Sean Kelly -The GAA Should Buy The Haye’s Hotel Before It Is Too Late

North Tipperary Unemployment More Than Doubles in One Year

Approximately 2,975 North Tipperary people joined the unemployment register in the last year.
With 5,705 people now on the ‘Live Unemployment Register” in North Tipperary and a prediction that one in six workers nationally will be out of work by the end of the year, Deputy Noel Coonan is calling on the Government to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in North Tipperary to protect existing jobs.

Speaking to www.thurles.info, today Deputy Coonan said:

“There has been a 100% hike in the number of people signing on in North Tipperary over the last year. In the last month alone, 213 people joined the dole queue in the area. Roscrea witnessed the biggest jump in the last month of over 5% while 91 more people signed on in Thurles in the same period. Unfortunately, Nenagh did not fare well either with an additional 68 people joining the Live Register. Fine Gael has been proposing measures to help SMEs but they have not been implemented by this Government and those who support it in North Tipperary. Such measures include launching a PRSI exemption for companies taking on new employees and freezing local authority rates and charges to business. I believe a Government-backed loan guarantee for SMEs needs to be introduced as has been done in the UK. The rate of VAT has to be reduced if SMEs are to survive and the Travel tax needs to be abolished. I’m disheartened to see the Government voting against such productive and proactive proposals. Fine Gael is trying to plan for an economically secure future but we are not helped by a Government who seems determined not to support us no matter how fruitful our measures may be.”

Small & medium enterprises (SMEs) currently employ 800,000 people and represent 97% of Irish companies and North Tipperary cannot afford to lose its’ indigenous businesses who provide such vital employment at a time of economic turmoil.

Deputy Coonan also expressed deep disappointment that the Government, this week, voted down a Fine Gael motion to introduce an €18 billion stimulus package over a four-year period that would provide 100,000 jobs and build a modern infrastructure in the area of energy / telecommunications. The latter would have been achieved through the creation of a new State industrial holding company, the New Economy and Recovery Authority (NewERA). This company would co-ordinate, restructure and finance new and existing State companies in the best strategic interests of the Irish people in order to develop the most competitive economy in Europe.

Ireland now has the second highest unemployment in the Eurozone at 11.4%. By Christmas, there could be half a million people on the dole.

€10 Million Good Bye Fund For Councillors Rejected In June Elections

maurice-hickey-2 City and County Council Candidates who are not returned to office in the forthcoming June local elections, will reap a tax-free lump sum of up to €70,000.

City and County Councillors who fail to be re-elected in June next will be paid a tax-free sum to a maximum of €70,416 each out of a €10m goodbye fund set up to compensate them. All non-returned councillors, aged 50 and over, will automatically qualify for immediate payment, whether or not they stand for re-election.

Councillors who have served since the 1999 local election will get about €30,000, while representatives with 20 years’ service or more will qualify for the maximum payment of over €70,000. Approximately 10% of the city and county councillors will qualify for the maximum payment.

They will be entitled to €3,300 a year for each year that they have served since 2000 and a reduced amount for any years prior.

Individual payments to councillors with 20 years’ service will exceed the retirement lump sums payable to local authority public servants without a requirement to make any pension contributions whatsoever, even though local representation is not regarded as paid employment.

This little backhander will be double the present average industrial wage but conveniently falls just short of the €75,000 benchmark for the 4% levy. Sitting Councillors did not have to make any contribution towards this gratuity, whereas for others there is a contribution of 6.5%.

Note: In addition to their €17,604 representational allowance, councillors also claim expenses.

Amendments made in 2006 by then Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche, lowered this minimum qualifying period for this lump sum payment from three years’ service to two years’ service.

This news will, no doubt, greatly comfort tax payers, not to mention the unfortunate and beleaguered Fianna Fáil politicians, who are currently experiencing extreme irritation on the doorstep from their angered constituents. It would appear the latter mistakenly blame them for the ruination of the Irish economy.

If this €10,000 compensation package were to be refused by some 900 locally-elected politicians, presently sitting on County and City councils, this good bye fund would:

Re-allocate subsidies to elderly people, thus securing their homes against burglary, recently abolished by the Minister for Finance, in this month’s budget.

Twice finance the State’s abandoned plan to immunise teenage girls against cervical cancer.

Finance, three times, the savage cuts to local and regional road maintenance in Co.Tipperary, which was slashed by almost €4 million this week.

Currently this country is borrowing 1 million Euros every thirty minutes, but I suppose another five hours will make little difference.

On Sunday last, a defiant Taoiseach, Brian Cowan urged his party to unite behind him and in an impassioned rally call, invoking the Easter Rising as an example of sacrifice for the national good, he stated:

“Today is a timely reminder of the sacrifice others have made in the past for their fellow Irish-men and women. We should be prepared to look at the wider common good during this difficult time for this country”

Interesting to see how many potential national patriots will emerge from within the ranks of our City and County Councillors.

