Thurles Information

Local Fine Gael TD, Noel Coonan, is calling on Fine Gael Party Leader Enda Kenny TD and Environment Spokesperson Phil Hogan TD to declare that monies allocated for national roadways over the next two years will instead be spent on fixing our obliterated county roads.

“I have called on the Party Leader to divert monies from national to county roads as a matter of urgency. The reasoning for this is simply that, throughout this canvassing trail, I have met countless constituents who are absolutely sick of the state of country roadways and I cannot blame them. There is a scourge of potholes littering country roads and the Celtic Tiger is definitely long gone and wasted by this Fianna Fáil-led Government,” said Deputy Coonan.

When Fine Gael was last in Government in 1994, we had to initiate a response to the problem of county roads at that stage and now in 2011 the county roads are even worse as a result of appalling neglect by this Fianna Fáil-led Government.
People living in rural areas are subjected to a Beirut blitz on our roads on a daily basis. Their cars are shook apart as they crawl through potholes and over uneven hazardous surfaces. My proposal is that funding earmarked for national roadways be diverted towards county roads to address the need of the rural community which has long been hammered by this defunct inefficient Government,” concluded the local Fine Gael TD.

Meanwhile, one of Fine Gael’s brightest minds, Leo Varadkar TD, has endorsed his colleague and local Deputy Noel Coonan as “an excellent TD who deserves to be re-elected in North Tipperary/South Offaly.”

The Frontbench Spokesperson gave an inspirational speech to a packed captivated audience at Deputy Coonan’s final campaign rally in Roscrea’s Muintir na Tire Hall last Friday night.

“I have seen Noel work hard since he was elected to Dáil Eireann in 2007 and there is no reason why your constituency will not have a Minister if you give Noel your No 1 and make him part of the new Government on March 9th,” said Deputy Varadkar to an excited and buzzing audience.

“In six days we go to the polls and we are potentially looking at a political earthquake,” continued the Dublin TD, “This is a chance for a transformational election to change Irish politics for good. If this happens we will prove within the first 100days that Fine Gael is different and we mean business.” The crowded hall then erupted in enthusiastic cheer.

Deputy Coonan was in agreement with the Communications Spokesperson and was equally as inspiring when he said: “Tears of joy ran down the faces of Fine Gael supporters in 2007 when I was gratefully elected as your Fine Gael TD to Dáil Eireann after a tough battle. This election could be the most important election ever and there is no point in having Fine Gael in Government if we have no Fine Gael Deputy from North Tipperary/South Offaly there, to look after our area which has suffered years of neglect. I see people here tonight that I know are not associated with any political party and I ask you to lend me your vote on this occasion and give Fine Gael a chance.”

The local TD said North Tipperary has suffered huge job losses over the years but our strong farming industry offers a glimmer of hope. “Exports from the agricultural sector rocketed this year and we have a glorious opportunity here to become renowned leaders in exporters of quality food,” said the CAP Reform Spokesperson.

Deputy Coonan was loudly cheered when he said: “Fine Gael represents openness, decency and integrity. There will be no cover-ups or covert deals with Independent TDs. People will know where we are going and what we are doing at all times. This Government went for short term profits and turned their eyes towards the bondholders, developers and bankers. Let’s end this sickening cronyism by voting Fine Gael and we will be proud to call Ireland ‘a nation once again”.

Wrapping up the meeting, Deputy Mr Varadkar received a standing ovation when he said: “Enda is very different to Eamon Gilmore who flit flops on just about anything. Six weeks ago the Labour Party wanted to get the deficit down to 3% by 2014, but then came under pressure from Sinn Fein so they changed their mind on that. Last November they wanted 15,000 voluntary redundancies in the public service in one year and yet now they are saying they are doing 30,000 in four years. Last November the Labour Party was in favour of water metering and today they are opposed to it.
Michael Martin is a man who has spent 14 days on the backbenches and seems to have forgotten he was a Government Minister for the last 14 years and it’s important to remember that he was there when the HSE was set up, when FAS was wasting millions of euros and when Ireland lost its competitiveness.
In contrast, Leader Enda Kenny has stuck with his decisions, is strong under pressure, and in my opinion has won the last two television debates. He has exceeded expectations in this election,” concluded Deputy Varadkar.