Pat Deering Spring Newsletter

Spring 2013

Pat Deering tD Working for Carlow, Working for you...

€372k in funding for new sports projects for Carlow It has been four years since the last round of funding and many sports projects across Carlow have been desperately short of funds in this tough economic climate. This is the biggest allocation per capita in the country and is very positive news for Carlow after many years on the hind tit. Organisations can build and improve their facilities and purchase much-needed equipment.

We all know that playing sport is good for our health and well being, it is a great way for our children to make new friends while been active and learning new sports. These Sports Capital Grants will greatly improve our facilities around the county.

Ballinabranna Karate Club €5,000.00.

Bennekerry District Active Retirement Association €2,000.00 Hanover Harps Football Club €46,000.00 Myshall Drumphea Senior Citizens Association/Myshall Active Retirement €2,000.00 Naomh Brid Hurling Club €20,000.00 Palatine Gaelic Football and Hurling Club, €14,000.00 Presentation College, Carlow and Asca C.L.G.(Askea Gaelic Football Club). €10,000.00 St. Joseph’s National School €20,600.00 St. Laurence O Toole Athletic Club, Carlow €125,000.00 St. Mullins GAA C L G Naomh Moling €77,000.00 Tinryland Tidy Towns €16,000.00 Tullow Rugby Football Club €18,000.00 Vale Wanderers Football Club €16,000.00

Other Lottery Funding: Beam Services, Bagenalstown - Security System - €6,000 St. Catherines Community Services - Meals on Wheels - €6,000 Tullow Day Care Centre - €5,000 EIST - Carlow’s Cancer Support Centre - Fit-out & Equipment €14,000

Constituency Offices: 16 Old Dublin Road, Carlow.

Church Road, Bagenalstown.

T. 059 9173446 M. 087 9470736 F. 059 9164680 E. pat.deering@oireachtas.ie W. www.patdeering.ie

Fixing the country

In 2011, after 14 years of reckless government, Ireland was on the brink of ruin. Yo The plan is working - and we’re starting to see progress on jobs, on stabilising the public

Fine Gael: Making a difference in Government...

Fine Gael: Why we’re different from the last government...

Getting the country back to work is our number one priority

Fine Gael-led Government

Fianna Fáil-led Government

Kept our promise to not raise income tax rates, because a tax on income is a tax on jobs – and work and jobs are our main priorities.

JOBS

The number of people at work grew in 2012, for the first time in four years

250,000 private sector jobs lost during their last three years in government

Defended our corporation tax – which is crucial for attracting jobs and investment from abroad.

ECONOMY

Modest growth in the economy for two consecutive years

Economy shrunk by over 8% 2007-2010

Restored our international reputation. This has helped bring major job announcements by companies like Paypal, eBay, Google, Mylan, Eli Lilly, Cisco, IBM, Amgen, HP, Kerry Group and Irish Pharmaceutical.

HEALTH

Numbers waiting on hospital trolleys cut by 33% 2011-2013

Trolley numbers increased by 49% 2007-2010

PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM

€2.5 billion saved from the public pay and pensions bill.

Streamlined public sector

Under Fianna Fáil 1997-2009, public sector pay bill increased by 196%

FARM INCOMES

Aggregate farm income increased by 15% in the last 2 years

Under Fianna Fáil 1997-2010, aggregate farm incomes fell by 17%

TOURISM

2011-2012, the number of visitors to Ireland rose by around 500,000

2009-2011 numbers visiting Ireland fell by 1.8 million

POLITICAL REFORM

Current Taoiseach’s salary is 35% lower than under Fianna Fáil.

Ministers’ salaries 20% lower than peak under Fianna Fáil. Ministerial cars abolished

1997-2009, the Taoiseach’s salary rose by 105% and Ministers’ salaries rose by 94%

Fine Gael in Government has:

Invested €2.5 billion in job creation efforts, and put in place The Action Plan for Jobs, that will cut costs, encourage innovation and support employment.

Protected lower paid workers, by reversing the minimum wage cut, and taken 330,000 people out of the Universal Social Charge net.

Developed existing trade relationships with our EU trading partners and the US, while building new ones with vibrant economies like China.

Pat Deering tD

Constituency Office: 16 Old Dublin Road, Carlow. Tel: 059-9173446 or Mobile

y for a better future

You elected Fine Gael and Labour to clean up the mess that Fianna Fáil left behind. finances, on political and public sector reform, and on getting Ireland out of the bailout.

