Councillor Richard
Daly is a Fine Gael General Election
Candidate for South Kildare.
Interests &
Achievements:
- Cathaoirleach of Athy Town Council
- President of Athy Chamber of Commerce
- Chairperson of Athy Community Council
- Member of the Athy RAPID team
- Chairperson of the Athy Action for Youth committee.
- National
President of Young Fine Gael in 1980
Currently Richard
is to the forefront of the campaign
to halt the carnage on Kildare's roads.
Councillor
Richard Daly
Daly criticises lack of standards in public office
Posted 30th September 2007 It is not good enough that the ordinary citizen is asked to abide by legislation regarding his financial affairs while some of our legislators can make up their own rules claims Fine Gael’s Cllr Richard Daly
“It is a slur on both the law-abiding politicians and the ordinary taxpayer that some of our well paid leaders can claim loss of memory as a reason for not being able to give an account of receiving very irregular financial donations. We have had a spate of illegal offshore accounts and false accounting by others who were involved in implementing laws by which the ordinary citizen must abide.
"Our political process is being demeaned by the lack of standards in public office and sends out signal that not getting caught is all that is required of dubious financial dealings.” said Cllr Daly.
“Fianna Fail have sent out the message that “political loyalty” is a more important trait than financial integrity and this mantra has been trotted out by Minister Cowan in case any of the party followers might question the dubious financial affairs of the Taoiseach.
I am disappointed that South Kildare’s Minister Power was among those sent out to bat in defence of his leader in his recent troubles.
For the politicians who are not in the habit of receiving envelopes or suitcases of cash and to those who pay their tax on their earnings the recent behaviour is an insult. The financial dealings of our leader have become the object of comedy throughout the media and it has eroded the integrity of us all.
Our children and our electorate deserve the highest standards from our leaders and the current political system encourages political cynicism when our leaders cannot account for their actions”.
Farmers have faith in Fine Gael – Daly
Posted 11th May 2007
Cllr Richard Daly Fine Gael candidate for Kildare South has welcomed the significant support indicated in the Farmers Journal opinion poll today. With Fine Gael achieving 49% compared with Fianna Fail’s 36% this poll shows that the farming community have more faith in an alternative government.
“There are many serious issues facing the agricultural community at present from Nitrates Directive to WTO and of the 500 surveyed by the Farmers Journal the vast majority would favour Fine Gael’s handling of them.
Farmers who have seen their industry suffer under this administration have not been impressed by the closure of the sugar industry or the influx of cheaper food imports from outside the EU.
Fine Gael have proposed very significant proposals to benefit agriculture in the lead up to this election and it is clear that farmers endorse them.
While I do not put excessive faith in opinion polls it is nice to see a traditional farming support for Fine Gael being indicated in this poll” said Cllr Daly
-- Cllr Richard Daly
Constitutional rights of children being denied in Kildare
Fine Gael General Election Candidate Cllr Richard Daly says that he believes that the constitutional rights of children have been denied to the tens of students who were refused places in our primary schools.
“The failure of the Department to provide adequate places in Newbridge last year meant that dozens of young children could not be accommodated in the primary schools. Deferring their entry has meant that parents had to make provision for childcare or preschool while they waited in vain for a place in the primary school to come on stream.” said Cllr Daly
“Over the past month I have encountered parents and educationalists who are extremely annoyed at the lack of school places for their children. The lack of places does not only apply to those who would have entered primary but also to several who could not access places throughout the primary system."
As another school year comes to an end parents once more face the lottery of school places in overcrowded classrooms.
Minister Hanafin has announced another primary school for Newbridge but neglects to mention that it is not a permanent building but “prefabs on a car park”. The location of the site in Rickardstown is so far from reality that planning permission for 14 prefabs has been applied for in the interim.
Parents and teachers will soon have the opportunity to send a message to Minister Hanafin about how they feel about the lack of educational resources in our county.”
-- Cllr Richard Daly
Are
You Being Served?
Fine Gael General Election
candidate for South Kildare Cllr Richard Daly has said that a priority
for the coming year must be one of upgrading services in the county.
"With an embarrassing
amount of surplus cash in the exchequer serious money needs to be spent
in upgrading the existing infrastructure of roads, rail, schools, amenities,
etc within the county.
I constantly receive
complaints about the length of time it takes for phone installations and
repairs within the county. Our electricity network can take up to six
weeks to repair a blown street light and in excess of a year to connect
power to services like traffic lights. Our rail service is not meeting
demand either in supply of train service or in station amenities.
We have a shortage
of school places in the county and hospital operations and procedures
are still being postponed and cancelled at alarming frequency.
The provision of safe
footpaths throughout the county is a concern for several citizens who
feel that they put their lives in danger walking on our roads. I have
received several complaints from people in Castledermot, Kildare and Athy
demanding safe passage for pedestrians on our roads.
While our Christmas
television programmes inform us that we have one of the highest per capita
ownership of helicopters and millionaire status in the world I would be
more proud of the inclusion of many of our citizens in the new found wealth
through the provision of infrastructure.
2007 must be the year
for provision of basic services for our citizens: hospital beds, school
places and basic infrastructure.
