1. LAWLOR’S
L AT E S T
CELBRIDGE
ANTHONY LAWLOR TD | CELBRIDGE NEWSLETTER | NOVEMBER 2013
A MESSAGE
FROM ANTHONY
BUDGET 2014 HIGHLIGHTS
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Free GP care for children under 5 years
9% VAT rate on tourism and hospitality retained
No change to child benefit
No change to headline social welfare rates
No income tax or Universal Social Charge increases
No increase in excise on petrol or diesel
No increase in class sizes
1,400 additional mainstream and resource teachers to be
recruited in 2014
New family home improvement scheme for renovation and
maintenance work
Build Your Own Business Initiative to promote SMEs and
entrepreneurship –
2 year income tax exemption for long term unemployed who
start a business
Since elected to Dáil Éireann in February 2013 I have
tried to make myself as accessible to the public as
possible. I have a constituency office in Naas which
is open daily, and I encourage you to drop in if you
wish to raise an issue with me. I canvass door to door
in different towns throughout the constituency on
Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings so please look
out for letters to your home indicating when I will
be in your area. I would also be more than happy to
organise tours to Dáil Éireann for individuals, groups
or schools. After all it is your parliament! Please do
not hesitate to contact me to arrange a tour.
I look forward to meeting with you.
GARDA
RECRUITMENT
RECOMMENCES
NEW ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES FOR
2014 ELECTIONS
In the last local election, the Celbridge electoral area included Leixlip and
Maynooth, but the new boundary lines have removed Maynooth from the
Celbridge area and merged it with Clane. For voters, this means that the
Celbridge-Leixlip area will have seven members as compared to six previously,
and the Maynooth-Clane region will have nine County Councillors.
I am pleased with the announcement by
Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter TD, that
the recruitment of new gardaí is set to
commence again next year after a five year
lapse. It is my hope that this new intake will
address the shortage of gardaí in County
Kildare, which has been a widespread
problem for some time, for it is well
known that the ratio of garda per head of
population is significantly lower in Kildare
than elsewhere in the country. Though the
economic crisis made the moratorium of
public recruitment necessary, it has had a
severely adverse effect on the garda force
in Kildare.
I have called on Minister Alan Shatter to
give Kildare first preference in terms of
garda allocation in order to bring the
County’s force in line with other counties,
and I look forward to welcoming the
new recruits.
ANTHONY LAWLOR TD - Working for the people of Kildare North

2. CHANGES TO
MOTOR TAX RULES
In late September, the transition period of the Non-Use of Motor
Vehicles Act of 2013 came to a close. This means that car owners
must now notify their local motor tax office in advance of a vehicle
being temporarily taken off the road. Previously, such exemptions
could have been made retrospectively at a Garda station, but when
it was discovered that such a loophole cost the State more the €54
million per annum, as people took advantage by allowing their
tax to lapse and then explaining gaps in cover by claiming their
vehicle was off the road, Minister for Local Government Phil Hogan
took action. Already, the Government took in some €15 million
more in motor tax payments than in the same period last year. If
your vehicle is currently on the National Vehicle and Driver File, an
application to tax the vehicle or a declaration of non-use must be
made. Older vehicles must be added to the File to allow for taxing
or exemption. Owners of unregistered vehicles should register their
vehicles through the Revenue Commissioners, though motor tax
will not be sought for the period prior to registration.
NEW SCHOOL
ENROLMENT RULES
Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has published the draft
Admission to Schools bill which will regulate the admission of
pupils to primary and post-primary school. The draft law, which
has been in the works for two years, has been approved by the
Cabinet and will move on to the Dáil to be legislated. It has
become common for parents to put children’s names on waiting
lists shortly after birth, paying up to €200 to hold the spot. The
new rules ban the fee and put limits on the extensive waiting lists
by setting 1 October of the previous year as the first date on which
applications may be accepted. Interviewing the parents and child
before enrolment will also be banned. While preference will still be
given to siblings of existing or former students to avoid disrupting
families, the guidelines will put a stop to the unfair custom of
cherry-picking some students and discriminating against others on
socio-economic, religious, racial, and other grounds. I will support
this piece of legislation throughout its passage in the Dáil.
FINE GAEL IN GOVERNMENT
SINCE 2011 HAS:
✔✔ Agreed upon the promissory note deal, which reduces
Ireland’s borrowing need by €20bn over the next 10 years.
✔✔ Helped Ireland to achieve successive years of moderate economic
growth in 2011 and 2012, with unemployment falling to 13.3%
in September 2013, its lowest level in more than three and a half
years. Over the past year, the number of unemployment benefit
claimants has fallen by over 20,000.
✔✔ Kept our promise to not raise income tax rates, because a tax on
income is a tax on jobs.
✔✔ Defended Ireland’s corporation tax – which is crucial for
maintaining existing jobs and attracting new jobs. Groups have
shown confidence in Co. Kildare, such as the Kerry Group,
which will bring approximately 1,000 new jobs to Naas and the
surrounding region over the next several years.
✔✔ Attracted new companies to Ireland – including eBay, Facebook,
Twitter, and PayPal.
✔✔ Increased mortgage interest relief to 30% for 2004-2008 firsttime buyers and forced State-owned banks to pass on reduced
ECB interest rates. Applications to the Insolvency Service of
Ireland commenced in September 2013 (to be added to point on
mortgages). Some mortgage holders are still struggling – a point
I continually highlighted in Dáil Éireann.
✔✔ Increased the minimum wage by €1 per hour, reversing the mean
cut by Fianna Fáil in 2010, and changed the Universal Social
Charge so that 330,000 people now do not have to pay it.
✔✔ Developed existing trade relationships with Great Britain and the
USA, while building new ones with vibrant economies like China.
NEW POSTAL CODES
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte announced on 8 October a
new system of “next generation postcodes” to be rolled out by 2015.
The system, the first of its kind in the world, will assign a unique,
easy-to-remember seven character code to every letter-box in the
State, which will aid emergency, postal, and other service providers
in locating all households, as 30% of all domestic addresses currently
are not distinct. Additionally, both individual apartments and offices
with specific post-boxes will each be assigned a unique postcode.
The first three characters of the codes will refer to a general area or
postal district.
Visiting a Palestinian Afterschool club during my visit
to Gaza and the West Bank:
According to the Department of Communications, Energy and
Natural Resources, some benefits of this revolutionary new system
include: cheaper and better delivery services; reduced response times
of emergency services; better and cheaper mail and express delivery
services; better public services and planning thereof; and easier use
of online services.
“Householders will be informed of their postcode in early 2015 and
will be able to use it from then on,” announced Minister Rabbitte.
“In the meantime the groundwork designing the code and updating
private and public sector databases to accommodate the new
postcode system will be undertaken.”
ANTHONY LAWLOR TD
Meeting with Palestinian fishermen during
my recent trip to Gaza and the West Bank:
• Tel: 045 888488 • Email: anthony.la