Fine Gael: Why you elected us...

Fianna Fáil wants you to forget what in Government... they did in Government:

We are now within sight of exiting the Troika Bailout. Fianna Fáil asked you to trust them on what they called “the cheapest bailout in the world”. So far it has cost Ireland more than €60 billion.

Fianna Fáil nationalised Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, costing the taxpayer billions.

We have closed them down.

Fine Gael in Government has maintained core social welfare rates, which Fianna Fáil cut twice. Fine Gael in Government restored the minimum wage that Fianna Fáil cut, and we have taken 330,000 low paid workers out of the tax net – after Fianna Fáil dragged them in, in 2009-2010.

Fine Gael in Government protected the blind pension, the widow’s pension and the carer’s allowance; Fianna Fáil cut each of these payments by €850 per year.

You elected us to implement our Five Point Plan:

1

In 14 years of Government, Fianna Fáil increased the public pay bill by 196%, and the Taoiseach’s salary was higher than the American President’s.

e: 087-9470736

Jobs

2

3 4

Fianna Fáil signed the deal with the Troika to bring in the property tax. Now they are cynically opposing it.

Under Fianna Fáil’s projections, the Garda budget would have been cut by almost €200 million more over the last two years, and there would be fewer Gardaí on the beat.

How are we doing?

5

Two consecutive years of economic growth, after four years of decline under Fianna Fáil First annual increase in employment since 2008, and we’ve pioneered an Action Plan for Jobs, which will help create more sustainable jobs Confidence is returning, with foreign direct investment at a 10 year high

FAIRER BUDGET Renegotiated some of Ireland’s bailout loans, saving taxpayers more than €9 billion We closed down Anglo and INBS, and the Promissory Notes are gone forever. This will cut €20 billion from Ireland’s borrowing for the next ten years We are now on course to exit the bailout this year We are also on target to reduce the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2015

SMALLER BETTER GOVERNMENT €2.5 billion saved from public pay and pensions bill Public sector will be down 24,000 from its peak by 2015 We have committed to reducing the number of TDs at the next election, and the number of Councillors by a third

BETTER HEALTH 33% fewer people on trolleys in hospital A&E departments, compared to January 2011 98% fewer people waiting year on year, for in-patient and day case surgery Reforming the system so people are treated based on need, rather than how much money they have Free GP care will be introduced in the lifetime of this Government

NEW POLITICS We have cut politicians’ pay and expenses, and increased the number of Dáil sitting days by 30% Gender quotas will bring more women into Irish politics The Constitutional Convention is giving the citizens a direct voice

When you ejected Fianna Fáil from Government, Ireland was a country on the verge of ruin.

Slowly, but surely, Fine Gael in Government is fixing the country, for a better future.

Email: pat.deering@oireachtas.ie

Comprehensive Plan to Tackle Mortgage Arrears The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD, recently announced the Government’s plan to tackle mortgage arrears.

Some 94,500 homeowners are in arrears for more than 90 days and 23,500 are in arrears for over 720 days.

“This is an unsustainable situation which, if not dealt with, has the potential to keep on growing, resulting in more and more families falling into arrears. This issue is causing distress to families across the country, which must be avoided.

The Government has taken action by putting in place new legislation, structures and processes to resolve this escalating issue, which will help the people of Carlow and beyond, who are battling to meet their mortgage payments. These include targets for the six main banks, where by the end of June 2013, 20 per cent of mortgage customers in arrears of 90 days or more will have a proposed sustainable solution in place by the end of September 2013, 30 per cent and by the end of December 2013, 50 per cent of customers will have a proposed sustainable solution worked out with their lenders. The Central Bank will continuously monitor the performance of the banks against these targets and take appropriate action in the event of banks failing to meet them.

Other elements of the Government’s plan include updating the Code of

Conduct of Mortgage Arrears, to provide effective consumer protection measures to ensure that borrowers are treated in a fair and transparent manner. The establishment of the insolvency service will provide new options to people in mortgage distress by facilitating agreed arrangements to allow people to stay in their homes, and the further roll-out of mortgageto-rent schemes and the progression of mortgage-tolease schemes will aim to find the best means of resolving outstanding debt issues.

“This is a good day for the people who have been living in fear of their homes being repossessed as they fall deeper into mortgage arrears.

