Fine Gael Longford/Westmeath TD, Gabrielle McFadden, has said that substantial rent being paid over many years by young people hoping to eventually buy a house must be considered as a part of any new mortgage application rules instead of what she described as the prohibitive 20% deposit proposal being mooted.

“Fianna Fáil’s Spokesperson on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Dara Calleary, this morning on radio said that the party is in the process of finalising their enterprise policy offering. I am glad that after four years they are finally starting to think about how to recover some of the 330,000 jobs lost during the economic collapse they caused” says Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, Fine Gael TD for Laois/Offaly and Chairperson of the Oireachtas jobs Committee.

Fine Gael Galway Senator, Hildegarde Naughton, has welcomed substantial funding announced for Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe, the National Irish language Theatre. Minister for State, Joe McHugh, today (Tuesday) announced that he has sanctioned an operational grant of €320,000 for Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe over the next three years.

Fine Gael TD for Kerry and Minister of State with Responsibility for the Diaspora, Jimmy Deenihan, has welcomed the announcement of new jobs for Tralee with the launch today of Irish TV’s new Munster regional hub in the Kerry Technology Park.

“Bord Bia has launched a €400,000 fund targeted at small businesses in the food, drink and horticulture sector, and I would encourage all local eligible businesses to apply” says James Bannon, Fine Gael TD for Longford/Westmeath.

I welcome the opportunity to open this debate on Northern Ireland and the outcome of the political talks in Belfast which concluded on 23 December last with the Stormont House Agreement.

“Sinn Féin is trying to have it both ways, governing in prose in the North but campaigning in poetry in the South,” according to Regina Doherty, Fine Gael TD for Meath East. Budget details announced today in Belfast will result in 20,000 public sector job cuts in Northern Ireland at a time when the party here is calling for increased public sector pay.

Fine Gael Clare TD Joe Carey, has said that the announcement today by Amax that they are to create 100 new jobs in Shannon is most welcome news and represents a great start to 2015 for County Clare and the Mid- West region.