| Councillor
Costello(1999-2004)
Despite having been written off as a
first time candidate he took the third
seat in the Ballybrack 6 seater ward (in a field of 13 candidates)
in the 1999 Local Elections thanks to an innovative campaign (which included an extensive door to door survey of local issues) that
cost less than £1,000 in total to run.
He established a world first by launching the first Virtual
Clinic in 2000 using an implementation of live text chat. He also served as an advisor to the Fine Gael party leader on eCommunications for the party and drafted an internet strategy for the party's online presence.
As a County Councillor on Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
he placed 224 Motions and 461 Formal written questions to
the Manager and he campaigned for:
Internet issues: Working in conjunction with the Library Association of Ireland, Eoin sought the introduction of a comprehensive programme for Internet access in the libraries managed by the council. He also lobbied the Department of Education to ensure that there was adequate provision of internet access for students in schools across the county. He also ensured that broadband was listed as an infrastructure priority in the 2004-2009 County Development Plan.
Closure of Sellafield: He campaigned for the
closure
of Sellafield throughout his term, he organised a county wide
petition which was sent to BNFL and successfully forced management
at BNFL Sellafield to add Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
to the list of parties to be included on all notifications issued
by management at Sellafield.
Kilbogget Park: When he started on the council
he made the improvement of Kilbogget Park (a former reclaimed dump
in the centre of his ward) his top priority through campaigning
for funding and keeping it top of the Council's
agenda.
Customer Charter: Bin collection in the county
was one of the poorest
performing services when he was elected. To ensure that constituents got the minimum standard of service they were paying for he successfully successfully implemented
Ireland's first customer
charter for Refuse Collection Services, the first of its kind
in Ireland. As a result written complaints to the Council
about the bin service fell from 88 in 2000 to just 2 in 2004.
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