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 Deputy Noel Coonan Deputy Noel Coonan today thanked all supporters and Yes campaigners in North Tipperary, especially Fine Gael colleagues and canvassers, following the resounding Yes vote throughout the constituency on the Lisbon Treaty.
North Tipperary voted 70% in favour of being at the heart of Europe with a very strong electoral turnout of 63%.
Deputy Noel Coonan stated:
“Following this great result, we can now move on and Fine Gael is committed to tackling major problems down the road such as NAMA, job losses and the upcoming budget. We bit our lip on this occassion as regards penalising Taoiseach Brian Cowan and Co because a Yes vote was crucial to our future, but now we will be back relentlessly focusing on this Government’s policies to try and steer this country out of it’s current financial mess.
Specifically, within North Tipp, I will be focusing on pressing issues such as upgrading health services in Nenagh General Hospital and in particular its operating theatres, endoscopy suite and need for new lifts, the delay in providing Borrisokane’s 20-bed Extended Care Community Nursing Unit, the cutbacks in funding for local road networks,the lack of initiative in protecting existing jobs in small businesses and the creation of new jobs”.
I also want to pay tribute to the No campaigners who conducted their business responsibly and honourably,” concluded Deputy Coonan.
The Deputy also thanked the public for being patient and considerate towards this critical Referendum and resisting the temptation to penalise an incompetent and inefficient Government.
North Tipperary Deputy Noel Coonan, Fine Gael, today outlined why Ireland needs a stable relationship with the European Union as we battle through economically turbulent times.
The Deputy noted that Ireland and North Tipperary has been transformed since joining the European Union in 1973, receiving some €60 billion in funding. For a generation, the EU has been the key framework within which the county has developed economically, socially and politically.
How has North Tipperary benefitted from it’s relationship with the European Union?
Local road and rail infrastructure have improved due to EU funding including N7 Nenagh/Limerick and Nenagh By-Pass.
Towns such as Templemore and Roscrea benefited from the €18 million South East Broadband Project which is co-funded by the EU.
Nenagh’s Civic Amenity Facility received EU co-financed investment in waste management facilities.
Ormonde Castle and Roscrea Castle both received EU assistance.
Between 2000 and 2008 more than €27 million was allocated to childcare services in Tipperary which has supported Whizz Kids Montessori, Thurles and Millenium Family Resource Centre, Ballingarry.
140,000 jobs, 994 companies, and 85% of exported goods depend on EU
During the current economic crisis we need to retain a firm grip on the economic handrail that the EU provides.
 Deputy Noel Coonan Deputy Coonan stated:
“Ireland’s economic future is dependent on Europe. There are currently 994 foreign companies based here providing 140,000 jobs accounting for 85% of our manufacturing exports. They spend €15bn annually in the Irish economy and account for almost 50% of our corporation tax take (approx.€3bn).
Since we joined the EU one million jobs have been created here and two out of every three jobs in the Irish workforce are based on exports into the EU market place. The EU has devised a €5 billion recovery plan that Ireland stands to gain from in the form of investment in our infrastructure and the green economy. We simply do not have the luxury of letting this opportunity for financial recovery pass us by. We are a small, agile economy with a well educated workforce, but these advantages will become irrelevant if we choose step away from the heart of Europe.
One of the key reasons international investors come to Ireland is because of our position as a gateway to Europe and the access that this provides to a market of hundreds of millions of people in the EU. If our relationship with the EU is seen to be damaged, the incentive for them to invest here in the future will be reduced. That is why so many major Irish companies are calling for a Yes vote. They know the long-term impact of a No vote could have on our economic recovery. They know that a Yes vote is crucial to how Ireland is seen by investors, and we need their investments to create jobs. Fine Gael believes that a Yes vote to Lisbon is a Yes to jobs and a Yes to speedy economic recovery.”
US Secretary of State Mrs Hillary Clinton recently made it clear to several key Irish Americans that she would shortly appoint an economic envoy to Northern Ireland. Now, understanding this very important role in terms of helping to get the Northern economy moving, she has just announced the appointment of Tipperary born Mr Declan Kelly, an Irish business advisor, as her government’s economic envoy to this post.
 Mr D. Kelly Mr Declan Kelly, aged 41, is a native of Portroe, Co Tipperary, son of Nan and Tom Kelly. He received his BA degree in English and Legal Science in 1989.
Mr Kelly only recently announced that he is to step down from FTI, the International consulting firm which in 2006, acquired his former company Financial Dynamics (FD) International, a holding company which managed the Financial Dynamics network worldwide. He will remain with FTI in a consulting capacity but will step down as Executive Vice President.
Mr Kelly presently is a senior advisor to some of the world’s largest corporations and business leaders and has served on the board of a number of non profit organisations, including Co-Operation Ireland, latter a non profit organisation dedicated to funding peace initiatives in Northern Ireland.
He has been a Director of the Dublin Theatre Festival for several years and was appointed as a member of the Advisory Board of Glucksmann Ireland House at New York University. He serves in an advisory capacity to the Board of Directors of the American Ireland Fund and GOAL, the third world humanitarian organisation.
