One Wicklow town centre's long-awaited renewal design due within weeks
Wicklow County Council was initially awarded €3.5 million in 2019 under the Rural Development Fund (RDF).
The works will include the re-allocation of road space, enhanced lighting, tree planting and landscaping as well as associated drainage works.
In an update to the June meeting of Wicklow County Council director of services Fergal Keogh said further discussions are currently taking place with the design consultants, with the aim of finalising the documents for tender.
'Following Department sanction it is the intention to go to procurement, and that will obviously take its statutory time. But it is moving ahead quite strongly at the moment.'
Cllr Pat Mahon stressed the importance of having a firm timeline, claiming the project is just being kicked down the road.
'We seemingly can never pin down a date for anything to start or anything to happen on this. So if we could get some kind of a guideline on timelines for that as well.'
In response chief executive Emer O'Gorman vowed to get a response adding;
'I will get town regeneration officer Stephen Clarke to contact all the members with a programme timeline on that.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Irish Times
National Broadband Ireland CEO steps down amid reshuffle of leadership team
The chief executive of National Broadband Ireland (NBI), which is delivering internet services to rural parts of the country under a Government contract, is stepping down after six years in the role. Peter Hendrick, who has served as NBI's CEO since its inception and was a founding shareholder, will be replaced by TJ Malone, who has led the survey, design and build of NBI's network since the project commenced. Mr Hendrick will remain with NBI as a non-executive director and a shareholder. As CEO, Mr Malone will oversee the completion of the roll-out of its broadband network and the long-term operation of the business. READ MORE Staff at NBI were informed of the leadership changes on Wednesday. The changes take effect immediately. [ National broadband plan to require additional €80m Opens in new window ] According to NBI, more than two thirds (about 400,000) of the premises in the Government's intervention area are now available for connection, with the balance to be completed during 2026. NBI has said that it has connected 135,000 customers to its high-speed, fibre network. Mr Malone's role as CEO of NBI deployment will be filled by Jenny Fisher, who has held the role of chief legal and administration officer. Sara Lynn has been promoted to the role of chief legal officer, having worked in the business since 2020, most recently as NBI's head of legal. NBI was awarded the contract to deliver Ireland's national broadband plan in 2019. In February, The Irish Times reported that the Government would be asked to provide an additional €80 million this year to the national broadband plan . Some €978 million of subsidy has been paid to NBI to date under the national broadband plan contract. Commenting on the leadership changes, David McCourt, co-founder and chairman of NBI, said: 'As we continue to make great strides in the final stages of our roll-out and prepare to operate our world-class national network for the next 25 years and beyond, we're delighted to be providing fresh opportunities for people who have made and continue to make this project a success to date.'
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Irish Times
‘Up to 400 post offices could shut' unless state increases subsidy to keep them running, TDs told
There could be widespread closures of local post offices from January if the Government does not approve a 50 per cent rise in the level of subvention to support them, an Oireachtas committee has been told. About €23 million has been provided to postmasters across the country to help maintain the network since the scheme was introduced a little over two years ago, members of the Oireachtas Communications committee were told on Wednesday. But the annual amount needed to be increased from €10 million to €15 million if services were to be retained in hundreds of offices considered to be less viable. 'You're looking at in January of next year, without government funding being increased, unrestrained closures throughout the country, rural and urban,' said Seán Martin, president of the Irish Postmasters' Union, citing a recent poll of its members. READ MORE 'Up to 40 per cent, 400 post offices, may go because the Government decides that it doesn't believe the community should have them.' He said a Grant Thornton assessment commissioned by the union had suggested many local offices were struggling to stay open because payments for the provision of government services were so low. He cited the recent the handling of the recent €2,000 carer's support grant paid to those providing full-time care to an elderly person or someone with a disability, saying that for their time and effort and security concerns related to the handling of cash, postmasters received just 65 cent for each payment handled. 'That's the difficulty postmasters have ... they're doing business, but unfortunately the business they're doing for Government is in cents rather than euros.' Contracts for such services are negotiated centrally by An Post . The company's chief executive, David McRedmond, said its aim was, where possible, to achieve increases in the fees obtained that it could pass on to them. Mr Martin said his union wanted to see more services provided through local post offices and it believed its members could play a valuable role in areas such as updating the register of electors and identity verification. He suggested postmasters could be become peace commissioners, a move that could free up gardaí from having to sign or witness official forms. An Post and the Department of Communications support the proposed €5 million increase in annual Government support, the committee heard, with a decision expected in the budget to be announced later this year. Many committee members expressed support for the increase. Labour's Alan Kelly , who chairs the committee, said he believed the union was selling itself short with the scale of its request. Mr McRedmond said many of the more than 800 post offices run by contractors, which were said to be generally more efficient than the 41 directly managed ones, were doing well, but he accepted some were 'struggling'. Asked about the recent decision to sell the post office building in Rathmines, Dublin, one of a number being transferred to contractors, he said it had been offered to the Land Development Agency and to Dublin City Council before the decision had been taken to put it on the open market, but both had declined. Asked about the terms on which it was offered, he said the LDA had been offered it for 'almost no payment', but would have to check with regard to the discussion with the council, which had viewed the premises before deciding it did not want to take it over.
Irish Independent
7 days ago
- Irish Independent
Dart extension to Wicklow town pushed back to 2030
The National Transport Authority included the extension as part of their Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2022-2042 that was adopted in 2023. An extension of the line to Wicklow town is currently under active review with battery-electric carriages, which are undergoing testing and expected to be used when the service begins operations. The line extension has been hit with many false starts in recent years. In 2019, it was announced that the Dart for Wicklow town would begin serving passengers by 2023-2024. Timeframes for 2025 and 2026 were also promised but were subsequently missed. In February 2025, representatives from Irish Rail met with members from the Transport, Infrastructure Delivery and Emergency Services, Strategic Policy Committee of Wicklow County Council where they were told that an hourly service would be introduced by the end of 2028. This follows a presentation from then NTA CEO Anne Graham and now interim chief Hugh Creegan to Wicklow County Council's monthly meeting in October of last year, confirming that the NTA are looking at a four-to-five-year timeframe to introduce the service. Now in a parliamentary update to Wicklow TDs John Brady and Jennifer Whitmore Transport Minister Darragh O'Brien confirmed that it won't be until the end of this decade when trains will begin carrying passengers on a more frequent basis. 'The new battery-electric Dart carriages will first be deployed from Dublin to Drogheda from next year. As more carriages arrive, it may be feasible to also deploy them to extend Dart services to and from Wicklow, subject to funding and approvals for the required charging infrastructure. The NTA is currently examining this issue with a view to progressing the extension around 2029.' he added.
