On Friday June 7th vote Paul Gogarty 1

Paul has worked with residents’ associations, community groups and individual residents on thousands of local issues over the years. Some were successful, some are ongoing and include: traffic safety in and out of estates and at major interchanges; road maintenance, more school traffic wardens, HGV issues, stopping the Outer Ring Road becoming a four lane dual carriageway; childcare issues; schools issues; playground provision/maintenance; actively supporting teen spaces for older children; fighting for sports facilities and funding for a large number of clubs in Dublin Mid West; raising crime and anti-social behaviour issues, including safety in public parks; pushing for improvements to the bus service in west and south-west Dublin, including submissions to Bus Connects and the recent bus user survey; pushed for and secured webcasting of Council meetings along with colleagues; supporting the development or expansion of libraries such as Palmerstown Digital Hub, North Clondalkin library and more recently Adamstown Library; he is constantly raising litter, dumping, illegal signage; pushing for derelict industrial sites to be used as job creation incubator hubs and temporary sports/ arts/community facilities. He has supported many projects for younger citizens, older residents and highlighted issues for people with disabilities.

Areas where Councillors have direct votes

Paul tabled multiple motions on County Development Plan to improve our built area and create specific local objectives for additional amenities throughout the county. Tabled the most motions of any Councillors and supported colleagues’ motions: Just under half of all motions from the 40 Councillors came from Cllrs Gogarty O'Connell, O'Toole. These are listed in the video above but include measures to protect the scenic Liffey Valley amenity, ensure no lands are zoned west of Lucan pending proper rollout of housing in Clonburris and Adamstown, supporting planned development in Newcastle, Saggart and Rathcoole, again inserting an objective for a grade separated junction at R148/Kennelsfort Road in Palmerstown and opposing unsustainable development throughout the County.

Tabled motion to remove flawed Lucan Village Parking Scheme plan that proposed to take away spaces in an older demographic near the only convenience store in the area and busy GP surgery, without creating any cycle route through village, no additional pedestrian space, no off-street parking and no one-way system to stop rat running, or any indeed movement on M50 toll locations.

Tabled multiple amendments to improve Grand Canal to Lucan Greenway scheme. Some were passed, some ruled out of order due to cost and some, including a segregation of bike lane and footpath at Cherbury bridge and opposing a costly'boardwalk to nowhere' (cutting down trees in Sarsfield Park), were regrettably not supported by other Councillors. Supported and tabled amendments to improve the redevelopment of Quarryvale Park and St Cuthbert's Park.

Paul previously helped secure the major part of funding for Lucan Swimming pool along with colleagues O'Connell and O'Toole. Inserted a pool at   Griffeen as an objective in the Development Plan and in the rolling three year capital programme.
He tabled many motions on the Clonburris Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) plan with colleagues to tie in housing in a planned way with infrastructure and facilities, including community buildings, playing pitches and public transport. While some proposals were  accepted by management, ultimately Paul and colleagues were outvoted by SF/SD/Lab/ PBP councillors on many of these items. Paul then appealed as Mayor to An Bord Pleanála, but was not allowed to directly cross-examine representatives from agencies and the Board ruled out a tighter plan meaning that there will be hundreds of individual fights for amenities at this location over the next 20 years, impacting on adjacent parts of Clondalkin and Lucan.

Work in areas where Councillors have litle or no executive powers

Adamstown Community

Of all candidates, Paul has played the leading role in pushing Adamstown issues immediately after these lands were rezoned by FF and FG Councillors with no plan in place whatsoever to provide amenities. Paul worked hard to add community benefit in the Local Area Plan and early SDZ period. From 2002-2004 Paul and his late colleague Fintan McCarthy tabled binding motions to add two new primary schools onto the Adamstown map. After that, without voting powers, he worked with the “Deliver It Right” campaign to appeal the 2003 SDZ plan and 2006 review. He campaigned successfully to open Adamstown Community College earlier than planned and again appealed the SDZ review in 2013 as a citizen after Councillors pushed back the swimming pool objective in the phasing,  and also to ensure critical mass in the density of the plan around the central train station area.
Back as a Councillor after 2014, Paul helped set up the working group on the sports and community hall, which successfully campaigned for a larger shared facility. He continues to chase up issues for this growing community and provides regular Adamstown video and written updates on his website and Facebook.

Environment/Climate
Paul tabled more motions on these issues than anyone else in the Development Plan process. Successfully fought to retain funding for the LED lighting rollout to save on energy costs and carbon emissions. Suggested many innovative ways to tackle litter and dumping and insured the inclusion of cigarette butts in the Litter Management strategy. Constantly raising litter blackspots with SDCC, however the sheer amount of litter, low fines under national legislation and inadequate resources continue to make this area an ongoing challenge.

Lucan Pool and Leisure Centre
Arguably no person in the history of Lucan has highlighted the need for, fought for funding and chased up subsequent swimming pool issues than Paul Gogarty. If you search Facebook pages like Lucan Living, Lucan Voice or his website under 'swimming pool' you will see some of the last few years straight away. but his work actually goes back to the early 2000s.
Paul’s role  in securing funding as part of a team effort was mentioned earlier, and while Councillors have no role in the appointment of contractors or tendering for the management of the pool, Paul has consistently been chasing up issues with officials in relation to ongoing construction delays and more recently the published pool prices.

