In-line with the requirements of a European Directive 2004/54/EC, additional fire protection measures are required to enhance public safety, asset protection and route protection of the Jack Lynch tunnel.

The National Roads Authority has agreed to fund these fire safety enhancements. The cost of which is in the order of €10 million.

The works will include the installation of passive fire protection in the Jack Lynch Tunnel. This fire protection will take the form of high quality calcium silicate cement boards being attached to the walls and ceiling of the tunnel structure.

The works are being undertaken at night time, but to permit the Contractor to undertake the works in a safe and efficient manner tunnel closures will be necessary.

While the works were to commence in mid January, due to unexpected delays, they are now not due to begin until after Easter. The expected closure times are as follows:

• 21.30 hrs Saturday until 07.00 hrs Sunday
• 21.30 hrs Sunday until 07.00 hrs Monday
• 21.30 hrs Monday until 07.00 hrs Tuesday
• 21.30 hrs Tuesday until 07.00 hrs Wednesday
• 21.30 hrs Wednesday until 07.00 hrs Thursday
• 21.30 hrs Thursday until 07.00 hrs Friday
• Friday overnight OPEN

Cork City Council regrets any inconvenience that may occur. In between the overnight closures period, the N25 including the Tunnel and its approach roads will be open to traffic as normal.

**You can also sign up for email and sms alerts of planned maintenance of the tunnel by visiting: http://www.jacklynchtunnel.ie/

Last October, the Government announced €340,270 grant aid under the Department of Transport, Sport and Tourism’s sport, energy upgrade and disability improvements grants scheme. City Hall also spent a further €100,000 on decoration with new tiles in the shower and changing areas, the installation of external CCTV and other items.

The pool closed while the money was spent on a boiler, roof insulation, new double-glazed windows, its first pool cover, a building management system, a water-saving system for cisterns, and a pool hoist for disabled access.

Great credit is due to the council officials who saw the project through. Since I joined City Council, the biggest complaint I have received about the pool, regarded the poor state of the dressing rooms — now that they have been refurbished, it will add greatly to the wonderful local amenity.

Currently the Gus Healy Pool will be open to various organisations and sporting clubs from 7am to 10pm Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 2pm on Saturdays. The pool is open to the general public from 1pm to 2pm, from Monday to Friday. It is my belief that there is a demand for more public hours, and I will seek to achieve this.

Photo: Cllr Laura McGonigle pictured with Christine Moloney CEO of Leisure World and Stephen Scully of Cork City Council. Copyrighted picture: Eddie O’Hare, The Evening Echo.

The EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland commits the Government to the introduction of a property tax for 2012. We are one of the last countries in Europe that does not fund local services through local property-based charges.

Revenues from the household charge will support the provision of local services. These services are essential to your community. They include: fire and emergency services; maintenance and cleaning of streets; planning and development; public parks; street lighting; libraries; open spaces and leisure amenities. These are essential local services which benefit all members of the public, including business.

You can pay the Household charge in a number of ways:

• On line at www.householdcharge.ie (see link on City Council’s website)
• Completed Form with payment (payable to “Household Charge”) can be sent directly to Household Charge, PO Box 12168, Dublin 1 or to Cork City Council. Cork City Council will forward forms to the Bureau.
• Cork City Council will accept cash with completed Declaration Forms. These will also be forwarded to Bureau.

Any queries will be dealt with at the Finance counter in City Hall or ring 021 – 4924633. Alternatively, the Bureau in Dublin can be contacted at 1890357357.

Declaration forms are available to download from www.householdcharge.ie ; from City Hall; in libraries or if you contact me I can post one to you.

Entertainment is provided by the Cork Pops Orchestra conducted by Evelyn Grant and we expect some of our dancers to out-dance ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Rona Coulter and her dancers from Viva Dance Studios will provide an entertaining
interlude with a selection of dances.

The Cork Pops Orchestra will perform a selection of up-tempo and ‘smoochy’ numbers. Dancers can enjoy a range of music from Johann Strauss to Abba and demonstrate their dancing skills in waltzes, tangos, two-steps and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll.

