Lisbon Treaty- Why vote Yes

The following is the text of a letter I sent to local media outlining my position on the Lisbon Treaty. I would be interested to hear your views on the issue.

Dear Editor,

Next month people will be voting in the referendum on the Lisbon
Reform Treaty. This vote will determine the future direction of
Europe for 500 million people. The 26 member States that make up the
EU together with Ireland are anxiously waiting to see how we vote in
our Referendum. It would be a serious set back to the future of the
EU if Ireland voted No 13 States have already decided to ratify the
Treaty by their own constitutional mechanisms. It would also be a
serious loss to Ireland and its citizens if the result is negative. A
new set of values and principles would be lost’ the social charter
would be lost and the new legal commitment to tackling climate change
and to eradicating global poverty would be lost.

When these valuable provisions in the Lisbon Reform Treaty are
combined with the new democratic role of National Parliaments in
lawmaking at EU level, it is clear that every effort must be made to
ensure that Ireland’s future is underpinned with a Yes vote on June
12th.

Regards
Cllr Seamus Ryan
Labour Party
Waterford

Are you registered to Vote?

Please take note that if you are not registered to vote in the forthcoming referendum, you have until this Friday, May 23rd to get added to the Supplementary Register. You can check if you are registered by going to: http://www.checktheregister.ie/

If you are not registered, or know of others who may not, then download the relevant form at: http://www.checktheregister.ie/Portals/128/RFA2%20English%20-%20form.pdf This form must be signed in the presence of a member of the Garda Síochána at your local Garda Station, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get the form signed before submitting documentation to Local Authority on or before Friday, May 23rd.

All politics is local

At last night's meeting of Waterford City Council I had an opportunity to deal with two local and important issues. Firstly I had a motion passed calling for a road traffic and road users plan for the Kilcohan Road in Waterford City. This area of the city has seen unprecedented development with new houses and new businesses being built over the last few years. One of my main concerns is for the realignment of the main Kilcohan road between Avondale and the Couse roundabout and for the provision of footpaths and public lighting. I was delighted to receive unanimous backing from the Council for my proposals.

The second local issue I was able to propose last night was the provision of traffic calming measures on Cannon Street in the city. If you are familiar with this area of the city you will know that it is an extremely busy road. Once again as a result of the motion this has been included in the City Council Roads programme

These are important issues for local residents and I was pleased to be able to propose these improvements at last nights meeting. Of course if I can be of assistance to any other resident or group of residents in the area please do not hesitate to contact me.

Win €1,000 in Yes to Lisbon Video competition

For all you budding video makers out there the Labour Party is running a"Yes to Lisbon video competition" You can submit your entry to campaigns@labour.ie in). The deadline for entries is June 1st. I would also like to recommend the excellent Yes to Lisbon website from the Labour Party. This site sets out quite clearly the information you require on the Reform Treaty, policy issues and also an online Blog on the Treaty.

May Day - as relevant as ever

Today is May Day, a day celebrated by workers across the world. It is a day of solidarity, a day of celebration of the achievements of ordinary people in this country and across the world.

This struggle continues today for a fair wage, safe conditions and a decent quality of life for ordinary working class people. Issues such as equality of access to decent health services, housing and accommodation, education and training, universal childcare and a safe and healthy environment still remain a priority for the Labour movement. It is my view, that, as trade unionists and members of the Labour movement in the tradition of Connolly and Larkin we have a very important role in this regard. We need to continue our fight across the many issues which are still denied to a sizeable number of our communities, at the very least, a basic decent quality of life.

As we celebrate another May Day we must continue this campaign for a fairer society for everyone. Happy May Day everyone.

Politicians of the Year

Congratulations to both Joan Burton and Sean Sherlock who received Magill politician of the year awards yesterday. Those of us within the Labour Party are well aware of the work of both Joan and Sean and would agree that these awards are richly deserved. Joan received the TD of the year award and Sean received the One to Watch award. Well done to you both!! Full story here

Directly Elected Mayor of Waterford?

What are your thoughts regarding the introduction of directly elected mayors? The current debate seems focused on a directly Mayor of Dublin yet surely a directly elected Mayor of Waterford should also be part of Minister Gormley' plans. Let me know what you think!!

