Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Councillor, Neale Richmond, this evening (Friday) slammed Fianna Fáil and Green representatives in Dublin South and Dun Laoghaire for standing idly by and allowing Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to be the worst hit Council in terms of Budget cuts for 2010.

“Figures released to day by the Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government revealed that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown is the worst affected County Council in terms of Government Budget cuts, suffering almost twice the reduction in funding imposed on other Councils.

“In percentage terms, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown is being forced to take a cut of a staggering 7.34% to its funding. This far exceeds the average national cut of 4%.

“The total cut to Dun Laoghaire Rathdown in actual terms is €2,540,582. This compares to a cut of €702,717 to Wicklow County Council, €604,821to Fingal County Council and €386,656 to South Dublin County Council.

“It is difficult not to call into question the ability of the Government politicians in Dun Laoghaire & Dublin South to fight for those they are supposed to represent. As a result of these reductions services will be cuts, projects halted and the county will slip into further decline. In short, the Government has shafted the people of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown while local Fianna Fáil and Green Party representatives looked on idly.”

“This is the first step in the relocation and expansion of Rosemount School from their existing under sized campus in Blackrock to a new site on the Enniskerry Road.

“Our area is in desperate need of more school places at all levels, the beauty of this proposal is that no state funding is required and the school will be able to begin the planning process in January. The ideal situation would of course be for the provision of a co-educational, community school but budgetary constraints make this a more distant possibility. However, the Department has explicitly stated that this development will in no way impact on the need for such a school in the area.

“The proposed relocation will see Rosemount expand from a current enrollment of 102 pupils to 300 pupils with 50 of these coming from a sister school in Spain, as a result 50 local host families will be sourced, a revenue generating exercise as well as community building one.

“Already, at this early stage, a number of local parents & also National School principals have contacted the school making enquiries about admissions as well as the use of proposed facilities. The construction of an astro-turf hockey pitch, tennis courts, an assembly hall and a sports hall will be of benefit to the whole community.”