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 “Replacing local fresh high quality produce with foreign imports is crippling the Irish Farming Community” stated Deputy Noel Coonan
North Tipperary‘s farming community is being brought to its knees by a Fianna Fail Government, which continually fails to protect farmers and the food industry, according to Deputy Noel Coonan. The Deputy’s comments relate to issues between supermarkets and Irish food producers, current milk prices and low beef prices.
Deputy Coonan stated:-
“We saw frustrated potato farmers stage a protest at a meeting of senior Tesco officials during the week in Meath where they voiced their just concerns over the importation of potatoes from abroad. The decision to replace local fresh produce with imports affects not just farmers but those working in delivery and packaging too. The Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has to take adequate steps to protect this indigenous vital industry and immediately outline the Government’s plans to protect jobs in the industry. The farming community has the potential to play a strong role in revitalising the economy. The frustration felt by potato farmers echoes from dairy and beef farmers too. Liquid milk producers are losing out severely per litre for every litre they produce. Beef farmers also need a higher share of the consumer spend on the products they supply. Producers are not being rewarded for their efforts and are effectively being forced off the land. The margin is too great between what farmers sell and what the supermarkets sell it for. Minister Smith has previously described the agri-food sector as Ireland’s most important indigenous sector, providing hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout every county in the country, at both producer and processor levels. Yet we see farmers facing cut after cut which hinders the development of the sector. The Government is doing nothing to stem the drift from the land when the country really needs agriculture to drag it out of this current recession.
Fine Gael Agriculture Spokesperson Michael Creed TD has questioned Minister Smith on how he proposes to protect and increase jobs in the food industry in view of threats posed to employment in the sector by the major multiples. This is an issue that is of grave importance and we will continue to question and press the Minister until we get an adequate reply.”
Deputy Coonan said that in contrast Fine Gael recognises the potential of the agri-food sector to stimulate job creation and economic growth and the party is committed to ensuring that Irish producers are competing on a level playing field with other countries.
Europe Direct, a new information service at Thurles Library, was officially launched on Wednesday May 6th last by Cllr. Tom Harrington, Chairman of County Tipperary’s Joint Libraries Committee.
Thurles Library situated at The Source, Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co.Tipperary is presently one of only eight such Europe Direct Centres in Ireland and includes within its catchment area the counties:- Tipperary, Limerick, Laois and Offaly.
The new centres manager in Thurles is Ann Marie Brophy and upcoming events will include public sessions on ‘How to Use your Vote’ for the European Elections and also on what you may need to know when travelling within Europe. The public are invited to view www.europedirect.ie and www.tipperarylibraries.ie for sequential updates on all planned future information events.
Europe Direct is an information service that links YOU, the citizen, to the European Union. They are there to provide information on all aspects of EU activities, how they can affect you, how you can benefit from them and how you can have your say on the issues of the day. The information centres will also provide free phone access to a live question and answer service, free computer access to email questions and will allow the browsing of EU online services. Expertly trained staff are ready to discuss your questions about Europe and what it does. Should you prefer, you may pick up the telephone and ring the Europe-wide toll-free number : 00800 6 7 8 9 10 11
The job of this centre will be:-
*To help you to obtain at a local level, information, advice, assistance and answers to questions about the EU, its institutions, activities and funding opportunities.
* To actively promote local and regional debate about Europe, by organising events and debates.
* To improve the distribution of information about the EU in a way which is adapted to local and regional needs.
* To give you the chance to send feedback to the EU institutions in the form of questions, views and suggestions.
What services that are provided:-
* Free phone access to the EUROPE DIRECT Contact Centre.
* Free access to European Union related websites.
* Information leaflets on European Union topics.
* Materials targeted specifically at schools, from a brief introduction to the EU for primary school pupils to the more academic-based material available for second level students.
* Europe by Satellite – watch debates streamed live on our PC.
* School classes and other groups are welcome to visit.
How EUROPE DIRECT may help you?
* General information about EU matters in any of the official EU languages.
* An answer to your questions on any European Union policy.
* Practical information on dozens of subjects: for example, how to get your qualifications recognised or how to complain about unsafe products.
* Contact details of relevant organisations you may with whom you may wish to deal.
* Advice to help you overcome practical problems with exercising your rights in Europe.
 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.
 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.
 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.
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