The Cork Pops Orchestra’s Tea Dances were devised by Gerry Kelly and grew
from the successful Millennium Tea Dance project for ‘The Young at Heart’, which
took place in Cork City and County with the assistance of the National Millennium
committee and the Millennium committees of Cork City and Cork County Council.
Cork City Council, HSE, CIT, Cork 2005 and the private sector have supported subsequent dances.

The Cork Pops Orchestra – www.corkpops.ie – has evolved as Ireland’s only
Community Orchestra providing an educational and entertainment service to the
public and private sector.

Large-scale projects that the orchestra has been involved in include the annual UCC Strauss Ball, the annual Doc Nunan Ball, The Kinsale Gourmet Festival, “The Tall Ships” visit to Cork, the Tour de France, the Port of Cork Maritime Festival, an annual winter and spring concert series for schools in City Hall, Tea Dances for ‘The Young at Heart’.

The Cork Pops Orchestra has a special interest in projects for people with a learning or physical disability. The Cork Pops Orchestra runs a mentoring programme for students and emerging young professionals in music performance, multimedia and community music.

Cork City Council is responsible for the maintenance of roads within the Cork City area. Winter maintenance is a key component of this service and is vital to the local economy and road safety. It is carried out to assist the safe movement of road users which include buses, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians and to minimise delays caused by adverse weather conditions.

Cork City Council’s aim is to provide an effective and efficient winter maintenance service within the city boundaries with all its available resources. The three primary objectives of the winter maintenance plan are to:

•  enable the safe passage of vehicles and pedestrians
• to minimise delays due to winter weather
• undertake winter maintenance operations in a safe fashion.

Cork City Council provides this service throughout the winter. This service includes salting (or gritting) of roads, snow ploughing and clearing footways. The logistics of the situation does not allow for the treatment of all public roads within city.

Winter Maintenance Plan

A Winter Maintenance Plan has been prepared for the salting of roads in the event of frost or snow. This Plan determines how Cork City Council will react to adverse weather events.

In general this Plan prioritises the routes that will be treated – National Primary, National Secondary, Regional and Bus Routes and particular areas of risk e.g. stagnant water, higher ground etc.

Footpaths and bridges are also salted especially in the City Centre focusing on areas of greatest pedestrian movement. The scope of winter maintenance operations can be summarised as follows:

• Precautionary gritting of roads in anticipation of freezing conditions to prevent the formation of ice.
• Continuous gritting of major roads in adverse conditions to enable continued safe usage
• Gritting of footways and footpaths.

All salting and gritting in Cork City is carried out by Road Maintenance personnel and rosters have been drawn up for personnel on call in the event of severe weather. The decision on whether or not to salt roads is taken by Roads Maintenance engineers based on information received from Met Ėireann, the NRA Road Weather Information System (Icecast) and also based on local knowledge of areas most susceptible to icing such as higher ground. This work is normally carried out between 8PM and 6.30 AM in the morning. Salt spread rates vary from 10 grams/m² for precautionary treatment to 40 grams/m² on snow. It should be noted that salt does not act immediately when it is spread on existing ice or snow. Therefore there is a need for precautionary salting. The ice or snow surrounding each salt granule has to be turned into a saline solution. The action of traffic is essential by moving the salt granules around and eventually melting all the ice or snow. On more lightly trafficked roads the surface will remain icy for some time after salting.

Winter Maintenance Resources

Personnel

Cork City Council operates an on-call system for Winter Maintenance. Two foremen, six drivers and six general operatives are on call to perform the winter maintenance operation. Additional resources will be called in as required. In an extreme or extended cold weather event assistance would be sought from the Parks and Amenity Directorate and from other Directorates.

Salt and grit is also spread manually from pickup trucks primarily on footpaths, bridges and areas adjacent to schools and hospitals, and other areas of high pedestrian usage.

Vehicles and Equipment for Winter Maintenance

Considerable investment has been made in 2010 and 2011 in upgrading the City Council’s winter maintenance equipment and all salt spreaders and snowploughs have now been replaced with modern equipment. Two new snow ploughs and an additional salter have been added to the fleet in the current year. A number of hand pushed salt dispersers suitable for the treatment of footpaths have also been acquired. The current equipment list is as follows:

2 no. 18 tonne GVW trucks

4 no. 3.5 tonne GVW pick-up trucks

1 no. 7 tonne GVW pick-up truck

2 no. demountable salt spreaders (6 m3)

1 no. demountable salt spreader (2 m3)

1 no. towed salt spreader (small)

1 no. tailgate mounted salt spreader (small)

6 no. pedestrian salt spreaders

2 no. detachable snow ploughs

2 no. foreman’s vans

1 no. J.C.B. (hired)

Additional vehicles are available from the Roads Maintenance division or other Directorates if required.

