John Lyons TD LOCAL UPDATE September 2015
FREE GP CARE TO ALL UNDER 6 AND ADULTS OVER 70
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
JANUARY 2012
15.2% AUGUST 2015 On July 1st, Free GP Care for children under 6 started. Following agreement with the doctors’ unions, the service is now up and running. A GP service, without fees, is now available to approximately 420,000 children under 6 years, and over 330,000 adults over 70 years. Over 90% of GPs have registered for the scheme. The cost of the new scheme in 2015 (half year) is estimated to be of the order of €35m. This is another step towards universal healthcare. In order to register you or your child, go to gpvisitcard.ie. You will require you, or your child’s PPS number. Check that your GP has signed up. If you can’t register online you can contact the GP who will register you or your child on your behalf. Once you have registered you will receive a card in the post within days for each eligible person registered. It is expected that gradually most of the GPs still outside the scheme will sign up this year. Included in the Free GP access is every child or young person under 18 who is a cancer sufferer.
9.5% What’s Inside... ■ Labour’s Dignity at Work Agenda ■ Improvements in Education ■ Eircode, Rent-A-Room scheme
and more
Did you know? As of this month, over 1,700,000 people have medical cards. Of these 88,604 have been granted involving discretion when a person does not meet the criteria for a medical card, but may have an illness which is causing financial hardship. Almost 245,000 people have GP Visit Cards.
John Lyons, your local TD. Contact me on 618 3280 or john.lyons@oir.ie /JohnLyonsDublinNorthWest
@JohnLyonsTD
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Labour’s Dignity at Work Agenda
Low Pay Commission recommends rise in minimum wage The Low Pay Commission has recommended the National Minimum Wage should rise by 50cent to €9.15 an hour. The evidence based approached used by the Commission indicates that the Irish economy can sustain a modest increase in the minimum wage without causing harm to jobs, competitiveness or the cost of living. Making work pay is a cornerstone of Labour’s dignity at work agenda. For a full time worker on the national minimum wage hourly rate, a 50cent per hour increase will mean a pay rise in excess of €1,000 per year. There are over 120,000 workers who are likely to benefit from such an increase. The minimum wage is a floor which no worker should fall below. As a society we must strive towards a wage that allows people to live rather than merely exist.
Collective Bargaining Legislation Passed In July the Dáil passed the collective bargaining legislation. This legislation is the most far reaching reform of Ireland’s industrial relations laws in decades. For employees, it will significantly enhance their ability to negotiate their working conditions. For employers, it will provide certainty in managing their workplaces in the years ahead. The legislation will significantly strengthen the rights of workers in companies that refuse to engage in collective bargaining. It will also for the first time, give statutory protection to guard against the victimisation of workers in such companies. In today’s society, we have become all too familiar with industrial disputes where workers rights have fallen on the ‘deaf ears’ of their employers’. Dunnes Stores refusal to attend the Labour Court is a prime example of this. The passing of this legislation will ensure the voices of workers are heard. This Bill along with the Low Pay Commission will benefit both workers and employers. It will ensure that new jobs that are being created are ones with decent wages and working conditions.
Creating Opportunities through Education Improving literacy and numeracy rates for the first time in over 30 years One of Labour’s first initiatives in education was to publish a National Strategy for Literacy and Numeracy and provide the resources to implement it. That strategy is delivering – Maths and reading performance in our primary schools has improved significantly for the first time since 1980. All of the targets which were to be reached by 2020 have now been surpassed, so we will now review the strategy and set even more challenging targets.
21st Century Apprenticeships 2015 will see major progress in rejuvenating Ireland’s apprenticeship system. At the end of July, Minister O’Sullivan announced 25 new apprenticeship schemes. They are focused on a wide range of skills and sectors, including Manufacturing and Engineering, Tourism and Sport, Financial Services, Information Technology, Transport Distribution and Logistics, and Business Administration and Management. 3,000 young people will begin apprenticeships during 2015. By 2018, that figure will more than have doubled, creating new opportunities for young people across Ireland.
