“I’m happy to say that Drogheda will be one of the very first areas to benefit from this roll-out with many householders and local businesses reaping the benefits before the end of this Summer. This will deliver download speeds of up to 70MB to domestic users, while commercial users can get upto 100MB if they have the fibre optic line connected up to their doorstep.”

“People can go to the Eircom, Vodafone or Magnet websites to check if their local area is already linked up. If not they should register their interest in hooking up to eFibre. Once the local area is connected there will be a two week waiting time to switch it on for your house.”

“While the boost in speed will be welcome to domestic users, the main benefit of this is in enhancing our ability to attract new business and facilitating the expansion of existing businesses in the town. High speed broadband is essential for the development of our economy. When we talk about the necessary infrastructure for development of an area we longer mean just having good roads in and out of town. Without cheap, effective and reliable high speed broadband, many modern companies will not even look at an area as a possible site location.”

“I can’t stress enough how important this is. I have highlighted it for many years and I will continue to liaise with Eircom and the local authorities to ensure that this network is delivered as quickly as possible.”

“There was a shortfall in funding last year and while great strides have been made to eliminate waste and bring in greater efficiencies. I was always of the view that ultimately more funding would be required and I made that case repeatedly to Minister Reily.”

“Also I think that not all hospitals across the country were presenting their accounts and budgets in a uniform manner. Last year the hospitals in the Louth-Meath group appeared to be underperforming cost wise compared to other hospitals across the country. I met with Senior Management of the Hospital Group many times last year and they felt that they were not being fairly evaluated, concerns which I brought back to the Minister. The budget adjustments announced for 2013 are proof that those concerns have been taken into account. A 14% increase is fantastic news for the hospital group and is concrete recognition of the excellent work being done in all these hospitals, particularly Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda as this is the key acute hospital for the region.”

Labour T.D., Gerald Nash, has welcomed the Action Plan on Bullying launched today by Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn.

“This Action Plan has been produced by the Anti Bullying Working group which was established in June of last year, following a very successful Anti-Bullying Forum, set up by Minister Quinn and Minister Fitzgerald, in response to a request from the National Anti-Bullying Coalition (NABC).

“I have worked closely with the NABC at a local and national level since its inception. I invited them to the Dáil and arranged for them to meet the Minister for Education, who readily agreed to their suggestion of an Anti-Bullying Forum. We are now seeing the fruits of that work. The first step in tackling any problem is to acknowledge it. This plan will require all schools to put in place a formal system for recording and reporting incidents of bullying. It is the first initiative in this area in 20 years and will be backed up with a ring fenced budget of €500,000.

“I have hosted the NABC in the Dail several times and in their presentations to members they have brought home to us the horrendous human cost of bullying. No one who has heard the first hand testimony of people like Jeremy Prince or Jonathan Pugsley, who lost their children to suicide, could be in any doubt about the need to strengthen the protection available to our children both in and out of school.

“This Action Plan will provide teachers and parents with additional training. There will be a media campaign focused on cyber bullying and a review of school inspections. This is a huge step in the right direction and I look forward to continuing my work with the Minister and organisations like the NABC, to further protect our children.”

“I note that Mr Frazer describes his plans to protest against the flying of the Tricolour at Leinster House as ‘tongue in cheek’.

“He would be well advised to remove his tongue from his cheek and put his mouth to good use in cancelling this ridiculous stunt which is bordering on the reckless.

“Mr Frazer and others would be better served using whatever influence they possess in trying to end the protests and violence in Belfast.

“Attempting to open another front and expecting us to see this stunt in a sarcastic light is an insult to our intelligence.

“He might more suitably direct his wit towards addressing the underlying and root causes of the social and economic isolation felt by working class young people from both nationalist and loyalist traditions and which have manifested themselves in the violence and disturbances in recent weeks around the flags issue.

“For the sake of peace and quiet, Mr Frazer should call off his mindless Dublin protest.”

“The results today show that recovery is well underway in Ireland. Louth has been a major beneficiary in 2012 with 1,000 jobs from Paypal and over 350 jobs from Nextag and Yapstone recently announced in Drogheda. Progress is never as fast as we want it but after years of economic chaos we are clearly moving in the right direction.

“The last two weeks have seen a number of positive indicators for Ireland. Unemployment has decreased slightly over the year. We have made huge reductions in our national budget deficit, with the figures for 2012 coming in almost half a billion ahead of target. Our exports continue to do well and the last few months have seen growth in our domestic services industries, growth which has not been seen for five years.

“There is still a huge amount to be done, and the economic uncertainty abroad clearly isn’t helping. I am confident that Ireland will continue to buck the trend in Europe and will again record growth this year. In particular I am hopeful that 2013 will be the year that we wave goodbye to the Troika. That will be a huge milestone in our recovery and a clear sign to the international community that Ireland is very much back in business.”

“While we still don’t know the exact details of Savita Halappanavar’s case it has once again become starkly obvious that there is no clear guidance in this area. I have always publically supported legislation in this area, sometime at the cost of vitriolic personal abuse by extremists. For 20 years now, the Labour Party has been a strong, and most often, a lone voice on the need to act in relation to the X Case.