I will be demanding
an improvement in all services for the county.
-- Cllr
Richard Daly
Fine
Gael to prioritise rail in Government - Daly
Fine Gael in Government will ensure fast, high capacity, commuter rail
services for Kildare, the Party's Kildare South General Election candidate,
Richard Daly, has said.
"Fine
Gael will deliver this, not just promise it. We recognise the time for
timid solutions is long past. We need the big investment in rail. Our
population and our economy demand it. We will deliver on time and on budget.
"We also
have to start thinking about early answers, at school transport solutions
that would keep thousands of cars off our roads each morning. We need
to look at innovative uses of rural school buses so they can offer additional
transport solutions for more remote areas.
"This
Government has never been short on promises, or press conferences or photo-calls.
They enchant us with announcements like 'an ambitious underground interconnector
rail tunnel'. Yet, thousands of commuters are spending longer, and longer,
in their cars.
"The
gap has grown between the public transport places available and the public
transport places needed in every year of the lifetime of this Government.
"The Government has no credibility on this issue. They have had their
chance, had all the opportunities, and had all the money. They have simply
failed to deliver.
"As new
communities, and many new young families, settle further and further from
Dublin, bereft in many cases of even a single bus, the demand for early
delivery of clean, reliable and frequent public transport becomes ever
more compelling.
"Fine
Gael will build the rail-based high capacity solutions. But we simply
cannot sit, in the meantime, on our hands and wait for them.
"Fine
Gael will, immediately on entering Government, liberalise the bus market,
in Dublin and in the other towns and cities, to dramatically increase
capacity so we can provide services to growing populations and increase
frequency on existing routes."
-- Cllr
Richard Daly
Boards of Management in Kildare have been abandoned by Education Minister
Posted 25th March 2007 Following her recent claim that the Board of Management of our schools are to be liable in sexual abuse cases Fine Gael’s Richard Daly says that the Minister for Education has moved from neglect to abandonment of the education system.
Parents, teachers and community volunteers throughout the county have been giving of their time to progress the development of their local schools. Local community members have been invited and encouraged to give their skills for the benefit of the youth of our county.
Begging the Department of Education for adequate facilities, making application for grants from Dormant Accounts and Sports Capital to provide necessary equipment and juggling inadequate funding have been among the tasks of the volunteers on the Boards to date. Boards have co-opted persons with the specific skills to carry out the running of our primary and post primary schools in Kildare and our communities are indebted to them.
In a manner similar to that of Minister Martin when he claimed no responsibility for the demise of the Health service, Minister Hanafin has now passed on the responsibility to defend abuse cases in schools on to the Boards of Management.
As a member of Boards of Management at both primary and post-primary level in this constituency I am stunned that the Minister is so distanced from the reality of school management that she could suggest this. It is difficult enough to get people to volunteer their time and their services to the under-funded schools in our community without also adding the burden of defending the school in claims of abuse.
The fear of litigation has seen the decline of volunteers in youth and sporting organisations and now Minister Hanafin is putting the same fear into the volunteers on our boards of management. Who would volunteer to be a member of a Board that the Minister insists will take the responsibility for litigation which may arise from incidents in years previous.
Who is to stand up for education when the Minister has abdicated esponsibility and wants to pass all culpability to volunteers? Who will remain on Boards who are now to be liable for events outside of their term? Board members need to be indemnified in the event of claim if we are not to have wholesale resignations from Board members throughout the county.
-- Cllr Richard Daly
View TV3 report on class on green field site of delayed school
- waiting seven years at this stage (courtesy of Richard Daly)
Daly Slams Education provision
in Kildare at Fine Gael Ard Fheis
Posted 3rd April 07 Proposing a key motion on education at last week ends Fine Gael Ard Fheis, Cllr Richard Daly, Kildare South candidate for the General Election said he was appalled by the dearth of school accommodation in Kildare.
“Overcrowded classrooms and prefabricated classrooms on football club grounds and car parks are the hallmarks of the current education system in the county. While personally I am disappointed at the unbelievable delay in constructing my own school I am even more annoyed that in parts of the county the very youngest school goers should feel lucky to have obtained a place in a prefab on another schools car park. Is this the best service that our education system can offer to our children in one of the richest countries in the world..
Despite a promise of primary class ratios as low as 20 to 1, throughout the country over 10,000- are still taught in classes of over 35, a situation which has recently been highlighted by the INTO organised public meetings on class size.
Cllr Daly’s motion to the Ard Fheis demanded that in government Fine Gael must enhance funding to primary schools to reduce class size, support children with poor English language skills, ensure that new schools and classrooms are delivered when needed, and meet the needs of children with special educational requirements.
While 50% of primary schools do not yet have the benefit of the National Education Psychological Service, ironically when the Minister realised that the Department had cut the service to schools in her own constituency it was immediately restored.
Cllr Daly said that under a Fine Gael led government he would be demanding immediate and adequate education provision for the students in Kildare South
Fine Gael in Government will ensure fast, high capacity, commuter rail
services for Kildare, the Party's Kildare South General Election candidate,
Richard Daly, has said. 