From Seamus Healy TD 087-2802199
NET LOSS of 321 IDA JOBS In Co Tipperary over last 3 years but County Excluded from Provision of New Advance Factories or Offices in Government Plan For JOBS
Minister Bruton Admitted to Deputy Seamus Healy in Dail to-day that only 2 (two) net jobs were provided by IDA in Co Tipperary in 2014!!!!! There were 64 new jobs and 62 job losses in the county. WORSE STILL-There was a net loss of 321 IDA Jobs in the county over the last 3 years. Yet the towns of County Tipperary were all omitted from the plan to spend 150 million euro on providing advance factories and offices to encourage inward investment in its plan for jobs issued yesterday!!!
Despite repeated questions from Deputy Healy in the Dáil on Thursday morning , Minister Bruton failed to give any assurance that any advance manufacturing and office facilities for incoming IDA supported industry would be built in any Co Tipperary location over the next five years.
- Deputy Healy pointed out that this would mean that the locations specified in the Ministers statement for such advance facilities (Sligo, Tralee, Castlebar, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford) would have a huge advantage over Co Tipperary in the location of new jobs and would compound the discrimination
- against Co Tipperary over the past two years by IDA.
DEPUTY HEALY SAID: “The Minister’s announcement yesterday says nothing about towns in Tipperary. It talks about the investment over the coming years in building advance manufacturing and office facilities in Sligo, Tralee, Castlebar, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford. There is no mention of any town in Tipperary or the building of advance factories or office facilities on any of the sites that are available throughout the county, in Tipperary town, Archerstown in Thurles, Lisboney in Nenagh, Benamore at Roscrea, Clonmel, Cashel or Carrick-on-Suir. It is quite obvious that there is no commitment to job creation for County Tipperary through IDA companies into the future.
I want to see the plan the Minister announced yesterday amended to include County Tipperary specifically.”
In 2013 while 202 new were created 521 IDA JOBS WERE LOST IN THE COUNTY
In 2014 only 16 new jobs were provided in North Tipp and 48 in South Tipp. There were 62 job losses giving a net gain of two
78% of all IDA Jobs were provided in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick
Seamus Healy TD 087-2802199
Extracts From Dáil Report Feb 12
Deputy Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy that every county, including Tipperary, is included in our regional strategy. No one is excluded. The annual employment survey shows that 68 jobs were created and 77 were lost among IDA client companies in Tipperary in 2012. In 2013, 202 jobs were created while 521 were lost, and in 2014, 64 jobs were created while 62 were lost
Deputy Seamus Healy: The Minister’s announcement yesterday says nothing about towns in Tipperary. It talks about the investment over the coming years in building advance manufacturing and office facilities in Sligo, Tralee, Castlebar, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford. There is no mention of any town in Tipperary or the building of advance factories or office facilities on any of the sites that are available throughout the county, in Carrick on Suir, Archerstown in Thurles, Lisboney in Nenagh, Benamore at Roscrea, Clonmel, Cashel or Tipperary Town. It is quite obvious that there is no commitment to job creation for County Tipperary through IDA companies into the future. I want to see the plan the Minister announced yesterday amended to include County Tipperary specifically.
Seamus Healy TD 097-2802199
- Co Tipperary has been omitted from IDA plans to provide advance factories in the Jobs plan announced by Government yesterday
- In his statement launching the plan the Minister said: “IDA Ireland will roll out a 5-year €150million capital investment programme to help attract more multinational jobs into each region. This programme will build on the recent investment by IDA in facilities in Athlone and Waterford, and will include investments over the coming years in building advance manufacturing and office facilities in Sligo, Tralee, Castlebar, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford”
- (see full statement below)
- .
Statement by Minister Bruton on Jobs Plan
Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Website
€250million plan to accelerate jobs growth in towns and villages across the country
Action Plan for Jobs – Regional aimed at encouraging communities and agencies in each region to work together to support job-creation
Minister Bruton – jobs are now growing in every region of the country, we need to accelerate this
The Government today announced details of its 5-year, €250million strategy aimed at accelerating the jobs recovery in every part of the country.
Action Plan for Jobs – Regional is based on the principle that the best way to support job-creation in towns and villages across the country is to support agencies and organisations within each region to build on the particular strengths and assets of their area and drive new job-creation strategies and projects.
The strategy will be based on the successful Action Plan for Jobs model of setting out lists of actions with timelines and responsibility allocated, and then monitoring implementation. The initiative is being led by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD and will include three main elements:
- Each of the 8 regions (below) will develop its own Action Plan. Lead responsibility for coordinating the development of the plan will be assiged to an Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland official in each region. Stakeholders including enterprise agencies, educational institutions, local authorities, business and community groups will be responsible for working together to develop the Action Plan in each region. The first plan will be published in the coming weeks for the Midlands, with 6 plans published by July and all 8 in place by Q3
- To support and encourage regional stakeholders in working together, up to €100million in Enterprise Ireland funding will be made available over 5 years through a series of competitive calls. The first tranche of €50million will be made available from 2015. Funding under these programmes will be allocated on a competitive basis, with most funds awarded to regional projects offering the best prospects for job-creation
- IDA Ireland will roll out a 5-year €150million capital investment programme to help attract more multinational jobs into each region. This programme will build on the recent investment by IDA in facilities in Athlone and Waterford, and will include investments over the coming years in building advance manufacturing and office facilities in Sligo, Tralee, Castlebar, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Athlone, Carlow and Waterford.