This year, we will spend €13.8 million funding the implementation of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy.
Investing in better school buildings Labour is hiring more staff in schools, and creating better opportunities for those working in education Despite the challenges we have faced in recent years, Labour has protected class sizes, and increased the number of teachers and SNAs working in our schools. In the last budget, Labour secured funding for an additional 1,700 teachers, resource teachers and SNAs for our schools. During the greatest boom our country has ever seen, Fianna Fáil failed to invest in our schools, and by 2009 we were spending almost €40m each year renting prefabs instead of building permanent classrooms. Thanks to Labour’s prefab replacement scheme, the amount spent on renting prefabs has now been cut in half. From 2012 to 2016, we are spending more than €2bn on major school building projects all across the country. During this year alone 70 new schools or major extensions will be contructed across Ireland. In October, a revised 5 year building programme will be published for the years from 2016 to 2020, continuing Labour’s commitment to major investment in school buildings.
We have also confirmed that an additional 149 special classes will open in schools this year – particularly supporting the needs of children with Autism. And this year, for the first time, resource teacher support has been extended to children with Down Syndrome. During the lifetime of this government, we have increased the number of teachers by 3,400, while increasing SNA numbers by over 1,300 – creating almost 5,000 new jobs in education. Increasing the number of staff in education is hugely important, but so too is making sure that everyone working in education has a decent and stable career. We have implemented new recommendations to give greater stability to young teachers early in their careers, and agreed a new set of measures to help SNAs get full-time hours, allowing them to build the stable careers they need.
RENT-A-ROOM SCHEME WITH USI The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) launched a new website to help encourage homeowners to rent out a room in their house to house a student. The website is www.homes.usi.ie. It is based on the Rent-A-Room relief scheme, and it means that homeowners could earn up to €12,000 tax free. There is more information on the scheme at www.homes.usi.ie and on www.citizensinformation.ie.
Connecting for Life Suicide Prevention Strategy
NATIONAL POSTCODE SYSTEM LAUNCHED
Minister of State for Primary Care, Social Care and Mental Health Kathleen Lynch has recently launched the Connecting for Life strategy for suicide prevention. The Connecting for Life strategy 2015-2020 sets out a vision of Ireland where fewer lives are lost through suicide. The strategy has seven goals: 1) Better understanding of suicide behaviour, 2) supporting communities to prevent and respond to suicide behaviour, 3) targeted approaches for those vulnerable to suicide, 4) improved access, consistency and integration of services, 5) safe and high-quality services, 6) reduce access to means, and 7) better data and research. One size doesn’t fit all in mental health and as part of the suicide strategy, we need to connect with ourselves, our families, our communities and the services that are on offer.
John, Minister White, CEO John Tuohy and Mark Baker at the launch of Parcel Motel’s New Distribution Centre
Last month, marked the official launch of Eircode, Ireland’s new postcode system. By now, every home and business in the country should have received a letter in the post informing them of their new Eircode for that address. Because of this postcode system, our lives will become a little bit easier and a little bit better. It will be easier to deliver mail to the correct recipients and it will be easier to shop online. Businesses that deliver parcels, or other goods and services, will have an affordable and effective new tool, which accurately identifies addresses and enables improved efficiency.
Cllr Duncan Smith Fingal
Cllr Áine Clancy DCC
Cllr Andrew Montague DCC
Cllr Brendan Carr DCC
087 9862686 duncansmithfingal@gmail.com
087 7635406 aine.clancy1@gmail.com
087 908 0409 andrewmontague@eircom.net
087 207 5921 brendan.carr@dublincity.ie
John Lyons TD @JohnLyonsTD /JohnLyonsDublinNorthWest
Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2 Tel: 01 618 3280 Email: john.lyons@oireachtas.ie Web: www.johnlyons.ie
0612
Working with your local Labour Team