Martin Heydon, TD

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.

“Farmers are set to pay more for fertiliser in 2015, but with oil and gas prices falling, a similar drop in the price of fertiliser should be expected. This is something I intend to raise with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission”, said Helen McEntee, Fine Gael TD for Meath East.

“In Budget 2015, €7 million was allocated to purchase 370 new Garda vehicles. This brings to €27.5 million the figure that has been spent on new Garda vehicles between 2012 and 2015. This investment has had an immediate positive effect on the operation of the Traffic Corps”, says Alan Farrell, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal and member of the Oireachtas Justice Committee.

Brian Hayes, Fine Gael Dublin MEP and ECON Committee Member said today (Monday) that an ECB Quantitative Easing programme must not be dictated by the concerns of Germany.