categories in between – more information is available here – http://www.dublincity.ie/WaterWasteEnvironment/Waste/Pages/SS.aspx

You can check any street here – http://www.dublincity.ie/StreetSweeping/

More cleaning is definitely part of the answer. I therefore voted in favour of an amendment to the City Manager’s draft budget for 2013, thereby increasing by €460,000 the funds available to the city for cleaning for 2013.

3. The preventative approach

For a while the city was making free scooper bags available at dispensers with special bins on a pilot basis a few years ago, but it was not a success. I gather there was no reduction in dog dirt in the area they were piloted it, (and additional illegal dumping took place at the bins). It may have been that those who would have brought their own bag and been diligent relied on the free ones, but those who wouldn’t have brought their own bags wouldn’t go find a nearby dispenser either. It was not considered a success and was not made permanent. The manager in our area summarised it as – Despite Dublin City Council providing free poop-scoops, erecting anti-dog fouling signs and installing approx 100 dog bins throughout the city, approx 100 complaints were still received in Customer Services through the litter hotline in 2009 and 2010.

4. The social pressure approach

As part of the earlier pilot above, signs stating that dog fouling is prohibited were erected. Again, the effect was minimal if any. However, I don’t believe we will see real change until allowing your dog to defecate in the street is seen for what it is, a dirty negligent act that puts children’s health at risk, that degrades the environment, and that lowers the quality of life for all users of the public realm. If people are made to realise that it is the social equivalent of randomly dropping a large lump of faeces outside someone’s front door, we might see some progress. Public opinion, peer pressure and social norms can actually have a strong effect. So signs telling people about fines might not be as effective as signs telling them that it is dirty and dangerous. Hence the new poster campaign (see image).

5. The Mixed Approach – a new pilot

The Council is currently trying a new approach that uses some of what I have described above in a few neighbourhoods across the city. There are new street signs with a positive message “Bag the Poo – Any Bin will do”, which also appears on street bins. There are new cleaning machines with a vacuum specifically designed for specifically cleaning up dog dirt. More details are below. We haven’t yet had an evaluation of whether it is considered a success or not.

(Without wanting to overcomplicate it, there is also the problem that bins in parks are emptied by the parks section and bins on streets by the bin section and both have been known to voice various objections to having to empty bins with loose dog dirt in them. I understand that both now accept that it is in their job description…)

Having said all that, there must be other means we can use to tackle this. If anyone has cost-effective proposals for the more general city-wide problem, I am more than happy to hear them and to work to get them implemented if it seems that they will be effective.

__________________________________________

Question to City Manager City Council Meeting 05/03/2012

Q121. COUNCILLOR KIERAN BINCHY

To ask the Manager what measures are in place to tackle dog dirt in the city,and to

ask him to introduce programmes to tackle it from every angle, including education, public information, deterrence through fines, availability of bags and bins, street cleaning and other possible measures as it is a serious problem across the city.

CITY MANAGER’S REPLY:

Waste Management Services clean dog fouling from footpaths as part of their regular

duties. It is intended to explore ways of effectively removing dog foul from public places as part of an anti-dog fouling campaign which will run in 2012.

Due to the difficulties of enforcement of Section 22 of the Litter Pollution Acts there has not been an increase in the amount of fines issued. Waste Management Services in conjunction with a number of Local Authorities in the region have made submissions to the Minister for the Environment, Community and local Government to amend Section 22 of the Litter Pollution Act as follows:

• The Person in Charge of the Dog shall carry a poop-scoop at all times.

A submission on amendments to the Litter Pollution Acts will be forwarded to the Minister for the Environment in the coming weeks.

——————————————–

Section 16(b) of the Control of Dogs Act 1986 grants dog wardens the power to seize and impound dogs for offences under the Control of Dogs Act. While dog fouling is not covered under control of Dogs legislation the warden service can deal indirectly with the problem through its powers under Section 11 of the Control of Dogs Act 1986 to seize and impound stray and unaccompanied dogs from public places. 840 dogs were seized under this legislation in 2011.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin , Naoise Ó’Muiri will launch the City Council’s Anti-dog fouling awareness campaign on the 10th July 2012 at Clontarf Promenade

Dog fouling is an issue that has been on top of people’s mind as the worst form of litter and has been one of the top issues of complaint from members of the public in recent times. Dog owners are responsible for cleaning up after their pets in public areas, but unfortunately some ignore their responsibilities. As dog fouling has negative health implications it is imperative that we strive to reduce the quantity of it on our streets and parks.

Toxocariasis is a disease found in animal faeces and is caused by the eggs of the roundworm toxocara. These can be passed from dogs to humans through contact with animal faeces and contaminated soil. Children are particularly at risk and infection can lead to illness and even partial loss of sight. It is an entirely preventable health risk and the main reason that dog owners should clean up after their pets. Freshly deposited faeces are not infectious because toxocara eggs do not become infectious for at least 2 – 3 weeks after the faeces have been deposited. Therefore there is no risk of catching toxocariasis whilst clearing up immediately after your dog.