Material

The main City Council Salt Depot is located at Ringmahon Road, Mahon and it is currently fully stocked with 1,250 tonnes of salt and large stocks of grit. Salt levels are continuously monitored by the General Foremen (North & South) and salt orders are placed by Area Engineers Roads Maintenance (North & South) via the National Salt Management System website. Last year, usage of salt equated to 700 tonnes while usage during the last two severe winters was in the order of 1200 tonnes.

COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE

The Council already has a proud record of assisting communities during prolonged severe weather events. This response level, which includes significant engagement on the ground with other resources such as Community Gardaí, HSE, Army personnel will continue to be in place. Further advancement of our support to communities is being worked through the Cork Community Forum as outlined below. This will continue into the future.

Cork City Council will be providing salt to communities and Resident Associations during the coming winter period on a request basis. The community groups who request the salt will have to provide a secure location where the salt can be delivered and stored. The provision of the salt is primarily intended to empower local communities to help themselves during a cold spell. It is not intended for personal use as individuals would be expected to acquire their own salt supplies. Once distributed to a community group the salt will become the property of the same community group. It is intended to provide the salt in one tonne bags or in salt bins.

In the event of an extended severe cold weather event salt/grit will be made available in smaller quantities from City Council depots. This would be subject to the availability of this resource. Collection details will be published at the appropriate time.

In relation to contacts with local communities and voluntary groups the Director of Services, Community & Enterprise and Environment, and other staff to outline plans in relation to severe weather, attended a meeting of the Cork Community Forum on 5th October 2011 .

Community Wardens will liaise with local community and voluntary groups , staff from other Council departments including Housing Management staff , the Gardaí and HSE staff in supporting the elderly and other vulnerable groups in the event of severe weather .

The support offered will vary depending on need and may include house calls , assistance with shopping, clearing of house paths, ensuring appropriate agencies are aware of needs etc . Information on the ground from communities and Members of Council is important in trying to respond to specific issues that arise.

The decisions in this budget are difficult – but we have to make them to get Ireland working again. No government likes to make decisions like this – but we have an 18 billion euro deficit to fill.

I hope this information will be useful to you in calculating what impact the budget will have on you and your household.

DAY 1:

Address by Brendan Howlin, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (read here)

Dept. of Social Protection – €475 million savings

· We have delivered on the commitment in the Programme for Government not to cut primary social welfare payments. These include Jobseekers Allowance and Jobseekers Benefit for the unemployed (€188 a week)

· Child benefit rates for the first two children have been preserved at €140 a month.

o But the child benefit rate for the third child will be reduced to €148 and for the fourth and subsequent children to €160 from 2012.

o Low income groups can be better supported though other measures like Family Income Supplement. The higher 3rd and 4th child payment targeted large families not low income families.

· Payments to carers will be maintained. The half-rate carers allowance
will continue to be paid to people who are full-time carers and who are getting another welfare payment

· Older People will continue to get the State pension at current levels

· The Free Travel Scheme, Free TV Licence, the Living Alone Allowance, Over 80 Allowance and Islander Allowance will not change.

Fuel allowance will be maintained, but the the period in which it is paid is reducing from 32 to 26 weeks for all recipients. Why?

· The weekly Fuel Allowance amount and payment period have been greatly increased during the last ten years – from €6.35 per week in 2001 to €20 in 2010

· Duration of the fuel season has increased from 26 weeks in 2002, to 32 weeks in April 2009

· Between 2005 and 2011 the numbers in receipt of fuel allowance rose from 266,000 to 420,000, an increase of over 50%.