“Medical staff in all our hospitals are sometimes forced to make life and death decisions. It is a fearsome and sobering responsibility and it is only fair to those staff and to their patients that they are free to apply their expertise and make those critical decisions within a clear legal framework. A doctor or a consultant should be able to act in the best interests of their patients without having to second guess the outcome of a possible court case.”

The total of of more than €600 million in tax adjustments aimed at the wealthier sections of society simply would not have happened without Labour in government.
In last year’s general election we campaigned on a platform of fairness. We knew entering government that there would have to be difficult decisions and being in coalition we cannot do all that we would like. But Labour has stood up to the cosy protected sections and demanded that they pay a fair share.
For the first time in history, an Irish government has capped massive private pension benefits for the better off and made all income liable to PRSI. In doing so, we have ended the scandalous and unfair arrangement where private work done by well-heeled hospital consultants was not subject to the same sort of arrangements almost every other worker is required to pay.
The extension of the 7% USC rate to those aged over 70 who are earning over €60,000 is a fair measure which will take in €35 million in a full year. These and other radical measures targeted at the better off shows that when we say we will be fair, we mean it.
In total, these arrangements should take in excess of €600 million. In addition the “mansion tax” on properties valued at over €1million meant we were able to bring in the property tax for ordinary houses at a lower rate than expected. In the absence of Labour securing these tax measures, then it would have been inevitable that low and middle income earners would be asked for much more.
In this Budget, those who have the most will pay the most. In again securing core social welfare payments and protecting children’s education in our schools, Labour has once again proven the value of having a strong Labour Party in government.

The attitude of the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association to proposals put forward by the LRC and their dismissive attitude to Labour Court procedures is deeply disappointing.

Public sector workers, particularly those in the health services, have responded responsibly and maturely to the challenging fiscal situation that this country faces.

They have acknowledged that because of economic and financial conditions, tough decisions with regard to public spending have had to be made, and have accepted that they have a role in making sure that public services can be protected.

This is in sharp contrast to the IHCA who today have demonstrated a complete lack of leadership and who regard as paramount, the selfish interests of their own members.

While other health service workers, the vast majority of whom earn far less than consultants, have engaged positively with the process of reform, the IHCA’s approach has been characterised by prevarication and procrastination. This is no longer acceptable.

The salaries of IHCA members have been afforded the protection of Croke Park, but we now must seriously ask, if they insist on thumbing their noses at the processes and procedures built into that agreement, and if they insist on flouting the spirit and the letter of that deal, why they should continue to enjoy this protection.

“The radical changes to the Junior Cert outlined by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn today are long overdue and further proof of the genuine reform and change that only happens when Labour are in power.”

“The Junior Cert has been tinkered with for years but it is essentially the same structure today as it was for me and my parents when it was called the the Inter Cert. For the majority of students the junior cert is no longer an an end of schooldays exam. Its purpose has long since changed so it was badly in need of a complete overhaul.”

“The new system will eventually scrap the one big exam idea in favour of a combination of continuous assessment and end of year exams. This will allow teachers to work with students in a way that draws out the best from their pupils rather than being restricted to a narrow exam based focus. Drawing out the maximum in potential from students is the true meaning of education and these reforms will create a positive structure and environment for a greatly enhanced education experience.”

“Pupils will have the opportunity to question and think for themselves. They will be taught how to learn through project work, case studies and oral and written activities, instead of just being passively stuffed with facts to regurgitate in an exam hall and then instantly forget them afterwards.”

“Minister Quinn is to be congratulated on this. He took up the post to be a truly radical reforming Minister for Education and he is delivering on that commitment.”

Following a final meeting with HSE officials on Sept 27th, which was the culmination of months of negotiations, we are pleased to announce that we have secured the long-term future of the Cottage Hospital in Drogheda.

We have jointly delivered what we believe to be the best possible future for the hospital, the existing residents and theirfamilies.

Since the threat to close the Cottage Hospital emerged last December, we have been working together tirelessly to ensure that the hospital remains open.

Our negotiations centred on transforming the Cottage into an intermediate care step-down unit.

This 30-bed transitional care unit is the main recommendation on the future of the Cottage Hospital in the Options Appraisal document that was published this evening (Thursday September 27) by the HSE.

We have worked closely with the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly TD and the Minister of State for Older People Kathleen Lynch TD and have secured funding from the Special Delivery Unit to deliverthis result.

The transformation of the Cottage into a major step-down facility for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital will have enormous positive benefits for our public health service and for our regional hospital.

The vital 30-bed step-down facility at the Cottage will be used to free up space in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital – shortening waiting lists and reducing the number of patients who are still forced to wait too long on trolleys for admission to the hospital.

The Cottage will cater for elderly patients who do not need a high level of care, but still require medical monitoring on ashort term basis, when recovering from hospital stays.

This intermediate care unit secures the future of the hospital into the long term, keeping it open and retaining it in thepublic system.

We committed to placing the older people who depend on the Cottage and their families at the centre of this process and we continue to do so.

A consultation process is under way with residents and their families to identify their preferred care options.

We have worked hard and in a united fashion to deliver the best outcome for the people of Drogheda, South Louth and East Meath on this issue of critical importance.

End