Greystones Councillor & General Election Candidate for Wicklow.
Jennifer Whitmore is the SocDems’ Spokesperson for Children and a Councillor for the Greystones Municipal District on Wicklow County Council.
Jennifer spent 10 years in Australia, where she worked as a senior policy analyst alongside government Ministers developing environmental law, water management and energy policy. Prior to working in Australia, she worked extensively in fisheries and aquaculture in Ireland at both a national and European level.
Jennifer was first elected as a Councillor for Wicklow in 2014. She sees her work as a Councillor primarily as a facilitator. Local communities have an enormous wealth of expertise and talent, and she enjoys seeing the amazing work that can be achieved by communities and local government coming together.
Jennifer is keen to use her experience in policy and legislation, combined with her community work, for the benefit of Wicklow and Ireland.
“Simply put, I became involved in politics to effect change. I believe that our governance systems have failed us – that we need to completely review how we engage with communities, how & where we direct our resources, how we govern. That is why I ran in the local elections, why I helped found the Social Democrats, and why I am now running for the Dáil. Ireland’s future is a bright one and our potential is great. The time to make that change is now.”
“Simply put, I became involved in politics to effect change. Ireland’s future is a bright one and our potential is great. The time to make that change is now.”
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#BusConnects The NTA unveiled the latest iteration of the BusConnects proposals today.
Here are the plans for #Bray and #Greystones. What do you think?
(These plans are out for their second round of consultation now...more detailed info is available on busconnects.ie/initiatives/dublin-area-bus-network-redesign/)
Oisin Cosgrave
Shared on Greystones 2020 - thanks Jennifer www.facebook.com/427497364282260/posts/962334954131829?sfns=mo
Still no real connection to the Luas from North Wicklow. It's actually worse than at present as there's no equivalent of the 84 in the new network.
What does ‘peak only’ mean? Bad news for kilcoole and Newcastle.
Never anything for wicklow town
John J. Allen
anyone past Greystones is forgotten about
Still no bus from Greystones/kilcoole or even Bray to Dundrum, Carrickmines, Sandyford Ind Est; the closest major industrial and retail centres where surely people work and shop frequently? Also agree re Luas, the Park n Rides are full by 9am, need public transport to get to them instead.
When is this kicking in anyone know? Sorry it's confusing the hell out of me. A child going to st davids to newtown during the day will still be ok getting home? The peak times confusing me! And all of it 🤣
As above, definitely a regular service to and from LUAS needed and I am confused which buses are going through Delgany now?
We must use nature-based solutions in the fight against climate change. From the smallest garden to largescale native woodlands...from the smallest insect to large animals...everything plays an important part in our environment and keeps our planet in balance.
#EarthLifeBalance
So what can we expect? Funding for community gardening would be nice. Permaculture training. Community resiliance support..
Large scale rewilding projects like Cairngorms Connects, projects at landscaspe scale and a 200 year vision, interconnecting all our forests, wild areas, important habitats with a network of wildlife corridors (hedgerows, polinator highways, linear woodlands), incorporating rooftop and vertical gardens/planting into all new builds, leaving hedgerow/tree boundaries on development fields in place and build behind them rather than ripping them out, provide every new housing scheme with areas for growing fruit/veg etc, communal composting areas, wildlife under and over passes etc. etc. Nothing new in any of the above - we've been asking for all this for decades but hard to expect poltiicians to supprt those ideas when up until recently the general public didn't really give a damn anyway.
A sad reminder of why it's so important to keep dogs (and humans!) away from seals that are on our beaches.
So, if you see a seal pup on our beaches, here's important advice from Seal Rescue Ireland:
Remember:
- Seals will shelter from storms on high ground. Leave them be.
- Do not put the seal in the water. (Injured, sick & newborn pups are on land for a reason)
- Do not disturb them - Observe from a distance.
- Do not touch pups (these animals WILL bite, and human presence may lead to mothers abandoning otherwise healthy pups)
- Keep dogs and children away.
- Take photos! (They help us determine the condition of an animal immediately, and if necessary a rescue can be organised promptly.)
- Grey seal pups have white fur for the first 3 weeks of life and tend to stay on land until they moult to their spotted coat. During this time the mother will leave them for hours at a time alone on the beach. This doesn't mean they are necessarily abandoned!
- Contact us for advice!