· The scheme is unsustainable, given the increase in numbers and costs and the fiscal position of the State

· The purpose of the scheme is to provide additional support for those on long-term welfare payments during the winter season which clearly does not last for 32 weeks

· Maintaining the level of the payment, while reducing the fuel season by six weeks begins to restore the core purpose of the payment as a winter fuel support

Changes to Disability Allowance

· Disability Allowance is a weekly allowance of €188 a week for people with a disability age between 16 and 66 – the minimum age is being raised to 18

· In parallel, the upper age limit for receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance is being increased from 16 to 18 to protect the household income of such families

· The social welfare system does not generally provide benefits which encourage early school leaving – the award of Disability Allowance at age 16 creates an incentive for young people with disabilities to exit the education system prematurely. It also creates the risk of dependency on social welfare

· Instead, we are proposing to extend from 16 to 18 the payment of the Domiciliary Care Allowance which goes directly to the parents

· We pay €188 Disability Allowance per week for a single person – In Northern Ireland, the payment ranges from €109.30 to €115.80 for a single person

Health — €543 million savings

· Of the total €543 million in net savings in the Health area the vast majority, over €350m come, from non-frontline areas. This rises to nearly €500m, when the €145 million in staff costs savings are included, which will also be delivered so as to protect the frontline. These non-frontline areas are:

o measures to reduce the price of drugs (such as reference pricing and generic drugs, and reduced fees for services) to save €112 million;

o Improve the generation and collection of private income in public hospitals to save €143 million; and

o Secure 2% efficiencies in disability, mental health and childrens’ services, saving €50 million.

o Ensure efficiencies in procurement by active management and control of both price and volume of usage which will save €50 million;

· Increase in Drug Payment Scheme monthly threshold from €120 to €132, to save €12 million. This is only a 10% increase and the scheme is still heavily subsidised.

Mental Health Spend:

As promised under the Programme for Govt, €35 million has been ring fenced for the provision of mental health care in the community. This will help deliver on the Govt’s reform agenda.

€15m is also being provided for free GP care for people on the Long Term Illness scheme.

The Government has already announced that the National Paediatric Hospital will be built.

The Government is accelerating its reform programme to help offset some of the impact on frontline services:

· The Clinical Programmes lead by Dr Barry White of the HSE – such as the Productive Theatre Initiative (getting the maximum from hospital theatres), the Acute Medical Programme (improving access to hospitals by people who seek unscheduled care), the ‘money follows the patient’ initiative in Orthopaedics and the developments in Stroke Units in our hospitals, it’s expected that major savings can be achieved in the more effective use of hospital beds.

· The Special Delivery Unit, is also making significant strides. The unit is charged with improving performance in the health system and in the process reducing waiting lists. In July Minister Reilly and the SDU established a target of ensuring that no one is waiting for elective treatments for longer than twelve months. At that time the target applied to 14,000 people. The target date for achieving that outcome is the 31st of December of this year. That target is now expected to be met.

Education — €132.3 million savings

· Protecting those who are most vulnerable: there will be no reductions in the overall number of Special Needs Assistants (SNA) or Resource Teachers in this budget.

· The pupil-teacher ratio at primary level is unchanged for the 2012/13 school year.

· We will continue to provide a full programme of training and further education through SOLAS, the VECs and other educational bodies.

· We will fund important policy initiatives such as Junior Cert Reform and implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy.

· The Student Contribution will rise by €250 next year to €2,250.

o Those from a low earning background are protected — about 41% of students were exempt from paying the Student Contribution in 2011.

o The contribution of €2,250 next year will remain considerably lower than the fees of £3,465 payable in Northern Ireland, and up to £9,000 in England and Wales.

A key priority is to continue to prioritise and target available funding at schools with the most concentrated levels of educational disadvantage.

At primary level, a new staffing schedule for all DEIS Band 1 schools will be based on a general average of 1 teacher for every 22 pupils, compared to 1 teacher for every 28 pupils in mainstream schools.

All DEIS second-level schools will be given targeted support by a more favourable staffing schedule of 18.25:1.

The basic capitation reduction will apply to all schools but DEIS schools will continue to receive the enhanced DEIS grant which has not been reduced

Public service pay bill — €400 million savings

· Number employed of Public Service decrease by a further 6,000.

· Savings in respect of overtime of 10% and in allowances and premium payments of 5%.

