Posts from — May 2009

Ag Scheme must be more than just FF electioneering

Strategic focus needed for long-term sustainability of agrifood sector

Election 2007 sheep package still hasn’t materialised……

 Fine Gael Spokesperson on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Michael Creed TD today said the lack of strategic focus accompanying the €69m agriculture package announced by Taoiseach Brian Cowen unfortunately smacks of yet another pre-election promise that is unlikely to result in real benefits for farmers.

“Any investment in the agricultural sector must be strategically invested in the sector to benefit farmers as well as individual processors. Worryingly, the package announced by the Taoiseach at the weekend has not been followed up by any explanation as to its purpose or any strategic vision underpinning it. Under these circumstances it is difficult to see it as anything other than a political slush fund designed to massage the  Fianna Fáil vote.

“Unfortunately we’ve witnessed this kind of approach adopted by Fianna Fáil in the past, with a €28 million sheep package announced weeks before the 2007 General Election, which we are still waiting to see delivered. As the latest indications are that sheep numbers are at a 23 year low, any investment package in the sheep meat sector, which part of this funding is, must tackle the alarming fall off in herd numbers, not just the processing sector.

“The dairy investment fund is another example of a fund which, because of the lack of a strategic objective, failed to target the real issues at the heart of a sector in crisis with dairy farmers and processors now in real trouble.

“The Taoiseach has called the Opposition’s political objectivity into question but it is difficult to see this latest move by Fianna Fáil as anything other than a thinly disguised election promise, eleven days before polling day.  Brian Cowen says he is fed up with bad news but what he means is that he doesn’t like hearing the truth about the dismal performance of his Government and its damaging impact on the lives of ordinary people.”

FG’s FairCare plans can change A&E as new HSE report shows trolley pain persists – Reilly

I am pleased to announce Fine Gael Health Spokesperson, Dr James Reilly TD,  reacted to the latest HSE performance report saying that the Fine Gael party’s FairCare policy would make a real difference to A&E by radically reducing  trolley waits.

“You can’t keep following the same old policies and expect things to change.  The latest HSE report has a sadly familiar ring to it.  I have been persistently highlighting the problem with delayed discharges and so-called bed blockers for months and today’s numbers just confirm what I have been saying.  The need for more long stay beds, rehabilitation and convalescence support is obvious.  The really frustrating thing is that there are beds which could be contracted immediately if the will was there.This could dramatically improve the situation overnight.

“Long term, Fine Gael’s FairCare plan is the way forward.  By investing in primary care, slashing waiting lists using a special Service Delivery Unit, ending long trolley waits and reforming the way hospitals are paid so that the money follows the patient, we can radically transform our health service.  Once this important groundwork has been done we’ll bring in Universal Health Insurance with free GP care for all.  I believe FairCare is the right vision for our health service and I am determined to put it into action.”

Commission Report is Shocking Litany of Abuse and Suffering

I am pleased to announce a Joint Statement issued by Alan Shatter TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Children and Brian Hayes TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Education

The report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse published today discloses an appalling litany of sexual abuse, physical brutality and neglect of children perpetrated in institutions throughout the State for decades. It is scandalous that even at this stage in the context of the information disclosed that some religious congregations, such as the Christian Brothers and the Brothers of Charity, whilst acknowledging that some abuse took place in institutions for which they were responsible deny congregational responsibility for such abuse. This is so even where it is clear that known abusers were moved from one institution to another and reports of abuse were covered up.

The abject failure of the State and the Department of Education in particular, to enforce its own rules and regulations with regard to the treatment of children in institutional care and the gross inadequacy of the inspectorate system deprived the victims of abuse of the State protection to which they were entitled. It should not be ignored that the State’s failures with regard to children in institutional care continued up until the mid 1990s during which time children in St Joseph’s School for the Deaf in Cabra continued to be the victims of bullying, abuse and physical punishment.

Despite the apology given in 1999 by Bertie Ahern TD as Taoiseach to the victims of abuse, publication of today’s report should not result in anyone being misled into believing that all is now well with our childcare services. The Fianna Fáil-led Governments in office since 1999 have abysmally failed in their duty to protect children and that failure continues to this day. Today’s report recommends that the 1999 National Guidelines for the Protection and Welfare of Children (Children First) should be uniformly and consistently implemented throughout the State in dealing with allegations of abuse and neglect. Despite their being in place for 10 years there has been an abject failure on the part of the Government to ensure the guidelines are properly applied. It is inexcusable that it is again necessary for such a recommendation to be made.

