RABBITTE PAT NEWS A3 SPRING 3226_a3 11/02/2014 13:28 Page 1
LABOUR NEWS Eamonn Maloney TD & Pat Rabbitte TD Spring 2014
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL UPDATE The Government has sanctioned the construction of a Satellite Care Centre for children on the campus of Tallaght Hospital, to be completed mid-2016 at a cost of 25 million Euro. The Centre is projected to deal with 25,000 urgent care attendances each year. The new Children’s Hospital at St James’s will provide inpatient care and all surgery. The Tallaght Satellite Centre will provide urgent care and outpatient care. “I am delighted the Minister for Health and Government came down in favour of Tallaght,” Minister Pat Rabbitte said. “Tallaght is the hub of the largest hinterland of young families in the country,” he said. The vast majority of children who attend the Tallaght Centre for urgent care will be assessed, treated and discharged. The consultant-led care will be from staff of the new children’s hospital. Minister Pat Rabbitte TD with Cllr Mick Duff and Cllr Pamela Kearns at the announcement
MASSIVE BOOST OF 58,000 JOBS IN 2013
Jobs Increases in 2013 60,000
Creating jobs is the best route to growth and the fight against poverty. To date: ■ 58,000 jobs were created in 2013. ■ 1,200 on average are being created per week. ■ Unemployment has reduced from 15.1% in 2012 to 12.8% to the 3rd quarter of 2013. ■ Over €500 million pro-jobs measures planned for 2014. ■ There has been a 6% increase in the number of skilled positions available year on year.
New Jobs Created
48,000
36,000 24,000
■ 1,007 new jobs due to JobsPlus alone. ■ 20,200 education, training, work and apprentice places ringfenced for young people. ■ €2.5m invested in 2014 in funding young entrepeneurs e.g. Micro Finance Ireland.
12,000 0 2011
LOCAL LABOUR Deputy Eamonn Maloney has called for a quota of local labour to be observed in big contracts in the area. He instanced the multi-million project already started at Newlands Cross, the proposed €25million Ambulatory Care Centre for children at Tallaght Hospital and the €44million investment for the proposed extension to The Square.
2012
2013
NO DISCONNECTIONS More than 50,000 electricity Pay-As-You-Go Meters have been installed since 2011 and over 36,000 gas PAYG Meters. Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte told us that under the protocol now in place “there can be no disconnections where Pay-As-You-Go Meters have been installed. I urge householders experiencing difficulty with energy bills during the winter months in particular to request their supply company to install a PAYG meter,” he said.
Honest and Effective Representation
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€115M HOUSING BOOST
OPINION
AFTER THE BAILOUT The Government can correctly claim to have pulled the country back from the brink. But there is still a way to go. Virtually all the indicators show that economic recovery has started. However unless people experience economic recovery in their own lives, they will remain sceptical.
Eamonn Maloney T.D. has welcomed the €65million homes construction programme and he said that the €15million going to Local Authorities for the renovation of vacant council houses would bring 320 homes into play. Meanwhile the homeless budget will be maintained at €45million. “The transfer of social housing need into the private sector by the previous government has left a legacy of the longest Housing List ever,” Deputy Maloney said.
DIGITAL TRAINING
The fact that there are more than 60,000 additional people at work over 2013 is an improvement on a scale that has taken all commentators by surprise. At the peak of the boom the unemployment rate never fell much below 5%. This means that we still have more than 200,000 unemployed who are capable and actively looking for work. The biggest category is unemployed building workers followed by workers who lost their jobs in retail. Whereas we are never going back to 16% of the workforce engaged in construction, the fact is that we can comfortably double the number at work in building. Big public projects such as the National Children’s Hospital, the Grangegorman DIT Project and some 40 new primary schools as well as the need for affordable family housing will employ about 15,000 building workers. There is ironically a capacity issue in the building industry caused by banks being reluctant to fund building companies that got into trouble during the boom. Both Government and NAMA are attempting to come up with workable solutions. The Government is about to launch its Action Plan for Jobs having designated 2014 the year for jobs. The constant challenge to deliver better public services can only be met after we put more people back to work. A good start was made in 2013 – the challenge in 2014 is to sustain that improvement in employment.
TALLAGHT VILLAGE
“By May of this year 100,000 people will have completed training in basic digital skills in the Programme run by my Department,” Minister Pat Rabbitte announced at the award of certificates. “For a relatively small amount of money we have used community organisations to provide training in basic computer literacy at local level,” he said. “Several local organisations such as An Cosán, Tallaght Centre for the Unemployed, St Dominic’s Community Centre and others provide the training.”
BROADBAND INITIATIVE The Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte T.D., has finished a Bill in Dáil Eireann that will enable the ESB, with another company, to use its supply infrastructure to roll out fibre to the home. The ESB will create a commercial joint venture with a telecoms company that will be able to supply up to 500,000 homes. An “expressions of interest” competition has already been held and the new partner(s) will shortly be announced. “This is an exciting development that can roll out a Rolls Royce service to householders. Fibre will ensure that that service is future proofed,” the Minister said.
Saturday 2pm - 3pm T.W.S. - Trustus, 1 Main Street, Tallaght Village (Except August and Bank Holidays)
Minister Pat Rabbitte TD at the presentation of Benefit 4 Certificates at ICS in Dublin
The Bill was welcomed on all sides of the Dáil and will go immediately to the Séanad. “This initiative is consistent with the goals of the National Broadband Plan and I will be making a new announcement about the national plan in quarter two,” Pat Rabbitte said.
CONTACT LABOUR & ADVICE CENTRES
Eamonn Maloney TD Dáil Eireann, Dublin 2 Ph: 6184833 E: eamonn.maloney@oir.ie
ADVICE CENTRES (excluding Bank Holidays & August)
Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Dail Eireann, Dublin 2 Ph: 6183772 / 6782011 E: pat.rabbitte@oir.ie
OLDBAWN Monday 6.00pm to 7.00pm Dominic’s Community Centre (Eamonn Maloney)
FETTERCAIRN Monday 7.00pm to 8.00pm Fettercairn Community Centre
Cllr Paddy Cosgrave
Cllr Chris Bond
Cllr Pamela Kearns
Aideen Carberry
Emer Costello MEP
25 Orchardstown Drive Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 Ph: 085 1742709 E: pcosgrave@sdublincoco.ie
42 Allenton Drive Tallaght, Dublin 24 Ph: 086 1917159 E: cbond@sdublincoco.ie
203 Orwell Park Heights Templeogue, Dublin 6W Ph: 087 7756718 E: pkearns@sdublincoco.ie
17 Glenlyon Grove, Knocklyon, Dublin 16 Ph: 085 122 6797 E: contactaideencarberry@gmail.com
Ph: 01 874 6109 E: emer.costello@europarl.europa.eu
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Pat Rabbitte TD