Fergus O'Dowd, TD

DONEGAL TD Joe McHugh has welcomed news that Donegal producers can begin to export live brown crab to China within the next three to four weeks. It follows a meeting between Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed and Chinese Minister Zhi Shuping in Dublin.

“The funding announced this week by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys, is great news for rural Ireland and I strongly encourage Donegal County Council to apply,” said Minister of State McHugh. “The Town and Village Renewal Scheme is an initiative under the Government’s Action Plan for Rural Development, Realising our Rural Potential, and is part of a package of national and local support measures to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout Ireland.”

Fine Gael Cork Senator and Chair of the Fine Gael LGBT Group, Jerry Buttimer, has said that 1,147 same-sex couples have married since the introduction of marriage equality in Ireland.

Fine Gael Cork based Senator, Tim Lombard, has called for the introduction of guidelines to assist Local Authorities with planning applications for solar farms.

Fine Gael Dublin Senator, Catherine Noone, has today (Wednesday) said that hotels and restaurants must be included in any change to the law banning alcohol sales on Good Friday. Senator Noone was speaking today (Wednesday) as the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017 was debated in the Seanad.

Cystic Fibrosis patients in Donegal are set to benefit from a new deal between the Health Service Executive and pharmaceutical company, Vertex, which will see Orkambi and Kalydeco made available from next month. The HSE are now working to finalise the contractual terms to make sure we have the best and most robust deal possible for CF patients and the healthcare service overall.

Fine Gael Ireland South MEP and member of the European Parliament's Commission of Inquiry into the Volkswagen Emissions scandal, Deirdre Clune, has welcomed the Committee’s final report on the use of defeat devices which was adopted in the European Parliament, Strasbourg. The report called for compensation for European consumers, as well as highlighting the ways in which car testing and the supervisory process must be improved to prevent the use of defeat devices in the future.

Fine Gael TD for Cork South West, and Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Children, Jim Daly, has encouraged childcare providers to avail of new Government grants to establish new services or to expand existing services, in order to cater for children of school going age.

A range of new Government measures designed to protect the future of Community Employment (CE) Schemes will widen the range of people in Donegal that can take part, Minister Joe McHugh said today.