The report also recommends that “childcare rules and regulations be enforced, breaches reported and sanctions applied” and that “management at all levels should be accountable for the quality of services and care”.
These are areas that have not simply been ignored but deliberately avoided by Government and in particular by the present Minister for Children. Instead of the providers of our childcare services being held accountable for the quality of services provided, the welfare and safety of children is protection of the reputation of those who fail to properly implement our childcare laws and guidelines. As was evident from the treatment last week of the Monageer Report the culture of secrecy and cover up is alive and well.

The failures of the Department for Education highlighted by today’s report are reinforced by the subsequent failure of the Fianna Fáil-led Government to adequately negotiate compensation from the religious orders for their part in the horrors perpetrated on children. Just over half of the €128 million agreed as part of that compensation scheme has been recovered by the State the total of which is estimated to be in the region of €1.1 billion.

Today’s report has been almost a decade in the making but the victims who suffered the barbaric and sadistic abuse described in it have waited a lifetime to see it published. We are now calling on Ministers O’Keefe and Andrews and the Government to schedule a debate on today’s Report at the earliest opportunity to discuss the serious policy implications the Report has for child protection in this country.

Fine Gael’s Local Election Manifesto
2009
Local Strength, National Recovery

Message from Enda Kenny TD

1.
Creating Jobs – Getting Ireland Back to Work
2.
Protecting Small and Medium Businesses
3.
Reforming Local Government – Business & Employment
4.
Fixing the Banks
5.
Better Planning
6.
Climate Change
7.
Reducing Waste – Improving Water
8.
Creating a Fair Care Health System
9.
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour
10.
Supporting Communities
11.
Improving our Universities
12.
Improving our Schools
13.
Transport
14.
Developing Agriculture

Guaranteed Change
Fine Gael believes that Ireland can return to growth and prosperity if we have the courage and vision to change the way we run our economy and govern our country.
Ireland is facing its worst economic crisis since the foundation of the State. By Christmas, at least 500,000 people will be out of work.
Across the country, anxious families are looking to Government for answers, for a sense that it has a plan to get things moving again. So far, the Fianna Fáil Government’s only answer has been to make ordinary people pay the price for its many failures.
Above all Ireland needs a Government that is not afraid of new ideas, and is willing to embrace radical change. Fine Gael can and does embrace change. We are not offering instant, easy solutions to Ireland’s many problems. But we do have a bold, ambitious plan, which will also strengthen local democracy, to get Ireland growing again.
Fine Gael’s plan for Ireland is built around three elements:
1.
A New Approach to Government
2.
A Greener, Smarter Economy, and
3.
A Fairer Ireland

A New Approach to Government
Over the last ten years, the Government has thrown money at every problem in the public sector, without making any real change to the way the system works. Billions are wasted, even as services for the most vulnerable are cut, and taxpayers are hammered by additional charges and levies.
The rest of this report can be viewed at http://www.finegael.org/policy/a/18/article/

The Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny TD, launched the party’s new Fisheries Bill which is designed to introduce an Irish system of administrative sanctions so that fishermen do not face exclusively criminal sanctions for sea fisheries offences.

Speaking from the launch of the Bill in Castletownbere in West Cork, Deputy Kenny said:

“Current legislation governing fisheries offences in Ireland imposes extremely serious penalties even for minor breaches. Fine Gael recognises that serious quota breaches and environmental offences should attract the full rigour of fisheries enforcement. However, Ireland is out of step with all the other maritime jurisdictions in Europe because we rely exclusively on criminal sanctions for sea fisheries offences. Fine Gael’s Bill, which has been drafted by Cork South West Deputy Jim O’Keeffe, will correct this anomaly and redress the imbalance in the way we deal with breaches of seafisheries law.”

The author of the Bill, Deputy Jim O’Keeffe said:

“I believe this Bill deals with a significant flaw in the Irish approach.Serious breaches will continue to be dealt with by serious penalties. However, it will provide a mechanism for keeping minor or technical infractions out of the courts. For constitutional reasons Ireland cannot adopt the continental system of administrative sanctions directly so my Bill creates a process to establish a fixed penalty approach for certain offences. This has a number of advantages including the promotion of a greater culture of compliance, reduced administrative costs as offences are dealt with by administrative measures rather than through the courts and the faster conclusion of cases.”