** If the pup is on its own with no mum in sight; obviously injured; or if unsure please ring Seal Rescue Ireland on 087 1955 393 **Very sad news... we've lost poor little Maple 😪
If you've been following her story you'd be aware she had been very poorly, suffering from badly infected dog bite wounds covering her whole body. Despite our best efforts and thorough treatment with antibiotics, wound cleans and fluid therapy, she was so too weak and rapidly declined due to sepsis.
We are heart broken.
We're so sorry you were let down in the first place by humans. And we're so so sorry that we couldn't save you. Swim free now little angel seal. 😔
Maple's needless loss is a stoic reminder that dogs off leash can cause serious harm to wildlife... please remember Maple's story and share so we might prevent future unnecessary suffering and death.
When do you think we can expect to have more carriages / trains on our tracks? [Spolier...this is not good news]
Catherine Murphy TD asked the National Trasnport Authority (NTA) this week what the 'best case scenario' was for the delivery of the new rail fleet, that we have been promised time and time again over the past number of years.
The response?
3 years as a best-case scenario, maybe 4 depending on the manufacturer.
That means that there will be no real change in rail capacity for Greystones, Wicklow or Arklow for many, many years.
This is not ok.
A poorly functioning rail service means that more people are forced onto an already stretched to capacity road network. This impacts on our environment, our health, our jobs, our lives.
This is not the fault of the NTA or Irish Rail. There has been no significant investment in our rail network for years, and that shortfall is now catching up on us.
This Government must commit to placing the rail order immediately, and to implementing an interim strategy to ensure that Wicklow has access to a better public transport service until the new rail fleet is ready.
In that case there should be no further development in the county....otherwise it is unsustainable development. 20+ years ago we were pleading with the council and national government to apply the principles of sustainability. To develop for natural growth patterns only. To recognise the carrying capacity of of our roads and other transport systems and to develop on that basis instead of the usual cycle of pushing past acceptable levels to crisis point before taking action to relieve the pressure...but then using that improvement as an excuse to overdevelop again. To recognise the intrinsic beauty and value of the garden county and not take actions to undermine or destroy that beauty and benefits for present and future generations. To protect our natural heritage and biodiversity....not just designated areas, but areas important for local biodiversity. To leave hedgerows on field boundaries in place and build behind them (instead of ripping out and building walls as estate boundaries). To plant more areas for mixed native and naturalised woodlands. To connect all our urban areas, protected areas, key habitat areas with wildlife corridors. Etc, etc. Were we listened too? Nah. But then neither did the general public or those now suddenly waking up to the crisis. Not every adult has been guilty of selling out our children's future!
Are they having a laugh ... the place is doing little else than building houses that are so over priced they need two working adults to pay for them !!! How are they to access the jobs they hold without actual transport !!!
Those services are too expensive and slow regardless. Why would I take the train to Dublin when it takes twice as long and costs twice as much as driving?
So they haven’t placed an order at all?! I’d understand if they had placed an order & have to wait but if they had haven’t even put in an order after all these years that is totally crazy & totally in acceptable!
Can you help?
Brittas Bay is a fabulous amenity for us to enjoy but it is also incredibly important as a biodiversity area...unfortunately, there is a real risk that we are going to love it to death.
Wicklow County Council is running a conservation project to assess the dunes in order to develop an appropriate management plan for the site. This will involve:
✅Invasive species mapping;
✅Trialing the management of stable dune areas; and
✅Producing community awareness materials.
They are looking for volunteers to get involved in mapping the invasive Sea Buckthorn and New Zealand Flax. Surveys will be conducted on 2nd & 9th Nov, from 9am-12. If you are interested, drop Alan an email on [email protected] for more details.
Well done to Deirdre Burns (Heritage Officer) from WCC, the team from the Wicklow Municipal District and to Alan Lauder, project ecologist for all their work on this important issue.
#Biodiversity #Wicklow
Brian Merriman Project for scouts?
@AnneFerrisTD @AoifeFg @CllrDMitchell @Daizobrien @GraceMcManus2 @WhitmoreJen @IndJoeBehan @LourdaScott @DrMagsCrean @MelanieBrayWest @roryoconnor @stevensgreen1 @CllrTomF @wicklowcoco https://t.co/HvsWmse0dN
I don't know anyone that would think it was ok for a child to eat their dinner off a street corner. I do, however, know many people that would vote for FG or FF, without making any connection between those children's lives and their vote. #JoinThePoliticalDots #cblive