Let’s get the basics right: housing, infrastructure, clean air and clean water for all
Sinéad O'Brien Vote No. 1 INDEPENDENT
About Me:
My name is Sinéad O’Brien and I am running in the constituency of Conamara South for Galway County Council.
I grew up in Barna and went to primary school at Scoil Seamus Naofa followed by secondary school at Salerno in Salthill. I studied Law at University College Dublin followed by a Masters in European Law at the University of Amsterdam. I worked in the Houses of the Oireachtas before returning to Galway in 2018 to help develop a land-based aquaculture farm started by my mother at Baile na hAbhann.
I am motivated to run in the local elections for Conamara South as I am concerned by the rise in bigotry and intolerance I am seeing in the news, specifically the setting fire to Ross Lake House Hotel in Rosscahill. I cannot bear another five years of the same status quo politics that has given us severe housing shortages, health pressures and lack of basic infrastructure, only for asylum seekers and refugees to be blamed. I hope to be given the opportunity to deliver positive solutions to improve the lives of the communities living and/or working here.
MY PRIORITIES-
Proper enforcement of the Vacant Homes Tax and carrying out Compulsory Purchase Orders of derelict buildings. Publish all the properties which are vacant and/or derelict accompanied by the ownership details of the property.
Build the infrastructure, housing and services for our future climate and rapidly growing population.
Truly affordable housing that does not cost more than 30% of one’s income on a monthly basis.
Incentives for collectives of small footprint, high density developments, that fit on land not suitable for large housing developments.
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Upgrade and develop increased capacity of our wastewater treatment plants so that housing can be built.
Where wastewater treatment plants exist and have increased capacity, priority should be given to the development of homes, not hotels or holiday lets.
Free independent lab tests of the drinking water throughout the region with publicly accessible lab results.
Liaise with relevant authorities to improve the ambulance response times to rural areas and establish what the Galway Fire Brigade can do to support rural patients in an emergency.
Pursue enforcement of the right to clean air afforded to workers by The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulation 2007, as amended by S.I.255 of 2023, starting with all schools, childcare, healthcare, public transport settings and Galway County Council operated public buildings throughout the County.
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Short term, I would like to build on the current bus infrastructure to provide better interconnection between villages and towns as well as improving connections to and from Galway City by increasing the frequency of buses and extending the hours to include nightlinks out to Carraroe and Oughterard.
Work with employers and third level institutions to develop incentives to facilitate people who can and wish to do their job/classes remotely, to do so.
Urgently plan for and build public transport infrastructure including trains, trams, buses and safe active travel networks, connecting North and South Conamara to Galway City and the broader national rail network.
Build a Secondary School for Bearna/Moycullen to relieve traffic going into Galway City for Secondary School.
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Extended opening hours in our public libraries.
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Make menstrual items available to anyone who needs them, and to provide education on and access to reusable menstrual items
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I want Galway County Council to formally support the International BDS movement.
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I want to pursue enforcement of the right to clean air afforded to workers by The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007, as amended by S.I.255 of 2023 , starting with all schools, childcare, healthcare, public transport settings and Galway County Council operated public buildings throughout the County.
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Creation of allotments and community gardens/farms for all ages to share knowledge and grow food together.
Alternative sustainable careers in the marine environment into the future should involve protecting and rehabilitating our Special Areas of Conservation and soon to be established Marine Protected Areas.
Facilitate cooperative and community led aquaculture projects to develop in coastal communities, focusing on species that can tolerate a broad temperature range and taking into account ocean acidification and decreased salinity.
Food education for school children, teaching nutrition, growing and cooking skills.
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Build freely accessible, sheltered outdoor spaces with picnic tables for people of all ages to gather.
Development of sustainable tourism in the region should involve providing publicly accessible toilets
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Develop a ‘Library of Things’ to further our national and regional commitments to developing a circular economy.
More free recycling drop off points for hard to recycle items.
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Galway County Council should publish all anonymised data collected for easy access for academic and citizen researchers.
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The development of a regional Memorial Forest Park on public land, where people who wish to be buried there, can choose to be buried under a newly planted native tree, free from religious symbolism.
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I am concerned by the lack of transparency and meaningful consultation with the public so far in the site selection for this project. I want Galway County Council to seek an independent Environmental Impact Assessment for this project once the planning application is submitted.
I think the Community Benefit Fund being offered is an insulting amount of money for the potential damage to the local ecosystem and for the wealth that offshore wind will generate for Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) and the Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan.
I want assurances that any future wind project developments in the region will provide cheaper electricity rates for households and small businesses and will not be just for the benefit of data centres.