Fine Gael Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Spokesperson, Deputy Michael Creed, welcome the Bill saying:

“The Government should support the Fine Gael Bill which is a sensible way of putting in place an effective system of sanctions for fisheries offences.
Fishermen have been distressed at the imposition of criminal for even minor breaches of technical regulations.
The Fine Gael Bill will mean a criminal record and the associated stigma can be avoided by accepting a fixed penalty notice in place of court proceedings. I believe there should be no objection to our Bill which only places Ireland on a level playing pitch with the rest of Europe by no longer retaining an exclusive reliance on criminal sanctions for fisheries offences.”

€14 Billion Grocery Trade in Ireland Needs Fair Pricing Code and FG
proposed Irish Office of Fair Trading

Fine Gael Food Spokesperson Deputy Andrew Doyle has slammed the absence of a Grocery Supplies Code of Practice for giant supermarkets in Ireland and said it highlighted the need for an enhanced agency to enforce such a code, like the Irish Office of Fair Trading proposed by Fine Gael.

“The grocery market in Ireland, worth from €8-€14 billion, is dominated by six companies, some of whom have abused their power in the market place to unfairly profit on the backs of Irish suppliers. Stories are legion of suppliers who are afraid to go public because of the repercussions of being de-listed. Some examples are ‘hello money’, reneging on contracts, ‘loss leader fees’ and other unfair trade practices.

“The Irish grocery trade is a like the Wild West at the moment and it is time we got a sheriff.

“We urgently need a code of conduct and an enhanced agency to enforce it. Fine Gael has proposed the merger of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency into a new beefed up ‘Irish Office of Fair Trading’.

“The Irish Office of Fair Trading could:

• Bring in a code of practice for the sector;
• Enforce the code of practice;
• Ensure that large retailers are required to provide data on sales and profits in the Irish market like for every other business so that people can know who is making the real margins in the grocery sector.

“The Grocery Supply Code of Conduct has already been introduced in Britain where there is major concern about the unfair treatment of suppliers and the unfair competition for local groceries. But Irish suppliers are being left to fend for themselves, squeezed between rising business costs and the ever increasing demands of powerful retailers. Government and the Competition Authority need to do their part to support fair trade and open transparent competition so that everyone gets a fair deal and the consumer gets choice and value. If they fail to act we will shortly see thousands of job losses in the Irish food production and processing sectors at a time when the nation can ill afford to lose them.

The country simply can’t afford a high energy price agenda as part of a ‘green strategy’

Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan TD, should be removed from office by the Taoiseach if he continues to refuse to deal with energy prices, Fine Gael Energy Spokesman, Simon Coveney TD said.

Deputy Coveney was reacting to Minister Ryan’s proposals for a national plan to reduce energy usage.

“Reducing energy use is of course important but the highest priority for our Energy Minister at this time must be energy prices.

“The Minister won’t even acknowledge that there is a problem with high prices. Ireland is the most expensive EU country for electricity and in the top three for gas. It is not acceptable that our Minister for Energy is solely focusing on energy use and energy conservation, when there is a massive job to be done by him to reduce energy prices as well.

“The great weakness of this Minister is that his motivation is entirely coloured by climate change considerations when what is needed is a balance between competitiveness, affordability and environmental consideration. There are ways that Eamon Ryan can directly ensure that the cost of electricity and gas are reduced significantly in the short term yet he consistently refuses to even engage in the debate on prices.

“Companies are leaving Ireland and are directly citing energy costs as the reason for doing so. In his two years in office, I have never once heard Eamon Ryan say that energy costs are too expensive here. If he is incapable of concentrating on energy prices as part of a ‘green agenda’ at the same time as energy conservation, he should be removed from office by the Taoiseach. The country, our people and the economy can’t afford to have him there. It is as simple as that.

‘Significant energy price reductions should be a good news story for Ireland as international prices have fallen. The recent small electricity and gas price reductions are totally insufficient in response to changing international energy markets. I support the Minister’s efforts on energy conservation and reduced energy usage but his refusal to deal with energy prices is directly costing jobs and is imposing needless financial hardship on every household in the country. This must change or the Taoiseach should intervene and put a new Energy Minister in place.”

The mire in which successive Fianna Fáil Government’s policies, particularly in relying on property, have left us can begin to be remedied by putting in place an €11 billion investment programme that will deliver 100,000 jobs over four years, Fine Gael Environment Spokesman, Phil Hogan TD said.

The Fine Gael Environment Spokesman made his comments in Killarney while addressing the AGM of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers.

“What happened in the last five years to the property market will, I believe, in time come to be seen of a textbook case of how not to manage an economy. However, the causes go far deeper with the failure of banking systems and the absolute disaster of overall Government policies leaving Ireland at our most perilous state since the 1930’s.