Is it time to cancel Local Council Elections and appoint our Maurice Hickey types (apologies to Pat Shortt) by using the interview process, like any other curriculum vitae carrying employee, destined for the echelons of the Board Room?.

Your comments please.

€4 Million Cut From North Tipperary Road Budget

coveny-coonan North Tipperary‘s 2009 allocation for local and regional road maintenance has been slashed by more than €4million. Deputy Noel Coonan has expressed deep frustration at this savage cut which represents a quarter of the 2009 grant allocation. Following the April Supplementary Budget, revised allocations were notified to local authorities and the actual figure for North Tipperary has just been revealed.

North Tipperary County Council’s allocation was dramatically cut by €3,731,000. Nenagh Town Council and Thurles Town Council both witnessed a 40% drop from €287,000,000 to €177,000. Templemore Town Council also lost 40% or €78,000 of its allocation. This amounts to a total of €4,029,000.

Deputy Coonan stated:

“The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is determined by Department for Transport resources and yet again the Government is putting lives at risk by another unfair and unsafe budgetary constraint. We needed this money to carry out vital works such as calming measures, road alleviations, flashing lights at schools, bridge improvements and patching of potholes. This move will inevitably cost jobs, a measure we can ill afford in North Tipperary as the Live Register grows steadily. Last February Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey TD unveiled a huge programme to repair Ireland’s network of local and regional roads. At the time he said: “The Programme involves projects in all areas that support employment and economic activity”. Now the Transport Minister has done a huge u-turn to the detriment of North Tipperary roads, many of which have been very badly battered over the Winter. This deals a dangerous blow to road safety across the constituency. The programme was desperately needed to eradicated numerous accident black spots and possibly saved lives as a consequence. I’m extremely disappointed to see these cuts come into place because I know this is of great concern to those living in rural Ireland who are travelling unsafe and uneven roads infested with craters everyday.”

Local and regional roads account for 94% of the Irish network. They carry about 60% of all traffic and 43% of all goods traffic.

BT Ireland- One Year Free Internet Connection and Laptop For Charitable Organisations

coonan Fine Gael Deputy Noel Coonan broadly welcomes the new BT Ireland scheme which greatly assists in narrowing the Digital Divide.

Deputy Coonan is urging registered charitable organisations throughout North Tipperary to avail of a new BT Ireland award scheme where such organisations can apply for a laptop and a year’s free broadband Internet connection.

Deputy Coonan, Spokesperson on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, said the application is open to organisations working in any field of community benefit that can portray how an award would benefit their group.

The Deputy speaking to Thurles.Info stated:

“This initiative aims to narrow the digital divide in local communities and give more equal opportunities. Organisations will be given the chance to access new information and advance their operations thanks to this scheme. BT Ireland will be empowering local groups and I warmly welcome the scheme as the need for efficient broadband availability increases daily.”

The scheme runs over an 18 month period, with two rounds in June 2009 and January 2010, offering a total of up to 80 award packages.

BT Ireland in the past have had winners from a diverse range of organisations including cultural dance groups, conservation organisations, mountain rescue teams, family support groups, healthy living clubs, arts and music groups, sports teams and youth groups.

For more information or to apply log on to www.btcommunityconnections.com

Sean Kelly -The GAA Should Buy The Haye’s Hotel Before It Is Too Late

sean-kelly-a European Parliament hopeful and former GAA President Mr Sean Kelly called on the GAA to purchase the Haye’s Hotel Thurles.

Mr Kelly called on the GAA to establish this historic building as a tourist attraction and to incorporate the Lár Na Pairce museum as a memorial to that meeting in the Davin room, 125 years ago this year, which saw the establishment of the GAA organisation.

Mr Kelly made the call as he launched his Tipperary European Election campaign in the Haye’s Hotel to a large crowd of over 200 people on Tuesday night April 14th.

Mr Kelly stated:

“I have thought for many years that the GAA should purchase Haye’s Hotel to ensure it is preserved in its rightful place in Irish history. Successive owners have been very good at keeping the business going and the connection with the past, through the Davin Suite and Cusacks Bar, but there is no guarantee that this will always be the case. The only way to ensure that our history, in this respect, is preserved would be for the organisation to buy it and run it jointly as both a hotel and a museum. The GAA now successfully run a hotel at Croke Park so they know how the business works. The GAA could also move Lár Na Parca from its present cramped site to the hotel grounds and make a fine visitors centre and museum there. It would be a shame for this treasure to be lost to the organisation and to the Irish nation.”