There may be a winter of discontent in store for Swords based commuters as the Minister for Transport considers his options after the recent High Court order which overturned his decision to allow the 41X service to use the Dublin Port Tunnel. This saga is now running for more than two years and doesn’t look like ending any time soon.

We have heard all about ghost estates and zombie hotels, but it now looks like Dublin 15 could get its very own ‘ghost train station’.

Although the grand opening of the Dunboyne rail line has been scheduled for September 2nd, it now appears that the Hansfield station, which was to serve the growing population centres of Ongar and Littlepace, will remain unopened until the property developer concerned provides the agreed access road.

The Sunday Tribune recently reported Minister Martin Mansergh's startling reply to my parliamentary question about the fate of the former AIB Branch on Main St. Blanchardstown. Originally acquired for €1.5m by the OPW in 2002, the building has remained idle despite approaches from several local voluntary organisations to use the building on a temporary basis.

There was mixed news from the Minister for Education recently about local schools for Luttrellstown and Tyrellstown. While preparations for the provision of two long-promised primary school buildings in Tyrellstown are progressing, plans for a permanent building for Luttrelstown Community College appear to have stalled.

Joan submitted at the committee stage of the Central Bank Reform Bill 2010 an amendment which would have seen the proposed Section 35 A & B deleted and replaced with an amendment which would have provided specifically that the Central Bank would be in a position to facilitate the voluntary merger of credit unions in the State in the interests of improving financial stability and management of the credit union sector.

460 more people signed on for the dole at the Blanchardstown Social Welfare office in June than in May 2010.

This staggering monthly spike, which equates to 22 people every working day for the month of June, can only be partly explained by season factors like the end of term for students and temporary employees in the education sector.

Speaking in the Dáil last night on a special adjornment debate, Deputy Joan Burton highlighted the plight of Mary Mother of Hope Senior National School in Dublin 15 which will have only one English language support teacher for its 400 pupils from next September, compared to the three teachers it had for the 300 pupils it had only two years ago.

Labour Finance Spokesperson Joan Burton TD has welcomed the appearance of the head of the National Roads Authority (NRA), Fred Barry, before the Dáil Transport Committee tomorrow on foot of a Labour party request for the NRA to address a number of significant issues especially in relation to the M50 and current upgrade works.

This week is European SME Week. Fingal County Enterprise Board are running a series of events targetted at local entrepreneurs.

In a welcome joint initiative with the Blanchardstown & District Credit Union , the Fingal Enterprise Board is launching a €2m fund for Dublin 15 start-ups and growing small businesses with up to 10 staff.

Accessing finance is still among the biggest challenges facing businesses across the country, and in all sectors of the economy. In the Dáil, the Labour Party has been calling for the introduction of an SME Working Capital Guarantee Scheme, along the lines of those operating successfully in Singapore and the UK, to ensure small businesses can access the loans they need to keep paying wages and suppliers.

Joan Burton today challenged the Taoiseach in the Dáil on the interminable wait for legislation to deal with property management companies. Joan has been campaigning for comprehensive legislation in this area for a number of years now.

After publishing cynically publishing draft legislation just before last year's local elections, Fianna Fáil have stalled legislation in the Seanad.