“The banking industry needs to be restructured with the issue of toxic assets reviewed. However, NAMA is not the way forward. I believe that the current NAMA model will lead to a bonanza for accountants and lawyers, maybe even for some auctioneers as they battle to maximise for their clients the value of assets being bought by NAMA. Fine Gael would rather see a system where the good performing loans are taken out into new banks and the existing banks have the responsibility of cleaning up their own mess.

“The fundamental requirement for the economy is to free up bank balance sheets to get lending flowing again. The Fine Gael plan will do that and will get credit flowing again.

“However, this is nowhere near enough to turn around our economy. We need to regain that spirit of innovation, build competitiveness and renew our infrastructure. And we need a jobs package. Fine Gael has spelled out how to do this in our Rebuilding Ireland document.

“In it we outline an investment of €11 billion over the next four years. And as a by-product of this investment there will be 100,000 jobs created in the short-term across the country. The funding of this investment would be done on a commercial basis so there would be no increase in the National Debt. We estimate that €11bn could be invested from a combination of the National Pension Fund, the European Central bank and a Consumer Bond. It beats an investment in bank shares.

“This upgrade of our infrastructure would increase our competitiveness, reduce our dependence on energy imports and create a cleaner environment. We will establish a new State holding Company – NewERA. The ownership of a wide range of existing and new State companies involved in energy, transport and communications will be vested in NewERA. Among the existing state companies that will be moved under NewERA will be the ESB, Eirgrid, An Post, Bord Gais, Bord na Mona, Coillte and the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANS). Some of these may be sold off as they become less essential to our economic well being nationally. So these could be sold off to fund further investment and development.

“In case you are bothered about bureaucracy, NewERA will be a holding Company and will employ less than 100 people. 100,000 new jobs will turn the tide of despair and hopelessness. €11 billion will create real investment and competitiveness.

“It is in everyone’s interest to get the property market moving again. At its peak, the investment market was worth €3 billion this year we will be lucky to reach €300 million. Through reform, dealing with the problem of oversupply and funding from banks we believe this can begin to happen. At the very least a VAT cut on the 13% rate needs to be implemented as this would, on average, reduce the prices of new houses by 10%.”

 FG Local Govt Plan will drive job creation and abolish quangos

Abolish/merge 95 quangos + freeze rates for 5 years

Fine  Gael Environment Spokesman Phil Hogan TD has  set out his  Party’s  plans  to  reform  Local  Government:  ‘Power to the People –
Bringing Local Government Back to the People’. This latest Fine Gael policy is another ambitious plan to completely shake up Government structures, and follows  similar  proposals  for  the  Oireachtas, healthcare and education reform.

The  Fine  Gael plan will see Local Government become the primary driver of business  support  and development at local level. It will involve 95 State bodies  being  merged  or abolished, saving millions of euros for taxpayers every year, and freezing local business rates for the next five years.

“Local  Government  must  play  an integral role in dragging Ireland out of recession  and  in  driving  job  creation. However, Local Government is in limbo,  if  not  in  crisis.  Local  Government has lacked a strong primary mission  for  decades  with  power and services being devolved to unelected ‘quangos’. Fine Gael will change all that. Our plan, ‘Power to the People’, will see:

Local  Government  become  the primary driver of business support and development  at  local level. This will involve ending the wide-scale  duplication  of  services  among  unelected  bodies and bringing them  under  one  roof in Local Authorities to create a one-stop-shop. Fine  Gael-controlled  Councils  will  freeze  local business rates for the next 5 years;  Ninety-five   quangos   merged   or  abolished:  53  bodies  will  be  amalgamated  into  Local Government with the complete abolition of 42  more. This will result in an administrative saving to the taxpayer of over €70 million a year;  In  planning,  separate  transport  and  education  plans  need to be  included  in  the planning process and in County and City Development Plans;  Fine  Gael will support a directly-elected Lord Mayor for Dublin City   for   a  term  of  five  years  from  2014  provided  that  relevant, significant powers for the Mayor have been decided;   Simple  reforms  in  the  structure  of  Local  Government to improve   services  to both the public and elected representatives, including a  special  customer service unit which will be uniform across all local  authorities based on best practice.

“We want to see savings and efficiencies rather than new taxes and charges . We  need  to  restore  trust,  services  and  responsibility  back to Local Government.  Putting  Local  Government  back  into  a  central role in the community  will  result in greater community cohesion, better services, and more  employment opportunities, all the while saving millions of taxpayers’ hard-earned millons.