Independent - Catherine Murphy
Q & A with Kildare North Independent candidate Catherine Murphy
Name Catherine Murphy AddressKildare Date of birthI usually state over 21!!!! Constituency Kildare North Party Independent
Occupation :
Public Representative
Previous occupation:
Full time public rep at local level, formally clerical worker.
Financial Interests:
None
Income (aside from income derived from political office):
Don't have any income other than from political office.
Approximate net worth of capital assets aside from family residence:
None
Information on political career to date:
• Elected to Leixlip Town Commissioners (Now Town Council) in 1988 when it was first established. (WP)
• Contested General Election & European Election in 1989 (not successful)
• Elected to Kildare County Council in 1991 (WP)
• Chairperson of National Executive of DL for about 3 years
• Contested General Election in 1992 DL (not successful)
• Re-elected to Town Council in 1994 DL
• Contested 1997 General Election DL (not successful)
• DL and Labour merged
• Re-elected to Kildare County Council and Leixlip Town Council 1999 Labour
• 2003 went Independent
• Re-elected to Kildare County Council and Leixlip Town Council in 2004 Independent
• Elected to Dail March 2005 in by election Kildare North
Personal election manifesto:
Key issues:
Integrated Planning – where key services such as transport, school provision, increased Local government services, and community facilities to coincide with construction of houses
• Better Public Transport
• Education (highest pupil teacher ratio's nationally)
• Childcare Available & Affordable
• Housing issues including Management Company regulation, taking estates in charge, affordable housing including affordable & social housing
• M50 tolls getting rid of same
• Policing including resourcing diversion programmes, dealing with vandalism, visability, restructuring garda divisions etc.
• Health Services
• Disability issues including early services programms
• Modernising Local Government & HSE
Why should voters in your constituency vote for you rather than for other candidates, including candidates representing the political party which you represent?
My agenda is Kildare North. I listen to the community and have a track record as a community advocate, , I have been to the forefront in highlighting issues that failed to get adequate attention such as childcare, management companies and unfinished estates. While only recently elected to the Dail I have a lot of political experience at the coal face.
What do you consider to be the main election issues in your constituency?
• Transport
• Childcare
• Education
• Community Facilities
• Housing
• Health
• Management Companies/Unfinished Housing Estates
• Policing
• Local Authority service improvements
Where do you stand in relation to these constituency issues?
• Transport strongly support development of a quality public transport system
• Childcare cost of childcare needs more state support range of different ways for example community facilities could be provided by way of Part V purpose built facilities because of costs are simply not available to community run facilities, Vat should be reduced considerably, direct assistance to parents.
• Education, planning school buildings needs radical improvement if class space is to meet needs, reduce pupil teacher ratio to at least national average, services for children with special needs need radical improvement for example 2 year waiting list for speech and language assessment.
• Community Facilities need to be provided – parks, playgrounds, pitches, should be part of the fabric of any town, they need to be planned and delivered in a timely way, development contribution scheme, government grants and community fundraising all play a part here Local Authority needs to be much more pro active.
• Housing, delivery on affordable housing needs to improve, 3000 individual/families on housing waiting list in Kildare, state is spending a fortune on rent assistance, need to build more houses.
• Health, more hospital beds are needed, HSE needs radical reform need a better balance between front line clinical personnel as opposed to admin.
• Management Companies/Unfinished Housing Estates. Legislation needed to protect consumer on both issues, delay in taking estates in charge is a serious problem in Kildare.
• Policing, rationalise Garda Divisions, increase in numbers to at least National Average, Improve range of Youth Diversion Programms, address the problem with valdalism, deal with the increased incidence of cocaine use, improve Garda facilities.
• Local Government - fair resourcing of Local Authorities particularly in developing area's currently Kildare pays €35m into the Local Government fund by way of Motor Tax but only gets €28m to spend on services since they deliver key services physical/financial resources are critical . Rapidly expanding locations are struggling. Local Authorities need to be citizen/consumer focused a culture change is needed.
How much money do you expect to spend in the election campaign?
No more than €30,000
What will be the sources of this finance?
I have been saving up! Mostly personal with small donations from friends and supporters