Regina Doherty, MEP

Fine Gael TD for Cork East, David Stanton has welcomed today’s (Tuesday) announcement by GE Healthcare of the creation of an extra 140 jobs at its plant in Carrigtwohill. This will bring the total number of people employed by GE in East Cork to almost 640.

“It’s beginning to look like a vote for Fianna Fáil would be vote for Sinn Fèin”, says Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Simon Harris.

Fine Gael TD for Clare and Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, Pat Breen, has encouraged interested Clare farmers to apply for the new Burren Programme which is open for applications until 21st December. The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, today (Tuesday) began accepting applications for the Burren Programme, one of the flagship projects under the proposed new Locally-Led Measure for the Rural Development Programme 2014 – 2020.

Fine Gael Meath West TD, Ray Butler, has said that Meath is to benefit significantly from Irish Water investment, with €1.9 million being provided to improve drinking water quality and supply for over 15,000 homes across the county.

Fine Gael TD for Louth, Peter Fitzpatrick, has said that the Action Plan for Jobs North West/North East which covers all the border counties aims to deliver 28,000 extra jobs for the area.

Fine Gael Clare Senator and Seanad Spokesperson on Disability, Martin Conway, is today (Friday) officially launching a new Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Quality in the Community and Voluntary sector (SOLA) in the University of Limerick. SOLA will offer new equality programmes for those working in the voluntary, community and disability sectors.

Fine Gael Ireland South MEP, Deirdre Clune, has welcomed the announcement by EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan that he will be leading trade missions to both Mexico and Colombia in February of 2016. He has given a commitment to explore new dairy markets for Irish and European milk. Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune has said there are 30 places available on these trade missions for senior representatives of European producers and producer organisations, and she has encouraged everyone from the Irish agri sector to apply to be a part of the delegation.

Fine Gael MEP, Brian Hayes has today (Monday) welcomed the European Commission’s proposal for a new Euro-area Deposit Guarantee Scheme, saying that this is the crucial third pillar for a fully-fledged Banking Union.

Fine Gael TD for Limerick and President of the Irish Suicidology Association, Dan Neville has raised the issue of a child and adolescent twenty bed unit planned for Limerick, but which the HSE have decided not to proceed with.

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has said that borrowers in Waterford will be able to access a new Credit Union small loans scheme which will be rolled out on a phases basis.