Complaint concerning local government harassment - update

limerick | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Monday October 01, 2007 13:00 by Adrian Nally adrian.nally at gmail dot com

Update to the open letter published on indymedia on the 20th of September 2007. Same sorry old story. No responsibility taken by the authorities who are preventing me from having my car in a public place, or driving any vehicle, due to their on-going vendetta. I am hopeful that the minister will take my complaint seriously and deal with it appropriately. Otherwise, its more hardship without any answers.

1st of October 2007,

Open letter to Minister John Gormley T.D.,
Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government,
Custom House,
Dublin 1.

Complaint concerning Local Government Harassment – update:

Dear Minister Gormley,

Thank you for the acknowledgements dated the 20th of September 2007, by both email and letter. However, I am disappointed not to have received a full reply by now, as my car remains parked up.

Since my last letter to you (19/09/2007), my brother visited the motor tax office of Limerick County Council to seek both motor tax renewal and a duplicate drivers licence on my behalf, without success. We both visited the motor tax office the following day, Tuesday the 25th of September 2007. An employee requested people to hand in their driving licence applications and to wait for five minutes due to processing difficulties, which I did. As I waited I was beckoned to the counter. A woman introduced herself and informed me that she had received my emails and had left a message on my phone. She stated that the motor tax disc as issued to me on the 30th of August 2007 is valid; in contrast to Ms. Haugh’s letter (11/09/2007). The woman ridiculously enquired if I wished to pay for the motor tax disc, by “postal order”, or by the cheque that I had handed into the motor tax office on the 30th of August 2007. I informed her that her claim that the motor tax disc is valid conflicts with the letter that I received from Ms. Haugh. She said that the letter was badly worded and that the disc is valid according to their system. She even wrote a dubious note to that effect. However, as the messages that I have received are from suspect sources, with contact details given for different departments, my fear remains. Their shoddy actions seem intent to cover-up, or possibly to entrap me in future legal complications. Please provide me with written confirmation as to the validity of the motor tax disc issued: 30/09/2007, in respect of my car registration: 02 CE 3711.

While the staff member talked incoherently about the motor tax disc, she handed me a duplicate drivers licence dated the 25th of September 2007, which had been prepared by her colleagues out of my view. When I looked at the licence I saw that my address was incorrect. I immediately requested it to be amended in line with the form submitted. The woman told her colleague to amend the address, which again happened out of public view. The driving licence that I subsequently received has a green stamp on it which reads: ‘13 25 SEP 2007 CEADANNA’, and which partially covers my photograph. The licence print is also irregular. My photograph was peeled from the initial duplicate licence (with the incorrect address) and used secondly. I also noticed the following:
1. My first name: ‘Adrian’ appears as: ‘Adrian Paul’. I always sign my name Adrian Nally. Is it Council policy to print a “middle name” on a driving licence, when the name is not on the application submitted?
2. Point four on my driving licence reads: ‘issued by LIMERICK’ and not Limerick County Council. Again, is it local authority policy not to print the licensing authorities full name on driving licences?
3. Is the word ‘CEADANNA’ stamped on all driving licences issued by local authorities? (What does ‘CEADANNA’ mean in English?)
4. The dates on the licence are incomplete, is that appropriate?
5. Is my driving licence - number: 160 094 742, as issued, legally valid?
6. Coincidentally, on the Internet I found that local authority fees vary a small amount from €5.00 to €6.00 for a duplicate driving licence. Are driving licence fees open to local authority discretion, or is the appropriate fee prescribed by the minister for transport?

The fee quoted by the Department of Transport online for a Duplicate Driving Licence is €5.00 (which approximates to the £4 punt fee prescribed by the ‘Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1998’). A simple receipt would alleviate some of my concerns. Local authorities should operate in an openly accountable way to benefit all citizens equally.

Following years of workplace harassment, Limerick County Council constructively dismissed me from my job in 2005, it is now abundantly clear that there is no hiding place from such schemers. Over the last number of years I have had to endure a callous campaign by elements of this state to vilify and criminalize me and other family members. Our difficulties became onerous once Enda Kenny T.D. involved himself in a planning debacle. Mayo County Council continues to ignore an unauthorised development that adjoins my parent’s home, as a result my family and I, have lost tens of thousands of Euro. It is a sickening situation and readily demonstrates the shambles of our so-called democracy. We would not have put pen to paper if we had any idea of the wrath we would incur. I have been denied planning on my own land for four years now, while speculators flourish on adjoining lands.

Without digressing too far, the public street leading to the housing estate where I reside, remains unnamed for up to ten (10) years now. Recording and displaying street names by local authorities would help citizens to receive their constitutional rights. A degree of local government accountability would make a welcome change to underprivileged peoples lives. Should I be fortunate enough to receive work, I need my car. I have travelled almost weekly to visit my elderly parents who are suffering due to all of this; without my car, the two hundred plus round trip to Castlebar, is not practical. Please reply.

Yours sincerely,
___________
Adrian Nally, (086 313 4734)
2 Greenview Drive,
Glencairin,
Dooradoyle,
County Limerick. E: minister@environ.ie cc: privateoffice@taoiseach.gov.ie