He is also Chairman of the US Foundation Board of NUI Galway, where he studied for a number of years and remains one of the leading advisors to US Secretary of State Mrs Hillary Clinton.
Mr Kelly was also a former journalist with the Tipperary Star, Nenagh Guardian and Irish Examiner newspapers. He is a regular visitor to North Tipperary and to his parents home in Portroe. Mr Kelly was in Tipperary in August last to attend the wedding of a former Tipperary Star and Nenagh Guardian journalist and colleague.
US State Department sources confirm that he is expected to visit Belfast today, when he will meet with business leaders. He will accompany the new US ambassador to London, Mr Louis Susman.
His brother MEP Alan Kelly recently secured himself a seat in the European Parliament elections in Ireland as the mid-west’s Labour candidate.
 Tipperary Institute The recent Fine Gael parliamentary party ‘think-in’ in Cavan on Monday last, was attended by Fine Gael Deputy for North Tipperary Mr.Noel Coonan.
Colm McCarthy, author and Chairperson of An Bord Snip Nua, was a guest speaker at the meeting which addressed the current economic and budgetary crisis.
Attending at the gathering, the Deputy later met with Mr Colm McCarthy and strongly highlighted his concerns over the report’s recommendation to abolish Tipperary Institute.
Deputy Coonan put the point to Colm McCarthy that the recommendation to close Tipperary Institute was fundamentally flawed and based on totally incorrect facts with regard to present student and staff numbers.
Mr. McCarthy confirmed that the figures stated in his report had been supplied by the Department of Education.
Deputy Coonan interrupted, stating that it was important to realise Department of Education bureaucrats have difficulty in coming to terms with a rural development institute outside the remit of primary, secondary and third level education and appear to make little room for rural institutes. Comparing the Bord Snip findings, in this case, to the referee’s decision to give that dubious penalty against Tipperary in the All Ireland Final, Deputy Coonan stated that were Mr McCarthy to review his findings in this case, using correct and well informed facts, he would agree that he too had got it wrong in his recommendation to abolish Tipperary Institute.
Deputy Coonan went on to state:
“I also strongly put it to you Colm that the McCarthy Report is an unprecedented attack on rural Ireland with its recommendations to close Garda Stations, cutbacks in farming, especially REPS4, cutbacks in health services and the axing of the Rural Transport Programme. I will continue to oppose the closure of the Tipperary Institute and I will fervently continue to highlight my deepest concerns and the fears of the people of North Tipperary to much of the content, stated in your report.”
McCarthy Firm on Decision To Terminate Tipperary Institute
An Bord Snip Nua , first released on 16 July 2009, stated that Tipperary Institute “has a high complement of staff (100) compared to the number of full-time students (338). The Group recommended that the institution be closed with existing students re-assigned to nearby IoT’s. The campus should be disposed of, for the benefit of the Exchequer.”
However, Deputy Coonan informed Mr. McCarthy that the figure quoted were incorrect and reflect full-time students only. He stated that the Institute had close to 700 students, when part-time students are included and when this is calculated as Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) students, the correct figure is 455 and rising. Furthermore, Deputy Coonan pointed out, that when correctly calculated, the staff figure stands at only 60 staff which could be attributable to mainstream academic activity.
Colm McCarthy then outlined to Deputy Coonan that it is not possible to have a third level institute in every provincial town and he remains resolute in his recommendation to axe the Tipperary Institute. He also stated that the the report’s aim was to make savings to the exchequer and that is what it was doing.
Tipperary’s six Dail Deputies and four Senators have claimed close to €1.2 million in allowances and expenses since the 2007 Irish General Election.
Independent Michael Lowry had the highest of the North Tipperary T.D’s at €1 short of €160,000.
 The Dail in Summer Fine Gaels Noel Coonan claimed allowances and expenses totalling over €151,000.
Mattie McGrath, South Tipp Fianna Fail, collected over €161,500.
Fine Gaels Tom Hayes claimed most with just over €178,000.
Minister of State Martin Mansergh claimed €73,272, while former Junior Minister Maire Hoctor had the lowest figures with just a miserable €54,632.
Nationally Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue, South Kerry Deputy, as expected, topped the poll, claiming a total of allowances and expenses of over €329,000 for the same period.
Tipperary’s four Senators claimed expenses and allowances totalling almost €388,000 for this two year period.
Fianna Fails John Hanafin tops the poll in Tipperary with the highest claims for allowances and expenses at almost €113,000.
Labhras O’Murchu was next past the line as party colleague, claiming just over €109,000.
Representative of the working man, Labour Party Member Phil Prendergast claimed €99,000. Thought she only attended 18 votes out of 55 in the Seanad, still may be I got it wrong.
While Labour’s Alan Kelly only claimed €66,500, but then of course he had the worst voting records in the Seanad so far in 2009. Still this small sum should help pay for the European Union “Thank You Party“.
The average claims for the 60 Seanad members alone stood at €94,000, give or take a cent or two, and in case you have forgotten this is on top of their basic salaries which ranges from a miserable €70,000 to €75,000 per year.
Recent report in the Irish Independent newspaper lists all claims lodged by all members since 2007.
Still it’s refreshing to note that the recession is hitting all our salaries equally.
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