Labour Party select strong team for Election 2009

Last week at a very well attended selection convention I was selected to once again stand for the Labour Party in next years local elections in Ward Three electoral area in Waterford City. The selection convention was chaired by Party Leader Eamonn Gilmore and was also attended by Brian O'Shea TD Party Chairperson. It is a great honour for me to be chosen as a candidate for the Labour Party and I look forward to the campaign. I was very heartened by the attendance of members and supporters and the expressions of support I received since I was chosen.

Cllr Pat Hayes and Cllr Jack Walsh were also selected on the night to complete the Labour Party's team in Waterford city for the Local Elections 2009. I look forward to working with both Pat and Jack as we continue to work hard and effectively for the people of Waterford. Of course I will be returning to this issue in future posts.

Will Bertie go before he is pushed

It seems that both the Greens and the PD's are finally beginning to realise that the game is up regarding the ongoing saga of the Taoiseach and the Mahon Tribunal. There is nothing like a forthcoming election to focus the mind of a sitting FF councillor or a new candidate waiting to become the new kid on the block. One thing for sure is that Bertie won't be seen in the same positive light by the voters as he has been previously. Look out for the heave Bertie -it's begun!!

I haven't gone away you know!!

Apologies to those of you who are regular readers of this Blog. For a number of reasons I was not in a position to update "A View from the Left" for quite some time. However all going well I hope to be back to share some of my thoughts with you again - both political and non political. Despite the holiday period things have been quite busy in the political world locally. The City Council passed the Book of Estimates which sets out expenditure for 2008. I did notice that despite years of voting against the Estimates Sinn Fein made a welcome change of policy and decided to support the 2008 Book of Estimates. This is a major change of policy for Sinn Fein and it will be interesting to see whether this is a once off or whether we will see a more positive Sinn Fein in the future.

However thats for another day. From my point of view its good to be back blogging again. Keep in touch!

Labour Party Conference goes online

All roads lead to Wexford this weekend for the 62nd Labour Party National Conference. Over 1100 delegates and observers from all over Ireland and abroad will meet in White's Hotel Wexford to debate motions and to formulate policy. There are some very interesting and relevant motions on the agenda which will be debated over the weekend. The Conference will also elect a new National Executive and Party Chairperson. I also notice that the Party will be making good use of the Internet with live streaming of conference sessions, online question and answer sessions and the use of Flickr for hosting photographs of the Conference. The Labour Party is the first Irish political party to use technology in this way to bring the National Conference right to your desktop. Hope you can join us at some stage over the weekend.

Time for action on employment front in Waterford

Our worst fears were confirmed this week when Waterford Wedgewood Chief Executive Peter Cameron announced that there will be job losses at their plant in Waterford. Negotiations between management and unions are currently underway and lets hope that the result of these negotiations will result in these job losses being kept to a minimum. However what is worrying is that this announcement is part of a growing trend of job losses in the Waterford area over the last few years. Last week we had another announcement from Bausch and Lomb of around 100 job losses in their Waterford plant. Yet the response from the government to what is fast becoming a crisis in Waterford has been largely disappointing to say the least.

In fact the government could make an immediate positive impact to the development of Waterford by announcing the upgrading of Waterford Institute of Technology to University of the South East. I believe that such an announcement would have an immediate effect on the economic situation in Waterford and the South East. There is another point here and that is the ongoing failure of the IDA to attract new companies to this region highlights the need for an immediate concerted effort by the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to attract inward investment to Waterford. The time for talk is over it is now time for action.

Time for Noel Dempsey to resign?

The current debacle surrounding the whole issue of provisional licences shows a government completely out of touch with the public. According to media reports today the new road safety regulation affecting drivers on a second provisional licence will not now come into effect until June next year. This is an extraordinary u-turn by the government and by Minister Dempsey in particular. It was clear from the outset that the consequences of this proposal were not thought out. However if there is a positive to come from this debacle it is that it has succeeded in putting road safety high on the political agenda. Let's hope we will see some positive action from the government in reducing the carnage on our roads.

It does raise the question of the competency of a Minister who obviously is not on top of his brief when it comes to road safety. Should he resign??