April 27th 2007

Help me help you! Text me @ 085 12 69 441

Hi All,

April 27th and no election called yet! Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is still keeping his cards close to his chest. I think the election will be May 31st but many say it will be the week before.

My canvassing team is growing daily - we now have approx 60 people - my goal is 200! This is a BIG constituency - 44,463 homes in total - by now we’ve visited approx 5,000.

Yesterday I released my first press release - I want to see the creation of a Project Management Division within the Civil Service. This division will be interdepartmental. The project managers will be drawn from within the Civil Service, will be highly paid and highly accountable. To bring Ireland to the next stage of prosperity it is imperative that we speed up the implementation of Government policy. At the moment there is often a delay of years between the time that the Cabinet agrees something and its implementation. We need to bring a business style of management to the business of government.

I am delighted to report that I found myself a great office in Dublin South Central. I hope to have found a personal assistant in the next few days! The address of the office is Unit 2, Waverly Office Park, Old Naas Road, Bluebell, Dublin 12, The phone number is 4604-690 or 4604-688.

Last night I went to a meeting in Loreto College Crumlin. This historic school has been trying to get a sports hall approved by government for 13 years and have had 4 successive applications turned down - ludicrous and the staff and students are justifiably angry. The moment I heard about it (a week ago) I offered to help fundraise and put it together myself regardless of government position - I reiterated this commitment last night at the meeting and I look forward to making this happen as soon as possible. We want to build a new sports hall as well as upgrading the existing facilities.

I am enjoying immensely the challenges that this new role presents. There is nothing more rewarding than helping people.

Regards