Election Diary 30.03.09
Below is a summary of election related events which occurred in the last 24 hours. If you want your preferred party or candidate featured on the site, get them to get in touch with us.
- Green party local election candidate, James Nix believes that cutting city rates for business taking up office space would stimulate the city’s economy. In a statement released today he urged City Council to offer a 50 percent discount to new business taking up space in the city for it’s first year in operation.
Unedited press statements from the various parties and candidates are below the fold.
Green Party (Local) Received 1017 hrs
James Nix, the local election candidate on the city’s northside for the green party, has called on Limerick city council to halve rates for new occupiers of premises.
Under his proposal, any business taking new office or retail space would pay half-rates for the first year of operation.
This has huge potential to kickstart enterprise, he said. As a city we can foster new ideas and expanding enterprises – and this is a key initiative to help deliver on our potential.
Defeatism will do nothing for very high unemployment. The time has come to focus on the solutions. The reality is that if 100,000 start-ups get off the ground, and each go on to employ two or three people, we can turn the unemployment situation around across Ireland, he said.
Yes, we need to be more self-reliant, but this is a recession we can lift ourselves from, he said.
City council has its part to play. Leaving city rates unchanged will see, at best, a handful of new premises opening. By halving rates [for new occupiers] the city will see more than a doubling of new premises opening their doors.
New occupations are the first step in tackling the long sections of empty shopfronts that have become all too common on some of our streets, he said. By attracting new occupiers we can ease unemployment, solve security problems along empty sections of streets and support jobs in neighbouring shops, he said.
And there’s all the positive publicity for the city in taking an innovative step to encourage start-ups. This is a win-win for city hall to grasp, he said.
Labour Party (local) Received 1019 hrs
The Labour Party held its 63rd annual conference in Mullingar last weekend and over 50 delegates from the Mid-West attended the conference. Limerick delegates led by Deputy Jan O’Sullivan spoke on a number of motions ranging from Health, Employment, Local Government, Limerick Regeneration and the Economy.
Deputy O’Sullivan party spokesperson on Health addressed the conference after many delegates spoke about the serious problems being faced by patients trying to access a decent quality health service. Deputy O’Sullivan stated that while the Government had totally mishandled the economy they would be ultimately thrown out of office for the unprecedented opportunities they had blown to seriously reform Health Services in Ireland.
‘It is well beyond time for the Government to realise what all of the opposition parties have come to realise, that we must have a one tier system that treats patients on the basis of need and that incentivises the best use of limited resources if we are to fix the health service.’
Deputy O’Sullivan also stated that the Labour Party was still totally opposed to Minister Harney’s Co-Location plan to build private hospitals on public lands with billions of tax payers money forgone in various tax breaks.
Other delegates and local election candidates including Stephen Goulding ( Newcastlewest / economy), James Heffernan ( Killmallock / rural issues ), Thomas Hannon ( Adare / regeneration ), Elena Secas ( castleconnell / local services ) spoke on issues that they are encountering while canvassing in their respective areas.
The 21st century commission report which detailed various changes to the parties organisational structures was also passed by delegates. The conference was one of the largest attended by delegates from all over the Country with over 1,000 in attendance in Mullingar.
Green Party (European) Received 2004 hrs
Green Party finance spokesperson Dan Boyle welcomed news this evening that Michael Fingleton’s tenure as CEO of the Irish Nationwide building society is coming to end.
Senator Boyle, who has called for Mr Fingleton’s departure since the Chair of the Nationwide Board Michael Walsh stepped down in February*, said: “I am pleased to learn that Michael Fingleton’s tenure as CEO of Irish Nationwide is coming to end.
“This evening’s news follows equally welcome developments regarding the return of Mr Fingleton’s bonus.
“The issue of the outgoing Irish Nationwide boss’s excessive and unjust pension arrangements remains unresolved, and must now be tackled.”