Planning/Development
Paul Gogarty supports good housing development, but also has an unrivalled record  fighting dodgy rezonings, stopping housing in the wrong areas (like the scenic Liffey Valley amenity lands) and working to get additional facilities and infrastructure on designated housing land. He has made multiple submissions on planning applications throughout the County to either SDCC or ABP, including a large number in Palmerstown along with Guss O'Connell, Liona O'Toole and sometimes other Council colleagues. He has also sought to improve links between North Clondalkin on the east side of the Fonthill Road and neighbouring communities like Balgaddy.

Schools provision
Paul has a fantastic track record on education nationally (being publicly thanked by teaching unions for getting education cuts reversed as a TD) and has also been responsive locally as a Councillor. He has worked alongside parents, staff and other elected reps to push for much needed school facilities in many schools and will assist in any way he can with future projects. His website has some useful information on local schools in Lucan and Palmerstown and what politicians can and can't do. Search 'schools information'. Depending on interest, this may be extended to Clondalkin and elsewhere but as of now his other focus is in relation to obtaining a second level school for the Newcastle area.

Lucan House
Paul planted the seed that led to the Italian state agreeing to sell this historic house and local amenity to SDCC. Site expected to be secured in June and public consultation to follow in autumn. See website.

Housing and homelessness
Councillors cannot get houses for people on the list or for those who are currently homeless. They can only make queries and replies often take ages. However Paul has made many submissions on behalf of individual residents in terms of medical priority queries, maintenance issues and also conditions in homeless hubs such as in Finnstown Castle Hotel. He has queried delays on tenant in situ sales, questioned many aspects of housing policy and supported provision of social housing. As with private housing, Paul believes that social housing needs to have amenities and facilities placed alongside development. He has sought commitments that existing residents in Balgaddy will be offered first option on new housing units that become available given historic issues with construction and maintenance in some parts of the area. He has consistently pushed for a community building alongside new housing at this location.

Footpaths
Paul has highlighted deficits in the SDCC scheme whereby the Council won’t temporarily repair many areas due to fear of        litigation on works carried out. Along with other Councillors he helped secure increased funding for major repairs, but this is still nowhere near enough to ensure all areas are done in a reasonable time. His focus more recently has been to look at areas of high footfall to make them safer for wheelchair users, the infirm or parents with buggies.

Playing pitches
Paul continues to highlight the lack of pitches, sports pavilions and other amenities with SDCC management and push for much needed community facilities. This task was made harder after SF/Lab/SD and PBP Councillors voted against his motions to create more pitch spaces off the Newcastle Road, Griffeen Avenue and Bawnogue in the Clonburris SDZ. 

Public transport
Paul has sought more bus and rail investment via development plans, SDZs and directly with agencies, but these are not areas where Councillors have votes. He has been proactive in gathering meaningful data to pressurise the NTA and the Minister through the ‘Bus Correct’ survey and also tabled multiple motions.

Tree maintenance
Paul highlighted low levels of tree planting by SDCC and this has improved in recent years, but unfortunately such planting has been plagued by vandalism. The Council’s strategy is to prune trees in estates over a three year rolling schedule meaning many areas don’t get covered for long periods. However Paul has successfully highlighted trees that are diseased or dangerously interfering with properties to ensure these are dealt with sooner.

Public safety
Paul has constantly highlighted issues relating to antisocial   behaviour, public lighting, the involvement of community Gardaí and has encouraged and supported the establishment of residents associations and neighbourhood watch groups.

Healthcare
Paul has constantly chased up the HSE in relation to public health nurses, occupational therapists and the opening of the primary care facility in Adamstown. He also highlighted the closure of units for older persons in Cherry Orchard Hospital. Many of these issues are related to national decisions, however.

Keeping people informed
Paul's local updates in video and text format are extremely detailed. There is a lot of useful information on his website. He also posts regularly on Facebook pages primarily as many of these are Lucan and Adamstown-specific and many estate FB pages allow contributions from elected reps, which allow for direct queries and interaction. Numerous residents have commented that Paul is very responsive in this regard. He also posts regularly on Newcastle and Clondalkin FB pages, but there are less of these and only a handful in Palmerstown, Saggart and Rathcoole.

Detailed submissions
Paul has made many detailed submissions on planning applications, Part 8s etc including the Foxhunter site, Ballyowen Castle Shopping Centre application, Palmerstown apartment submissions, the Cherbury Park crematorium, Lucan to City Centre Bus Corridor, Hallwell redevelopment etc. He has also made submissions on the Sarsfield Park proposal, 12th Lock Film Studio, Grand Canal cycleway, Lucan Village scheme and other applications, as well as other estate-specific submissions on behalf of associations or indvidual residents. 

Consultation
Paul is a great believer of consulting directly with local residents on issues of importance to them. He carried out the Lucan Community Survey in 2019, surveyed local estates in relation to the greenway between Moy Glas and Castle Riada in 2023, is currently carrying out the bus user survey and has also alerted residents to consultations on issues such as noise, major planning schemes etc. He also  took out adverts to encourage younger people to make submissions on the teen space  survey.