· Public service pension: the new single public service pension scheme for new entrants (September 2011) will reduce this annual expenditure by about 35% or €1.8 billion. There will be no further cuts for ordinary public service pensioners are proposed.

Closure of Garda Stations:

- 31 Garda stations across the country will close out of a total of 703. These closures will take place throughout 2012. The areas in question will be covered by other local stations and An Garda Síochána will communicate with local communities in relation to the changes.

- Opening hours for 10 Garda stations will be reduced. New opening hours for these stations are 8am to 10pm.

- Eight other Garda stations will be formally closed which are already non-operational and will no re-open.

- Similar rationalisation has taken place in the North over the last number of years. It was reported last week that the Policing Board is considering closing a further 24 out of 83 stations.

- Funding has been maintained to the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Forensic Laboratory.

- Funding of over €40 million, which represents a modest increase of €1.4 million over 2011 expenditure levels is being made available to the Probation Service in 2012.

Re-organisation of the Defence Forces

A major re-organisation of the Defence Forces will be initiated arising from the reduction in strength of the Permanent Defence Force to 9,500 personnel. This will include a reduction in the number of Army Brigades from the current three to two.

Because the Defence Forces have downsized faster than the rest of the public service and are already 11% below the 2000 strength level, the Government have decided that there will be no further reduction below the level proposed in the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. The strength will be maintained at 9,500 but there will be a major streamlining of the organisation. No further barrack closures are envisaged as part of this process.

DAY 2:

Address by Michael Noonan, Minister for Finance (read here)

Income tax

There are no changes in the existing rates or income tax bands. There are also no changes to existing tax credits.  However, Illness Benefit will now be taxed from the first day of payment; previously the first 6 weeks (36 days) were exempt from tax.

Domicile levy

The citizenship condition for payment of the levy is being removed. This will mean that liable non-residents will not be able to avoid the levy by changing their citizenship status.

Universal Social Charge (USC)

· From 1 January, the exemption level will be raised from €4,004 to €10,036.

· This measure benefits nearly 330,000 people.

· The Revenue Commissioners will collect the USC on a cumulative basis from 2012, thereby reducing the risks of the over or underpayment of the USC, and this will offset the costs of the very positive change made for the lower paid.

PRSI

The current relief of 50% of employer PRSI for employee contributions to pension schemes has been abolished (1 January 2012).

PRSI will be expanded to cover rental, investment and other forms of income from 2013.

Value-Added Tax (VAT)

The standard rate of VAT will be increased from 21% to 23% from 1 January 2012. This only affects goods which are already liable to the 21% rate.

· 20 out of the 27 EU Member States have increased VAT in the last four years, which puts us very much in line with our European colleagues.

· Most food, children clothes, oral medicines and other goods and services will remain at the zero VAT rate.

· The 13.5 per cent rate that applies to home heating oil, residential housing, labour intensive services and general repairs and maintenance will remain the same.

· For the majority of the past twenty years, the VAT differential between the Republic and Northern Ireland has been 3½ per cent and as high as 6½ per cent as recently as 2009.

· The differential will be now 3 per cent.

DIRT (Deposit Interest Retention Tax)

DIRT will be increased from 27% to 30% for payments made annually or more frequently. DIRT will be increased from 30% to 33% for payments made less frequently than annually. Exit tax on life assurance policies and investment funds are also being increased by 3% to 30% for payments made annually or more frequently and 33% for payments made less frequently than annually. (1 January 2012)

Excise duties

Tobacco Products Tax

Excise Duty on a packet of 20 cigarettes is being increased by 25 cents (including VAT) with a pro-rata increase on other tobacco products. (From midnight on 6 December 2011)

Alcohol

No change in excise duty.

Legislation planned on low-cost alcohol

Carbon tax

The carbon tax will be increased by €5 to €20 per tonne on fossil fuels.

This means:

• 1.4c increase on Petrol
• 1.6c increase on Diesel
• €17.32 increase on Fuel Oil (to rise in May)
• €14.46 increase on Natural Gas (to rise in May)
• No Carbon Tax on solid fuels

Property taxes

Household charge

A household charge of €100 is being introduced in 2012. This charge will fund local services, in line with the requirement in the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland. The charge is an interim measure pending design and implementation of a full property tax in 2014.

