Olivia Mitchell has expressed sympathy with the workers at HP as 220 job losses were announced today (2 July 2013). This will further impact 60 contract jobs which are also to go.

I am very pleased to brief the House on the outcome of last month’s meeting of the European Council which took place in Brussels on Thursday and Friday of last week, 27-28 June, the last two working days of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Deputy Simon Harris, has today (Friday) welcomed the news that Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has raised its outlook for Ireland from stable to positive, saying that the move is another positive step on our road to regaining our economic sovereignty.

Fine Gael Waterford Deputy Paudie Coffey has welcomed the news that the Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn TD has allocated €10 million for the completion of the Carriganore campus in Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT). Meanwhile, the report on the statutory inspection of the relationship between WIT and a group of companies that provide services to the Institute has been finalised and published.