The Taoiseach said: “While recovery is under way, we cannot let it bypass families or communities on the basis of their location. Irish recovery is for all of Ireland. Today, the Government is publishing a €250 million plan to ensure that no part of Ireland is left behind in the jobs recovery. While every part of the country has seen an increase in jobs since 2012, we can and must do more. The Regional Action Plan for Jobs will maximise the individual strengths and assets of each region to support enterprise growth and job creation. The plan also includes up to €150 million for an IDA property investment programme to attract foreign direct investment into different parts of Ireland. All of these initiatives are part of the Government’s strategy to rebuild a strong, enterprise economy that can support full employment.”
The Tánaiste said: “Our economic recovery is well under way, with Dublin and other cities recording particularly strong growth in job creation. We want to spread that jobs recovery to every region and every community. Today we are committing to funding of €250 million to drive job creation across the different regions, through IDA and Enterprise Ireland. In addition, locally-driven Regional Enterprise strategies will help each region lean on its own unique strengths and assets to power regional economic growth, benefitting local businesses and families.”
Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
Debt is a millstone around the necks of the Irish people and of all low and middle-income families across Europe. I support the call for a new European debt conference. There is precedent for that. In 1952-53, Germany had 50% of its debt written off with a moratorium on repayment and a lengthy repayment period of 50 years or more.
The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan has told us that the Irish debt is affordable and repayable. Of course it is, but it is only affordable and repayable if we are prepared to starve our children and have them live on the streets in cardboard boxes in Dublin and other towns and cities across the country. Of course, that is an absolutely outrageous suggestion.
The Minister of State, Deputy Harris, has told us we talk about abstract statistics. I can tell the Minister of State that the 350,000 people who are unemployed are not abstract statistics. They want a debt writedown. The 90,000 people on local authority housing lists want one, as do the 40,000 families who are facing repossession of their family homes.
The 30% of the population experiencing deprivation and the children living in poverty want a debt write-down. Certainly, they do not believe the debt we are repaying is either affordable or repayable.
Unfortunately, that is only half of the story. This assessment is made on the basis of the country paying interest on the debt of €7.5 billion per year. What will happen after the next general election is something the Government is not telling the people about. That is when the fiscal treaty will kick in and we will have to pay to meet the structural deficit.
How much more will that take out of the economy? I figure it will be anything up to €11 billion for several years. What will happen when the second part of the fiscal treaty kicks in? We will be obliged to get the debt down to 60% of GDP from its current level, anything from 102% to 120%, depending on to whom one is talking. That will give us austerity for a further 20 years or more. Austerity is not something abstract; it means human misery and chaos for low and middle-income families throughout the country and the eurozone.
It is unbelievable the Government will not take the opportunity to look for a debt conference and a write-down of debt that could ensure jobs would be created, houses built and trolleys taken from the corridors of accident and emergency departments, It could also ensure thousands of families would not lose their homes and children would not live in poverty. It is unbelievable the Government does not support the concept of seeking a debt write-down for the people in question who are already paying through the nose for a recession they did not create. Even before Syriza came to power in Greece, because that country had stood up to the European Union it had received a better debt deal than Ireland. Ireland should get together with Greece and the other programme countries and demand a new European debt conference for the benefit and betterment of the people.
Proposed closure of the Court House at Carrick on Suir, of the District Court Sittings in Tipperary Town, the Court office at Nenagh Courthouse and the actual closure of the Probate Office in the County is absolutely unacceptable and must be stopped.
These proposed closures are part of a more widespread, focused and deliberate assault on Rural Ireland involving the stripping away of services.
This policy was commenced by the last Fianna Fail/ Green Party Government and has been continued even more aggressively by the current Fine Gael/Labour Coalition.
The destruction of rural Ireland involves the
• Closure of rural Garda Stations
• Closure of rural Post Offices ( now continuing by way of deliberate reduction in Social Welfare business and proposed salary cuts for Post Masters)
• Reduction in teacher numbers and increased class sizes in small rural schools
• Withdrawal of bus services north and south of the county including Carrick on Suir, Cahir and North Tipperary areas.
• Lack of effective Broadband Services
• Failure to provide GP Services
• Withdrawal of Medical Card offices which has created confusion, fear and trauma
• Regionalisation of Hospital Services
• Deliberate focus of job creation on the east coast area around Dublin and the cities of Cork, Limerick and Galway to the detriment of rural counties like Tipperary.
I want to commend Muintir na Tire for the launching with other community groups of the “ Save Rural Ireland” campaign which focuses on the Post Office, GP, Broadband and flood risk and flood insurance areas among others. I will be strongly supporting this initiative.
The cuts to rural services are another form of austerity specifically targeted against rural Ireland based on centralisation and the baseless belief that bigger is best.
That of course is demonstrably untrue and is also diametrically opposed to the well-established and universally acknowledged principle of subsidiarity. In other words services are best and most effectively delivered as close as possible to the communities they serve.
I will be raising this way by way of Topical Issue and Parliamentary Question and I am calling on the Tipperary Government Oireachtas members, Minister Alan Kelly, Minister of State Tom Hayes and Senator Denis Landy to immediate halt any closure of Court Services in Tipperary and reverse the serious and deliberate assault on rural Ireland and its essential services.
Seamus Healy T.D.
Tel 087 2802199
3/2/2015
Workers & Unemployed Action 