Councillor O’Connor was in Dublin todiscuss the provision of funding for Mallow Hospital’s new Medical AssessmentUnit and Endoscopy Suite. Deputy Barry said: “A long-time driverof the Friends of Mallow Hospital, Councillor O’Connor has been instrumentalin keeping the retention and improvement of services at Mallow Hospitalat the top of the political agenda, both at local and at national level.Minister Reilly has committed in a very real manner to ensuring the hospital’sfuture with this major investment – one of the first major investmentsat Mallow in a considerable length of time. It will facilitate increasedelective surgery at Mallow and will focus areas of expertise in the NorthCork centre. It is great to see the Minister commitment to capital worksin difficult times and our priorities when it comes to capital investmentmust be in education and health.”
Councillor Noel O’Connor said: “The Minister confirmed that he will come to the hospital before earlyJuly to perform a turning of the sod ceremony on the new building thatwill take place on the site of the hospital. I welcome this news and welcomethe new Medical Assessment Unit, with a Day Ward and Endoscopy Suite onthe second floor. It’s a very positive move for the hospital, there hasbeen no build like this for years. Its something that myself and DeputyBarry and the Friends of Mallow Hospital are delighted to see this comingto fruition. The planning permission was granted in February and the ground-worksare being completed at the moment. Pipe work has been laid. Hopefully workcan commence on the building itself some time in July. The Minister, havingbeen asked by myself and Deputy Barry to come to the hospital, has agreedto do so. I was delighted to meet the Minister with Deputy Barry to discussthis and other issues relating to the hospital. We will continue to worktogether at the highest level to highlight the great service the hospitalprovides.”
Fine Gael Cork East TD Tom Barry, is urging the people of North Cork to come out and support next Sunday’s Buttevant Walled Town Family Fun Day, this Sunday, June 17th, in the grounds of Buttevant Castle.
“I’m delighted to see the fantastic line up of events for Sunday’s celebration. This event has the potential to provide a huge boost to the cultural and literary tourism that we
are trying to push throughout the Blackwater Valley. I want in particular to commend
Heritage Group Chairman Lillian Sheahan, who has a put a huge amount of work
into organisation what promises to be an extremely entertaining event. Lillian
was one of the first participants on Avondhu Blackwater’s recent tour guide
training programme – certified by Bord Fáilte, a programme which will be very
significant in enabling this region to tap into its huge historical, cultural and literary history.
“Buttevant is one of only 24 recognised ‘walled towns’ on the island of Ireland and its medieval heritage is fascinating. It was, in medieval times, the major town between Cork and Limerick, entirely walled, and a political and strategic centre with a lord
mayor.
“We cannot guarantee sunshine in our corner of the world, but we can certainly market our culture, history and literary heritage – of which there is an abundance in North Cork.
Initiatives like the Walled Town Family Fun Day will help to fill beds in our
first class accommodation and provide a boost to local restaurants and shops.
“Last year, tourism was worth €5bn to the Irish economy and it is my aim to push that up by at least 20% in the lifetime of this government. This will deliver actual income into the
pockets of people and provide a welcome source of new revenue to new
businesses, which are finding trade difficult at the moment. I would encourage
local people to come out and support this event as the concept of the
‘staycation’ and supporting local events and attractions is an intrinsic part
of our tourism industry.”
Events in Buttevant kick off at the Castle Grounds at 10.30am.
ENDS
I am extremely disappointed that elementsof the M20 and, in particular, the ring road for Mallow, were not includedin the infrastructural projects earmarked today for funding.
I have immediately written to MinisterVarardkar to outline this, stating:
“It is with regret that I notein today’s funding announcement that the M20 from Cork to Limerick – whichhas already seen a spend of approximately €20 million – is not included.Firstly, as has been highlighted to you by a recent delegation from CorkCounty Council, work at least on a Mallow Ring Road is seen as vital inadvance of plans by Dairygold to invest €130m in the town. For €25m,the immediate situation could be somewhat resolved and the first piecein the M20 puzzle could be completed – without mothballing the entire projectand the €20m that has already been spent on planning. The lack of investmentin Cork will affect jobs and certainly does not instill confidence in thecompanies that are committing funds as it stands to the area.
I don’t feel it’s good enough to losethe money spent on the M20 to date and have to go back and repeat thatwork in a number of years time, as was highlighted, and I feel that notcatering for the ring road in Mallow, which is a key infrastructural cogfor the extra milk that will be processed in Mallow post 2015, is an errorwhen weighing Ireland’s potential areas of economic growth, in Munster,in particular.
I would greatly appreciate it if youcould travel to Mallow and view the situation first hand as I feel thatit would greatly assist you in understanding the urgency of these projects”
Tom Barry TD
DEPUTY Tom Barry is delighted to announcethat Minister Brian Hayes will be in Doneraile on Monday September 17thto officially open the new OPW funded Tearooms at the beautiful DonerailePark.
Deputy Barry said: “I would liketo once again pay tribute to Minister Hayes for taking such an engagedinterest in Doneraile Park since he took over this portfolio. I am confidentthat he will continue to build on the work that has been done for manyyears by people like Councillor Tommy Sheahan to enhance and improve onthe services in what is one of the real jewels in Cork’s tourism crown.The tearooms will open to the public in the coming weeks; but the officialopening is scheduled for September 17th and Minister Hayes has confirmedto me that he will be in attendance.
