Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has today welcomed the publication of the first set of key findings on Irish 5 year olds from the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ longitudinal study of children which is commissioned and funded by her Department.

A quarter of all employment growth is in the accommodation & food service sector which shows that Government measures to boost tourism continue to produce results, Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar said today.

The Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly, has today received an update from the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the steps being taken to ensure compliance with public sector pay policy in Section 38 agencies.

To ask the Minister for Finance if he will confirm that the levy on defined contribution pensions, originally introduced to fund job creation measures, will not become a funding stream to subsidise defined benefit pensions in deficit in view of the fact that defined contribution schemes are in many cases comprised entirely of the savers personal savings; and if he will make a statement on the matter?

Deputy Buttimer was commenting following confirmation that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, TD, has approved the design proposals for the Cork City Water Supply Scheme

Unemployment in the South East shows fastest rate of decline in the State 10,000 more people now employed in since 2011

More than 1600 jobs being shed per week in three years before Government took office.

Fine Gael Roscommon/South Leitrim TD, Frank Feighan, has hailed Roscommon native Chris O’Dowd’s Emmy award achievement as a great day for the county.

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar has welcomed the decision by the board of directors of the European Investment Bank, Europe’s long-term lending institution, to agree in principle to provide significant financial backing to support construction of the LUAS Cross City link between the existing red and green LUAS lines, as well as acquisition of new trams and building new stations on the line.