Category Archives: Press Releases

Overdue allocation to N16 Overlay

Cavan Fianna Fáil Councillor, John Paul Feeley has welcomed the allocation of € 560,000 to complete an overlay of the N16 from the Leitrim County Boundary to the Dowra Road in 2012.

‘It had been expected that an allocation of € 260,000 would be provided to complete the design of the overall project and completing part of the overlay work in 2012. However, due to the failure of Government to allocate to other Capital Work on the National Primary Routes an additional allocation has been made to the road which will allow the completion of overlay from the Leitrim County Boundary to the junction with the Dowra Road.’

The N16 is the National Primary Road connecting Sligo, via Enniskillen to Belfast and is a major West to North route for haulage and public transport.

‘The N16 carries a huge volume of traffic and parts of it, especially in County Leitrim have the unenviable reputation as amongst the most dangerous of National Primary Route in the country. It is a road that despite much promise and hype has not received the kind of investment needed. This allocation will bring the surface of this section back up to an acceptable standard and I look forward to the long, overdue work being completed in the coming months.’

The Executive of Cavan County Council, in particular the Director of Services, Joe McLoughlin and his staff in Road Design and the local staff of Derry Scanlon, Area Engineer and Tom Joe McGoldrick Overseer in highlighting the need for this work and in putting the plans in place to draw down this welcome allocation must be acknowledged concluded Councillor Feeley.

Glangevlin Community Meet to fight for National School

West Cavan Fianna Fáil Councillor, John Paul Feeley has congratulated
the people of Glangevlin on attending in such large numbers at a
special meeting to discuss the  implications of Government Cuts
Curravagh National School and on small primary schools.
‘The gathering of parents, Board of Management members and the wider
community in Glan Hall gives a very clear message that this community
is determined to fight for Curravagh National School. I met with
parents and member of the Board of Management last Tuesday evening and
Brendan Smith TD, Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Education agreed to come
to Glangevlin for the meeting today. A number of other public
representatives attended including Cllr. Peter McVitty.’
Small Rural Schools are facing an uncertain future as a result of
major changes to the staffing schedule, increasing the pupil teacher
ratio and making it more and more difficult for small schools to
survive. In addition the Capitation Grant for these schools has been
severely cut also.
‘The local school is at the very heart of the community. It is where
children learn a sense of place, the customs of the area, their
neighbours. It is more than simply a place for learning in the
academic sense. In addition the closure of small schools will place
demands on other schools for more accommodation and increased
transportation cost. It will const the Government more money. Children
in areas such as Glangevlin already spend over a hour in the bus every
morning and evening. Any further travel would be unacceptable.’
Pointing to the huge capital investment in recent years,  Councillor
Feeley high-lighted that in November 2009, then Minister for
Agriculture, Brendan Smith TD officially opened the renovated
Curravagh NS after significant refurbishment.
‘I believed the money spend on Curravagh NS was money well spent, to
put in place the very best facilities children of this area now and
for the future.  These Government Policies look set to waste that
investment in Curravagh and similar investment in in schools right
across this region.’
Referring to a recent Motion he put before Cavan County Council,
Councillor Feeley highlighted that Fine Gael Councillors fully
supported the retention of rural schools.
‘On Wednesday evening a busload will travel from Glangevlin to Dublin
to join communities from across Ireland to protest in favour of
Schools and demand support for a motion before Dáil Eireann on the day
calling on the Government to reverse the cuts. The time for soft words
from the Government, it is time their Fine Gael TDs and Senators stood
up for Rural Ireland and fight for our Rural Schools. I call on as
many people as possible to make the effort and turn out in large
numbers.’

MINSTER MUST TAKE DECISIVE ACTION OVER LOUGHAN ESCAPEE

 

West Cavan Fianna Fáil Councillor, John Paul Feeley has expressed his
amazement at the revelation that Martin McDermott, the prisoner who
escaped from Loughan House just over two weeks ago had previously
escaped from the same institution in 2007.

‘The Report, prepared by the Irish Prison Service is unbelievable. The
fact that a person with 91 convictions, one of which involved a member
of the Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty was sent to a
low security prison with less than half of his sentence served is
amazing. That that same person, escaped from that same prison in 2007
is disgraceful.’

Councillor Feeley lives a few miles from Loughan House, a low security
prison just outside the West Cavan village of Blacklion. It has a
capacity to hold approximately one hundred and sixty prisoners.

Minister Shatter has made very solemn statements about the ‘heneous
nature’ of Mr McDermott’s crime and about the Irish Prison Service
‘wrong’ decision. I would remind him that he is not an opposition
spokesperson now, he is the Minister responsible for the Criminal
Justice System. The Irish Prison Service is under his remit. He must
act decisively. He must set out a clear policy on the types of
prisoner who are sent to Loughan House and other prisons and the terms
that they will be kept under. Clearly a person who has got the chance
to avail of the ‘open-prison’ regime and flouts it should never get
back.’

Concluding, Councillor Feeley stated that as a local resident and as a
public representative he believed that people living near open prisons
deserve the assurance that those sent there are of carefully
evaluated.

‘Whilst Minister Shatter was travelling around Australia, a Garda
killer was at large, that is a serious matter. If the Minister cannot
deal with the repercussion of this situation he is not capable of
holding office.’

Garda Killers should be imprisoned in high security jails

West Cavan Fianna Fáil Councillor, John Paul Feeley has criticised the Prison Service for sending a Garda killer to serve his sentence in Loughan House Prison near Blacklion, reacting to the escape of the prisoner yesterday evening (15th March 2012)

‘Loughan House has always been used to hold people imprisoned for less serious offences and those coming to the end of longer sentences. It is unacceptable that a person convicted of killing anyone, but especially a member of an Garda Siochana would, in the very earliest part of their sentence be sent to a low security prison. Someone in the higher echelons of the Irish Prison Service has questions to answer in this regard. Anyone who is involved in the death of a Garda should spend a considerable period behind bars and in a higher security prison.’

Commenting on local reaction, Councillor Feeley stated that the community enjoys a very good relationship with Patrick Kavanagh, the Governor and all his staff and that Loughan House has traditionally played a very positive role in the community.

‘There are many Prison Officers and their families living in the Cavan and Leitrim areas. We would of course like to see more of them living locally. The Staff are a positive part of our community. Indeed in recent months there has been a return to prisoners, as part of their normalisation programme, spending time working in the community.’

‘The news that Mr. McDermott was sent to Loughan House is certainly a deviation from the norm. I would hope that prisoners of that type would not be sent to Loughan House in the future and that he is returned to a high security prison in the near future,’ concluded Feeley.