politcal news from Cork, Ireland
THE Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. Michael O’ Connell and City Manager Tim Lucey welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Public Transport and Commuter Policy, Alan Kelly, that €55 million will be spent on sustainable travel projects this year including €5 million announced today for projects in regional cities under Jobs Initiative.
The Dail chamber
LABOUR Ireland South MEP Alan Kelly has confirmed that he will seek his party’s nomination to stand in Tipperary North in the next General Election.
“I am delighted to be able to accept Eamon Gilmore’s invitation to run for the Labour party in what will be the most important election for a generation”.
He said in a statement today.
Alan Kelly
HE’S been an MEP for a little over a year, but Labour MEP Alan Kelly already has set his sights closer to home. The 35 year old Tipperary man let slip this week that he will be meeting party leader Eamon Gilmore in the coming days to discuss running for the national elections.
Speaking to reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Kelly refused to confirm for definite whether he will try for the Dáil, simply saying that a decision on his political future will be made ‘very soon’.
THE European Commission has ruled out any possibility of conducting a baseline health study in the Cobh Harbour Area prompting calls from Labour Party TD Seán Sherlock and his colleague Munster MEP Alan Kelly for government action on the issue.
“We have worked together to raise this issue at European Level. It is now clear that the onus lies on the Irish Government to address local concerns on cancer rates in the area which are 37% higher in the Cork town than in the rest of the country,” said Alan Kelly.
Sean Kelly
ANTI -Lisbon campaigners have been accused this week of deliberately ignoring a key feature of the Lisbon Treaty that protects small member states during voting procedures.
Groups including Sinn Féin, Cóir and the UK Independence Party are claiming that the redistribution of voting weights in Lisbon is pitched in favour of larger countries and will lessen Ireland’s power to influence EU decision-making. However Munster MEPs have criticised the ‘No’ campaign this week for ‘only telling half the story’. [Read more...]
Brian Crowley
A GLOSSY eight-page leaflet sent to every home in the country claiming to reveal the truth about the Lisbon Treaty ‘should be put in the shredder’, said Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness this week.
Irish MEPs have united to harshly condemn the eurosceptic brochure, published by a group fronting for the right-wing UK Independence Party.
THE implications of the Lisbon Treaty for Ireland’s blue collar workers is a debate which has divided the country’s trade unions, with opinion differing as to whether it will improve or erode workplace rights.
Unite and the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union have urged their 100,000 members to vote ‘No’, claiming the treaty lacks an essential ‘social progress’ clause. Unite spokesperson Jimmy Kelly said the government failed to get a legal guarantee to protect workers’ rights after the last referendum. ‘Instead we got a “solemn declaration” that is worthless,’ he said. This view is backed by just one Irish MEP, Socialist Joe Higgins. [Read more...]
Alan Kelly
MUNSTER’S newly-elected Labour MEP Alan Kelly has vowed to fight at EU level on behalf of the thousands of workers who have lost their jobs across the south of the country.
Speaking as he took his seat for the first time in the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week, Mr Kelly said his main priority was to ensure that staff laid off from major firms including Waterford Crystal and Dell get proper redundancy payments, pensions and retraining funds.
“The Government has been behind in making full use of the European Globalisation Fund, so I’m looking forward to knuckling down and seeing that this money is delivered swiftly to help retrain workers,” he said.
[Read more...]
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