3. LOCAL NEWS...
ARTHUR GUINESS
COMES TO
CELBRIDGE
The historic hometown of Arthur
Guinness is now also the home of
a bronze scuplture of the brewer,
entrepreneur and philanthropist. I am
hopeful that this new landmark will
boost tourism in the region as part
of a “Guinness trail” from Celbridge
to Leixlip, where he had his first
brewery, Oughterard cemetary, where
he is buried, and Dublin, where the
Guinness Storehouse is today. Be sure
to check it out!
CELBRIDGE
FUNDRAISING
Congratulations to the Sisters of the
Holy Faith, Celbridge, who during the
month of September, raised €1,300 for
education in Southern Sudan, where
less than 2% of the population have
access to primary school education. This
mission began in January, when three
sisters travelled to Riwoto, Sudan, to
start a primary school there.
ENERGY UPGRADE
The Celbridge GAA Club has been
awarded an energy upgrade which will
save the club €2,000 per annum. This is
a part of Minister Pat Rabbitte’s Better
Energy iniative, to see 3,500 homes and
290 community buildings with energy
efficiency upgrades nationwide.
GREENWAY FACILITY
A proposed shared pedestrian and cyclist
greenway facility, stretching from Canal
Harbour, Maynooth, to the Kildare/Meath
border – approximately 17km – is in the
works. The path is to be a place of mutual
respect between pedestrians and cyclists,
but due to current policy, horses should not
be allowed on the path.
hony.lawlor@oireachtas.ie • www.anthonylawlor.ie

4. Competition Time!
DÁIL BUSINESS
QUESTIONS:
Since the Dáil resumed in September, I have
tabled a number of Dáil Questions to various
Ministers covering issues including guarantees
that the SUSI Grant system has been approved
to avoid problems which arose last year;
assurances relating to the quality standards
for the installation of water metering; and the
rates being imposed on our national stadiums
– the Aviva and Croke Park.
SPEECHES:
I have raised two issues during Topical Issues
Debates in the Dáil in recent weeks. The
first was an exchange with Finance Minister
Michael Noonan with regard to the ongoing
situation in Newbridge Credit Union. I, along
with a number of my Fine Gael colleagues,
also raised the urgent need for Dáil Reform
and was delighted to have the Taoiseach in the
Chamber to answer our queries.
OVERSEAS TRIP:
I was honored to be invited by Christian Aid to
visit the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during
the first week of October. On this tour, Senator
Averil Power FF, Derek Nolan TD, and I saw
first hand the living conditions of Palestinians
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a result
of the ongoing political conflict in the region.
I believe that the situation there is more of a
human rights issue, than a humanitarian one.
MY ROAD TRAFFIC
(AMENDMENT) BILL 2012
I recently introduced a Road Traffic
(Amendment) Bill to Dáil Éireann. This Bill
will make the clocking of cars an offence. It
is necessary to introduce this Bill because the
practice of tampering car odometers not only
deceives the car buyer but can also be a safety
issue. I am hoping that this Bill can progress
through the Oireachtas in 2013.
For the opportunity to win a tour to Dáil
Éireann followed by a meal in the Dáil
Restaurant for two people, email me the answer
to the following question:
Q.Who is the for
current Minister
European Affairs?
All correct answers to
anthony.lawlor@oir.ie.
Deadline for receipt of
entries 1st December 2013
SOME USEFUL CONTACT DETAILS:
Kildare County Council, (045) 980200,
www.kildarecountycouncil.ie
Maynooth Community Council,
www.maynoothcc.com/maynoothcc@eircom.net.
01-6285922
Maynooth Health Centre, 01 610 6130
Maynooth Citizens’ Information Centre,
Main Street, 01 6285477
Maynooth Social Welfare Office,
Town Hall Mall, 01 6106000
Maynooth Garda Station, 01 6291444
Central Fire Station, (045) 431470
Maynooth DOC (out of hours GP Service) 01 4539333
YOUR LOCAL NAAS FINE GAEL TEAM:
SENAN GRIFFIN
Email: griffins@eircom.net
Address: Ballygoran, Maynooth, Co. Kildare.
Contact Numbers: 01-6285177 and
087-2331267
ANTHONY LAWLOR TD
Email: anthony.lawlor@oireachtas.ie
Constituency Office: 56 South Main Street, Naas, Co. Kildare.
Contact Number: 045 888488
Opening Hours: 9am -12pm & 3pm – 5pm
Website: www.anthonylawlor.ie
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COUNCILLOR