This Government inherited a country that was on the verge of bankruptcy, and while full recovery can’t happen overnight, the measures put in place since taking office two years ago have placed the country on a sounder footing.

“We have closed down Anglo and the IBRC, dealt with the promissory notes, brought the bank guarantee to an end and recently we have seen how the international financial markets view Ireland with exceptional interest in our first ten year bond issuance since we entered the bailout.

Dealing with the mortgage arrears crisis is the next step in allowing people to deal with their financial issues and to get back to playing their part in economic recovery, something they are prevented from doing while they are strangled by debt.”

Vice-Chairman Pat Deering TD, Minister Simon Coveney TD, Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, Chairman Andrew Doyle TD, Martin Heydon TD - Meeting of EU Agriculture Chairs, Dublin - 11th March 2013

Action Plan will remove obstacles to job creation and help get our people back to work The Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) 2013 will build on the progress made in 2012, by supporting businesses and removing obstacles to job creation, which will help get our people off the dole and back to work.

The Disruptive Reform measures included in the APJ will draw on the experience of senior industry figures to meet ambitious deadlines and have a significant impact on job creation.

Ensuring access to credit for SMEs is also key to boosting employment.

Ireland’s jobs market is in a transition phase right now, where we are moving from the failed economy of the past, based on banking and construction, to a more stable and sustainable model which is based on enterprise, exports and innovation. While the unemployment figures remain stubbornly high, there is significant churn in the labour market with new jobs being created daily.

The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 delivered on 92 per cent of the actions set out in the Plan on time. The APJ 2013, which was published recently, outlines 333 actions to be implemented by 16 Departments and 46 Agencies before the end of the year and a similar record of success is expected.

The Plan contains a number of measures known as Disruptive Reforms, the aim of which is to have a significantly boost job creation potential for the people of Carlow

and across Ireland. Among them are the JobsPlus initiative, which will see the State pay €1 of every €4 it costs an employer to recruit a long-term unemployed person, measures to encourage Irish SMEs to increase their online trading activity and a plan to which will see Ireland producing more ICT graduates as a percentage of all third level graduates than anywhere else in Europe by 2018.

There is a continued focus on ensuring that SMEs can get access to the credit they need to create and retain jobs. In addition to the lending targets for the pillar banks being increased to €4 billion this year, the Credit Review Office, which overturns half of all credit refusals it reviews, is being strengthened and a public interest director in each of the pillar banks will have specific reporting responsibility on SME lending, as requested by the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD. By the end of the year €2 billion in new Government finance schemes will also be in place.

Getting the country back to work is the primary focus and biggest challenge facing our Government. By ensuring that all Departments are charged with responsibility for identifying the best way to create jobs, we will achieve our goal of increasing the number of new jobs by 100,000 by 2016 and getting the people of Carlow back to work.

Your Local Fine Gael Team in County Carlow Tommy Bambrick, Royal Oak Road, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow.

087-2254180

Fergal Browne, Church View, Rutland, Bennekerry, Carlow.

059-9135356/087-9884113

Michael Doran, Main Street, Leighlinbridge, Co. Carlow.

059-9721184/087-2152788

Denis Foley, 1 Chestnut Court, Royal Oak Road, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow.

059-9721802/086-2626483

Fred Hunter, Raheen, Tobinstown, Co. Carlow. 059-9161173/087-2148172

Joe Manning, Market Square, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow.

059-9722030/087-2558033

John Murphy, Glisheen, Boggan, Kilbride, Co. Carlow.

059-9159238/087-2125275

Tom O’ Neill,146 JKL Ave, Carlow.

059-9130152/086-3864486

Pat O’ Toole, 12 Shillelagh Grove, Tullow, Co. Carlow.

059-9151940/087-8115722

Pat Deering tD

Eileen Brophy, 39 Idrone Park, Tullow Road, Carlow. 059-9143851/087-2648929 Wayne Fennell, 19 Beechwood Park, Pollerton, Co. Carlow.

059-9134770/087-9241331 Tommy Kinsella, Kilcumney, Goresbridge, Co. Carlow.

059-9775398/087-9377386

Working for Carlow, Working for you...

Constituency Offices: 16 Old Dublin Road, Carlow. Church Road, Bagenalstown.

T. 059 9173446 M. 087 9470736 F. 059 9164680 E. pat.deering@oireachtas.ie W. www.patdeering.ie

0612

Michael Abbey, 32 Green Road, Carlow.

059-9131721/086-8582179