Fine Gael Cork East TD Tom Barry, has welcomed the announcement by Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, that 18 schools in Cork will have their prefabs replaced with permanent classrooms.
This is part of a national announcement which will see more than 91 schools around the country replace prefabs with permanent classrooms. This week’s announcement follows on from the provision of funding in March for the building of classrooms in 77 schools.
The schools in Cork lined up to benefit from the additional funding include Ballygiblin National School, Scoil Mhuire in Ballyhooly, Grange N.S. in Fermoy, Scoil Eoin in
Inishannon, St Joseph’s National School in Fermoy, Presentation Secondary School
in Mitchelstown, Bishop Ahern National School in Leamlara, Dromahane National
School and Scoil Ghobnatain in Mallow.
“I believe that this will improve the quality of learning and education in these schools. The phasing out of prefabs in our schools was a commitment made in the Programme for Government. Approximately 6,000 students around the country
will move from prefabs into permanent classrooms and resource rooms and I am
delighted to see that students in Cork East will now be benefitting from this initiative.
“For too long prefabs were chosen instead of building permanent classrooms in order to address the shortage of accommodation in our schools. There are many disadvantages to prefabs including rental and heating costs, not to mention the quality of the accommodation.
“This investment by the Government will result in the creation of an estimated 700 direct and 140 indirect jobs across the country. The scheme will result in savings of approximately €5 million per annum on the rental of prefabs in these schools in coming years. The Government will spend €430 million on education infrastructure in 2012. While we are constrained by our ongoing economic challenges, education remains a top
priority for this Government, as does ensuring that the children of Cork are
taught in a more appropriate setting.”
ENDS
Fine Gael Cork East TD Tom Barry, has welcomed the announcement by Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, T.D., that €6 million in capital grant funding has been allocated to 290 childcare settings throughout Ireland. The aim of the
fund is to provide support to childcare settings to address
remedial/maintenance/renovation work and/or equipment for early education and
childcare services.
Deputy Barry outlined that Le Cheile Family Resource Centre in Mallow has been granted funding of €25,000; Blackwater Childcare Ltd in Fermoy €29,100; Bright Start Montessori at the Southside Community Centre in Mallow €47,374 and First Steps, Mill Road, Midleton will receive €13,273.
Minister Fitzgerald stated, “I am
delighted that the €6 million I secured in funding as part of Budget 2012 is
now in the process of being distributed to childcare settings, in support of
this vital sector. This capital programme represents my commitment, and that of
Government, to the ongoing development of the childcare sector.”
The programme is a national
programme and applications were invited from all 4,394 services contracted to
Department of Children and Youth Affairs childcare programmes. All submitted
applications were considered in order to find those that most closely and
completely met the criteria and objectives of the programme.
The total amount of funding
available was €6 million with an average application for nearly €27,000 being
sought.
The programme was
oversubscribed and extremely competitive. Applications that were successful
were those that represented the most complete, coherent, precise and compelling
cases for funding. The investment is being directed, to the best extent
possible, to making the greatest impact possible by addressing the most urgent
works and supporting the quality of services making the greatest impact for
disadvantaged children and communities.
Minister Fitzgerald added, “I
would like to thank all of those who took the time and effort to apply for
funding under this programme and to compliment them for their commitment to
improving the quality of the early years and childcare sector. I would also
like to pay tribute to the work of Pobal in managing the significant volume of
applications in a very professional, timely and efficient manner.”
Pobal will provide applicants with information to assist them in
understanding the reasons for the outcome of their application and from today
(Tuesday) applicants will be able to request a consultation regarding the
treatment of their application via the Pobal website.
ENDS
Fine Gael Cork East TD, Tom Barry,has today (Thursday) welcomed reports that ‘split’ mortgages are setto be introduced for struggling homeowners, saying the solution is verysimilar to a proposal he made to the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan,last year.
“I am delighted that ‘split’ mortgageslook set to be offered by most major banks here in a bid to provide somerelief to homeowners who are struggling with huge monthly repayments. Thistime last year, I presented Minister Noonan with a similar solution calledthe Parked Percentage Mortgage Plan (PPMP), and which was subsequentlyconsidered by the Mortgage Arrears Working Group.
“I have also been driving the issueas part of my role as Chair of Fine Gael’s Internal Committee on Jobs,Enterprise and Innovation. The Committee recently heard from senior staffin each of the main banks about how they are proposing to address the mortgagecrisis.
“Under the PPMP, I suggested thatevery mortgage should be assessed on an individual basis, to identify howmuch of the loan the homeowner can realistically service. The remainderwould then be parked, to be addressed at a later stage. This is essentiallywhat will happen under the ‘split’ mortgages solution being progressedby the Government.
“The mortgage crisis is one of thesingle biggest challenges facing this country, and it is essential thatthe banks fully engage to ensure a lasting solution can be reached forevery homeowner in difficulty. The issue deserves to be treated as an absolutepriority.
“The ‘split’ mortgages idea hasa number of positives. It will allow people to stay in their own homes,without fear of eviction. It prevents the mortgage from becoming a baddebt, while giving the homeowner some additional disposable income. Andcrucially, it will prevent the mortgage crisis from spiralling furtherout of control, by stopping more people from entering arrears.
“I will continue to pursue this issueto ensure this option can be made available to homeowners as quickly aspossible.”
ENDS