Owners, not occupiers, are liable. The charge does not apply to social housing or housing provided by a charity. There will be a waiver for those on Mortgage Interest Supplement and for those residing in certain categories of unfinished housing estates. Provision will also be made to allow payment of the charge in instalments.

Mortgage interest relief (MIR)

· Increase interest relief to 30 per cent for first time buyers between 2004-08

· Confirming that mortgage interest relief will no longer be available after the end of 2012 and will be fully abolished from 2018.

· For those who wish to buy a home in 2012:

o First time purchaser buyers will get mortgage interest relief at a rate of 25 per cent rather than the 15 per cent; and

o Non-first time buyers will benefit from relief at 15 per cent instead of the reduced rates of 10 per cent.

Stamp duty

The current stamp duty arrangements for residential property will continue to apply with 1% on transactions up to and including €1 million and 2% thereafter.

Multiple stamp duty rates for non-residential properties (including farmland, commercial and industrial buildings) will be abolished. The current top rate of 6% will be replaced with a flat rate of 2% in respect of instruments executed after 6 December 2011. (Midnight 6 December 2011)

Section 23 reliefs – small investors

Reliefs in Section 23 type investments will continue at the present rate for investors with an annual gross income under €100,000. These small investors are regarded as being vulnerable to insolvency.

Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT)

The current rate of 25% is being increased to 30%. This increase applies in respect of gifts or inheritances taken after 6 December 2011.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT)

The current rate of 25% is being increased to 30%. This increase applies in respect of disposals made after 6 December 2011.

Property purchased between midnight 6 December 2011 and the end of 2013 and held for at least seven years will not be liable for Capital Gains Tax for those seven years.

Motor tax rates

Motor tax rates for all categories will increase. (1 January 2011)

Motor tax for cars in band A will go up from €104 to €160, and band B goes up from €156 to €225. Band C will go up from €302 to €330, Band D – €447 to €481, Band E – €630 to €677, Band F – €1,050 to €1,129, Band G – €2,100 to €2,258.

Motor tax rates based on engine size will also increase. For example, engines with 1,001 to 1,100cc will go from €259 to €278; 1,601 to 1,700cc engines will go from €471 to €506; 2,001 to 2,100cc engines will go from €784 to €843.

Motor tax on electric vehicles will increase from €146 to €157.

Corporation tax

The 3 Year Tax Relief for Start-up Companies scheme provides relief from corporation tax on the trading income and certain gains in the first 3 years of trading. It is being extended to include companies which start up in 2012, 2013 or 2014.

A flavour of  some of the twitter response to #Corkpassport:

For those of us born Cork or with Cork heritage we know that this too is something that should be celebrated. Cork people are known for coming home from other counties to buy their C reg cars, wearing their GAA jerseys on casual Fridays and logging into the People’s Republic Website daily. The Cork Heritage cert is just another manifestation of genuine Cork Pride. Dowtcha boy.

We are a people apart and a place apart and I believe that this feeling is shared by Cork people whether they live in Dublin or DC.

This is an initiative that will add value to our diaspora and generate funding for much needed projects for Cork.

Wording of motion:

“That Cork City Council would introduce a ‘Certificate of Corkness’ or a ‘Cork Passport’, issued similarly to the ‘Certificate of Irish Heritage’ scheme introduced by Central Government earlier this year.

The document will be available to people outside Cork who want their Cork roots to be officially recognised. Anybody applying for the certificate will have to provide proof of their Cork ancestry and connection with our great county.

A cautionary message from Garda Dan Cowman, Douglas Gardai Station.

With Halloween ahead of us this weekend I just wanted to send out a brief message to make sure everybody stays vigilant around the Douglas area as we expect it to be busy.

If you see anything out of the ordinary or have large groups hanging around in your area please contact us. Do not approach anyone suspicious yourself!!!!! Call us on (021)4857670 or 999 in an emergency. Remember the Douglas patrol car is working 24 hours a day so we are available at all times. However remember that as its going to be a busy weekend and we will have to answer calls in order of priority, but be assured all calls will be answered.

Also a quick reminder to keep your homes and cars secure. Make sure all windows and doors are locked in the house and the alarm is on if you have one. Also make sure you do not leave valuables in your car and try and park it in a well lit area.