Five FG candidates selected for Westport Town Council

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

The Fine Gael party in Westport has set out its stall ahead of June’s Local Elections. At a packed meeting in the Castlecourt Hotel in Westport last Monday night five Fine Gael candidates were selected for the upcoming Town Council elections on June 5.

€113 million being spent on school prefabs in three years — Murray

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

Sinn Fein county councillor Gerry Murray has described as extraordinary the admission by the Government that it does not know how many schools across the State are using prefabs. Last week the Department of Education confirmed that it does not have a complete list of all primary and secondary schools using prefab buildings; it just has data collected from a sample survey of 900 schools. Shockingly there are more than 2,605 prefab units being used in the 900 schools surveyed.

Adams welcomes extension of Lough Mask water to Westport and Louisburgh

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

Westport Fianna Fáil Councillor Margaret Adams has welcomed the raising of a loan for the upgrade of the treatment works at Tourmakeady and the extension of the scheme to Westport and Louisburgh.

The ‘we’re not Fianna Fáil’ mantra not enough to see Fine Gael through

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

While the Soldiers of Destiny in Mayo march towards their long awaited Nemesis this June those other political foot-soliders, the Blue Shirts may be marching towards a clash with hubris.

Their current policy of not being Fianna Fáil is just not good enough nor is their presumption that they will now be the party that the voter turns to in this time of crisis and confusion. We see this in the fact that, nationally, Fine Gael has reached a glass ceiling in its popular support and it is, in fact, Labour and the Independents who have reaped the rewards of Fianna Fáil’s decline.

Barrett gets result on Community Welfare Office

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

Labour's Harry Barrett has welcomed the changes being put in place by the HSE to deal with the long delays and queues at the Community Welfare Office in Castlebar. Barrett had written to HSE management after many complaints by users and staff that things were beginning to spiral out of control due to staff shortages and increased workload.

Further increase in Castlebar Live Register

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

The latest live register figures for Castlebar shows another unemployment rise in the county town with very little political debate happening in relation to stemming the flow. That’s according to Labour councillor Harry Barrett.

“The numbers signing on in Castlebar has now risen to nearly 1,900 people and this shows the awful extent of the economic downturn on the town,” Cllr Barrett said. “This is broken down into 1,225 males and 629 females seeking benefit. I believe these figures may even underestimate the extent of unemployment throughout the town because of a number of categories of unemployed people who are being denied benefits.

Call to expand community employment schemes

Fri, Mar 13, 2009

Fine Gael councillor Jarlath Munnelly has called on the Government to expand community employment schemes to provide employment opportunities for recently unemployed people. The Fine Gael councillor made these comments as the number of people out of work continues to grow. Cllr Munnelly said that he was disappointed to see many committed, hard working, people queue up for social welfare assistance, when they would clearly prefer to be contributing to society by working. “I was in Ballina last Wednesday morning, where I was shocked at the length of the queue outside the Social Welfare Exchange in Ballina. Many of the people there were signing on for the first time in their lives. Up until a few weeks ago, some of these people were in well paid jobs, and now, thanks to events beyond their control, they are unemployed. For many, it’s for the first time. This is a poor use of our human resources in this country.”

Economics now engulf our politics

Fri, Mar 06, 2009

The Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, recent opinion polls, and normal political activity are all being overshadowed by the perilous state of the economy. I have always believed that politics follows economics – to coin Bill Clinton’s phrase “It’s the economy, stupid”.

McNamara welcomes grant aid for Achill

Fri, Mar 06, 2009

Councillor Michael McNamara has welcomed the announcement by Mayo VEC of grant aid for youth clubs in the Achill area.

The clubs which have been awarded the grants include Achill Foróige, Gob A Choire (€700); Achill Scouts 22nd Mayo Group (€800); Achill No Name Club (€800); and Ógras Saoirse Dun Eibhir Acaill (€800).

Ring raises query over payments made in respect of non-resident children

Fri, Mar 06, 2009

Almost €21 million was paid out by the State last year in child benefit to the parents of non-resident children, the Fine Gael Spokesperson on Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Michael Ring, was told in the Dáil.

End to corruption and cronyism - Ruane

Fri, Mar 06, 2009

Sinn Féin councillor Thérèse Ruane has called for an end to corruption and cronyism and the cosy relationships between governments and big business interests. “It is obvious, the ‘golden circle’ of the 1980s is alive and well in Irish politics and our reputation as a country is being damaged internationally,” Cllr Ruane commented.

Grassroots

Fri, Mar 06, 2009

It is, after years of coalition with the PDs, Independents and the Green Party, a party without an ideology. Good times robbed Fianna Fáil of its need to prioritise spending, projects, and resources, instead of governing with a plan or policies it just threw money at issues, groups, and troublemakers to keep everyone happy.

Now, in bad times, Fianna Fáil has no idea of what to do and it finds itself propping up a flawed economy with public money rather than trying to address the broader, more dangerous, issue of planning for the future. Fianna Fáil in government is like a pinball, careening from one crisis to the next without a goal and without a soul.

E-paper

Read this weeks E-paper. Past editions also available from within this weeks digital copy.