John Paul Phelan, TD

Dara Murphy TD, Minister for European Affairs, has welcomed the announcement of €800 million in funding EU Structural Funds for Ireland, following the formal signing in Brussels of Ireland’s operational programmes under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The funding will support the rollout of high-speed broadband in rural areas, including north Cork.

Many thanks to everyone who generously contributed to our recent National Conference Raffle. Your support is invaluable and truly appreciated.

here is no better way to connect with the past than by seeing primary sources at first hand. Thus the hand-written letters in this exhibition, by Thomas Ashe, Padraig Pearse, Thomas Francis Meagher and others are unique and precious records of these great men.

Fine Gael Cork North Central Senator, Colm Burke, outlined the importance of periodic payment orders (PPOs) in the context of medical negligence cases, for families who need financial support to care for their loved ones who have been victims of medical negligence. Senator Burke was speaking after he raised the issue in the Seanad on Wednesday.

Fine Gael Dublin South Central TD, Catherine Byrne, has welcomed the launch of the Government’s Low Pay Commission, saying that work should pay more than welfare.

I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I welcome that it is a reforming Bill updating family law and that it at last recognises in law and gives clarity and certainty to the status of family members, specifically parents with children, in the many different family formations. It gives that clarity and certainty in the context which prioritises the needs of the children.

Fine Gael TD for Kildare South, Martin Heydon said that Fianna Fáil’s support for a technical group motion that would abolish the Local Property Tax, Water Charges, and USC for those earning under €35,000, as well as reversing a number of social welfare decisions would cost an estimated €4.25 billion and result in a massive 19% tax hike for working people.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Fine Gael TD for Laois-Offaly, Charlie Flanagan, has been appointed Director of Elections for the upcoming Carlow-Kilkenny bye-election.

“It’s four years to the day from the 2011 General Election. Today, new jobs figures show that 90,000 jobs have been created since 2012 and Ireland’s bond yields have fallen below 1% for the first time,” said Simon Harris TD, Minister of State at the Department of Finance.

“Job creation is the best way to lift people out of poverty”, says Fine Gael Dublin South Central TD Catherine Byrne. Deputy Byrne was speaking after CSO figures revealed that an extra 90,000 people are at work since the launch of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs in 2012.