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RESIDENTS IN THE Co Wicklow town of Greystones are campaigning to prevent a new McDonald’s restaurant being opened near a number of primary schools in the town.
The fast food chain is trying – again – to open a two-storey drive-thru at the Blacklion centre, close by Greystones Educate Together and Gaelscoil na gCloch Liatha primary schools, and Temple Carrig secondary school.
Wicklow County Council granted permission last year for a separate McDonald’s planning application for the site, but it was rejected by An Bórd Pleanala.
This time around the company has included a health and fitness studio in their plans, but a group of residents are adamant that the presence of a two-storey McD’s near three schools could be a disaster for the health of 1,800 local children.
In a formal letter to the council, objectors also claim that the McDonald’s restaurant would disrupt traffic, have a negative environmental impact, and lead to anti-social behaviour and litter.
Residents also point out that Department of Environment guidelines from 2013 encourage planning authorities to “promote active and healthier lifestyles.”
[Ensure that] exposure of children to the promotion of foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar is reduced, such as the careful consideration of the appropriateness and or location of fast food outlets in the vicinity of schools and parks.
The people of Greystones are far from unanimous on the subject of the new restaurant, however.
An online campaign in favour of allowing the new McDonald’s restaurant in Greystones has attracted significant support since it was started last Wednesday.
As far back as 2011, then Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the government was considering measures to “regulate the proliferation of fast food restaurants”
In March, she announced the possibility of an “exclusion zone” for fast food outlets when it comes to planning applications near schools.
McDonald’s, for their part, told TheJournal.ie in a statement that they don’t target schools when picking locations for restaurants, but the new one in Greystones would bring 60-80 jobs to the town.
McDonald’s fully complies with local planning guidelines and the relevant local area plan, the purpose of which is to build its outlets in sustainable retail environments.
Proximity to local schools is not a deciding factor or part of the criteria for McDonald’s when it comes to assessing suitable locations for new restaurants.
Each new McDonald’s restaurant supports local jobs, with the recruitment of between 60 and 80 full time positions, combined with an investment in the local community of €2 million.
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I suffered from this. Truly, truly painful and debilitating every month. Back in the 80s I went on a course of treatment that was being trialed, a drug called Zolladex. I did it because I was desperate and it was free. I was also very young and naive. It was intrusive and it didn’t work. It strangled one of my ovaries I was warned I may never have children. 30 years later and I watch my daughter suffer from endometriosis. The treatment has not moved on. They could offer my daughter nothing except the “pill”. This could mean girls taking the pill for maybe 20 years in order to avoid pain. I’ve often wondered if men suffered from endometriosis would a cure have been discovered.
Very well written , the worst condition ever as nothing really anyone can do to help. Very little understanding of the condition with the majority believing it’s just a painful period when it can actually mean severe pain 3 weeks out of 4 and constant nausea , bloating , migraines , muscle pain , sciatica , painful bowel movements and emotional implications.
I believe if men had it no way would we not know the cause and surgery would definitely not be the only way to diagnose. Having lived with this no man would just take a painkiller and keep going .
We need to find a cure and make more awareness even in schools as majority starts experiencing symptoms then, as I did age 11 diagnosed age 27
@Lynn: men die younger, men have much higher rate of suicide, men have a much higher rate of homelessness……so what exactly is your point here?, I am sick and tired of listening to women who think they are getting a raw deal, the facts are they are not getting anything of the sort…..men have it worse in many many areas.
@Peter Hughes: He’s right ladies. We shouldn’t be concerned about a better diagnosis rate for a prevalent disease when men have problems too. Those should be addressed first and foremost because, as we all know, multiple things can’t be done at once. We really need to learn our place!
@Peter Hughes: @Peter Hughes: I’m sorry for complaining about my debilitating condition. I’m sorry that I have to go through this EVERY month for 30+ years. I’m sorry men can’t experience the pain, the discomfort, the sanitary issues, the cost of sanitary requirements, the intrusive procedures by numerous doctors and nurses and I’m sorry that women never get to experience homelessness, suicide, rape, absent fathers and man flu.
@2thFairy: Your mind is twisted against men, this has zero to do with men and somehow you managed to point the finger at men…..you need help.
@2thFairy: well said. We are not saying men don’t have problems we are simply saying if they had this condition no way would it have no known cause , no cure , no adequate treatments that don’t cause more side effects and can actually worsen the condition. It is a fact this is a woman’s disease a woman’s problem.
@Peter Hughes: stop acting as if men’s health isn’t taken more seriously. It is. When they suffer from pain, they aren’t shooed away with no help as women often are.
For most of medical history, the male body has been considered the “default” and even trials and tests done to treat women for issues affecting their reproductive organs were done on men. Who, as I’m sure you’re aware, don’t have them.
You can cry and claim to be the victim here but no woman is going to fall for it. She will see it for the blatant attention seeking and issue diverting tripe that it is.
You can deny how reality works all you like but it doesn’t change facts. Men do not have it worse. BTW more women attempt suicide but succeed less often than men.
This is an article about endometriosis. It is a condition that only women suffer from so it makes obvious sense that women will comment here about the pain and suffering it causes.
This condition is rarely bright up as a topic for discussion.
Unfortunately some men think we have no reason to even broach the subject at all.
Doctors are mostly men so they just dont care my daughter at 23 years of age not married some years ago was told to have a baby and she would be ok by a top consultant in the coombe hospital
@Margaret Kane: I’ve been told that too by multiple doctors, as recent as a few years ago.
I suffered bad with my periods starting in my teens, I didn’t realise that there was something wrong with me. I thought most women had such painful periods but I wasn’t strong enough to deal with them. Other women dismiss it as an excuse or moaning, doctors tell you to take some ibuprofen and a use a hot water bottle. I remember thinking as a 16 year old “how am I supposed to bring a hot water bottle to school with me?”. Instead I opted for those stick on heat patches for your back. Now in my late 20s I’m crippled by it. I waited two years for an app at the Combe after being told a few years previously that I probably had endometriosis at the well woman clinic. My doctors told me the same after a few USS showed nothing wrong. “it’s probably endometriosis, but you’re still young so don’t worry.”
Don’t worry? But there’s no treatment.
When I finally got to my long awaited appointment, I was told “yeah it’s probably endometriosis, get the coil or go on the pill.” and given some NSAIDs. That’s it, there’s nothing else they can do besides surgery, which probably won’t even help much and is likely to leave me infertile due to scarring.
While I feel like my country doesn’t care much about female health problems, the issue is there’s not actually much they can do to help. The treatments don’t exist.
There are so many women out there with the same story and just as many women that go undiagnosed as they think they just have to live with bad period pains. I was in my early twenties when I got the same wishy washy diagnosis and already I had lost an ovary.
I recognised the same condition in my daughter when she was 11 years old and I was shocked and horrified when I took her to the doctor to discover that 20 years later there was absolutely no advancement in treatment.
I chose not to put her through the endless intrusive prodding and operations because she was so young and there was still no cure except the pill.
have your say