Dublin City Council’s Litter Wardens enforce the Litter Pollution Act, 1997-2009. Section 22 (1) of the Act states that ‘Where faeces has been deposited by a dog in any place to which this subsection applies, the person in charge of the dog shall immediately remove the faeces and shall ensure that it is properly disposed of in a suitable sanitary manner.’ The maximum fine amounts to €150. In respect of the fine not being paid, court proceedings can be initiated where on summary conviction, a maximum fine of €4,000 can be imposed.

Dublin City Council has started an initiative to combat the dog fouling problem.

An awareness campaign will be launched at 5 locations in the city

Clontarf Promenade,

Thorncastle St, Ringsend,

Mountjoy Square Park,

Grattan Crescent (Open Green Space – Inchicore,

Finglas- Mellows Road.

Litter Wardens will distribute poop-scoops to dog walkers week before the launch of campaign

Anti dog fouling signs will be erected in the vicinity of the launch location

Anti dog fouling signs will be distributed to Residents/Community/Environmental groups for erection at locations to be agreed by them.

Posters giving information on where to dispose of dog faeces will be placed on public litter bins

Machine to be piloted on cleaning dog faeces

Litter Wardens will patrol area to enforce Litter Pollution Acts following campaign.

December 2012

Dublin City Council has made a Part VIII planning application for these works, under reference 3542/12 – It is now open for submissions so please have your say. The deadline for submissions is 14 January 2013.

An audio-visual presentation on the proposal is available be clicking here. (If it does not automatically start at the section of the meeting addressing the Luas traffic works, forward to the 35 minute mark).

The proposed works will comprise the reconfiguration of the road space along St Stephens Green North and St Stephens Green East to provide the following:

Removal of existing build out at the junction of St Stephens Green East, St Stephens Green North and Merrion Row.

Provision of island at the junction of St Stephens Green East and St Stephens Green North and a median along St Stephens Green North for approx 50 meters.

Relocation of the Grace Weir sculpture approx 8 meters to the west on the new proposed island.

Revised arrangements for eastbound traffic on St Stephens Green North between Kildare Street and Merrion Row to include:

-Reconfiguration of traffic lanes to provide one straight ahead lane onto Merrion Row.

-Provision of a loading bay along Shelbourne Hotel frontage.

-Widening of footpath between Kildare Street and Merrion Row from 2.6 meters to a maximum of 6 meters.

Revised arrangements for westbound traffic on St Stephens Green North between St Stephens Green East and Kildare Street to include:

-Reconfiguration of traffic lanes to provide one straight ahead lane onto St Stephens Green North.

-Provision of one right turn lane onto Kildare Street.

-Provision of a 1.75 metre wide cycle lane.

Revised arrangements for southbound traffic on St Stephens Green East between Merrion Row and Hume Street to include:

-Widening of footpath from 2.50 meters to 3.8 meters.

-Provision of a 1.75 meter wide cycle lane.

Revised arrangements for northbound traffic on St Stephens Green East between Hume Street and Merrion Row to include:

-Reconfiguration of traffic lanes to provide one turning lane onto St Stephens Green North.

-Provision of two right turning lanes onto Merrion Row.

-Removal of 12 no. pay and display car parking spaces.

-Provision of a 1.75 meter wide cycle lane.

Revised arrangements for southbound traffic on St Stephens Green East between Hume Street and Leeson Street to include:

-Provision of a dedicated left turn bus lane onto Leeson Street.

-Provision of a straight ahead lane onto Earlsfort Terrace for buses and vehicles exiting the existing private car park approx 34 meters from the junction of St Stephens Green East and Leeson Street.

Revised arrangements for northbound traffic on St Stephens Green East between Leeson Street and Hume Street to include:

-Reconfigure traffic lanes to provide 3 no. lanes approaching the new signalised junction.

-Provision of a 1.75 meter wide cycle lane.

Signalisation of the junction of Hume Street and St Stephens Green East to include:

-Removal of pedestrian crossing in the centre of St Stephens Green East.

-Provision of pedestrian crossing at the Hume Street junction.

-Provision of an advanced stop line for cyclists at the traffic lights on St Stephens Green East.

Relocate the existing dublinbikes stand from the centre of St Stephens Green East to the north of new signalised junction at Hume Street. The provision of 10 no. additional dublinbikes stands to the south of the new signalised junction.

Relocate existing bicycle parking from existing build out to Hume Street and St Stephens Green North.

Alterations to egress arrangements for private car park on St Stephens Green East allowing left only.

• My speech on marriage equality got covered in the Irish Times.
• My opposition to closing off Barrow St. to traffic got covered in the Evening Herald.
• My launch of the Culture Night App got a bit of Blog coverage, while my piece on Culture Night was published in Le Cool.

Not bad for a few weeks’ work. Next up is the newsletter, which should be out in the next few days, bringing a local news update to residents in the South East Inner City.