Donegal Matters | Joe McHugh TD's Community Website

Publications

FG 10 point Border jobs plan

FG 10 point Border jobs plan

FINE GAEL PROPOSALS

TO SUPPORT EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

IN THE BORDER REGION

Fine Gael Border Forum

Table of contents

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Executive Summary

3.0 Context

4.0 The Border region

5.0 The policy proposals

5.1 A spatial strategy

5.2 A cross-border regional strategy

5.3 Funding infrastructural development

5.4 Company support

5.5 Support for SMEs

5.6 Transport infrastructure and capital programme

5.7 Agri food

5.8 Tourism

5.9 Training and education

5.10 Communications and energy

6.0 Conclusion

Executive Summary

The devastating impact of the 940 Quinn Insurance job losses highlighted core economic issues that afflict this region on both sides of its border. The political border renders both sides of the region peripheral to the main centres of economic activity on this island. The configuration of the Border region and its physical geography sets it apart from other regions on the island. Here there is no urban area of relative scale.

The 10 proposals put forward by the Fine Gael Border Forum respond to the border region’s job crisis. Each proposal is underpinned by Fine Gael’s conviction that the border region’s crisis can only be solved by consolidating existing jobs and developing the region’s potential. All of these proposals must be delivered within the context of the €3bn of cuts to stabilise the deficit in 2011 and our commitment to reduce government borrowing to below 3% GDP by 2014.

FINE GAEL PROPOSAL 1 – DEFINING THE CROSS BORDER REGION

Both administrations should agree on a defined cross border area and then facilitate the development of an integrated plan for regional development.

Fine Gael Proposal 2 – Multi Agency task Force

A Multi Agency Task Force for the region must

· Be given a clear concise brief and targets

· Receive clear and targeted objectives and,

· Produce an interim report within five months and a final report within 12 months

Fine Gael Proposal 3 - FUNDING INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Infrastructural development is a continuing requirement in the region and innovative funding processes and structures should be developed to seek to fund development.

Fine Gael Proposal 4 – State enterprise Agencies

This State’s enterprise agencies and Northern Ireland’s enterprise agencies should cooperate to attract Foreign Direct Investment to the border region.

All State enterprise agencies operating at regional, town and county level should devise a proactive review programme for individual companies to support job retention.

County Enterprise Boards should support border entrepreneurship. Courses should be provided on business creation, market assessment, financing and personal profiling.

Fine Gael Proposal 5 – supporting small & medium enterprises

The commitment to 25% red tape reduction by government must be honoured. The government must act immediately to set this process in train.

All government charges that apply to business and local authority rates must be frozen for five years.

Reverse the cutbacks in funding for Skillnets companies.

Fine Gael Proposal 6 – TRANSPORT NETWORK DEVELOPMENT

The suspension of the capital expenditure on the roads network announced must be reversed. The development of the national rail network should be examined.

Fine Gael Proposal 7 – AGRI FOOD

There must be a consistent and harmonised approach to animal health and welfare across the island of ireland as well as the implementation of fair trade legislation to ensure fair prices for produce.

the food labelling regime must be overhauled to promote transparency.

fine gael will fight to protect the family farm structure under the future common agricultural policy and will campaign for a single farm payment structure targeted at active producers.

Fine Gael Proposal 8 – Tourism

tourism must be recognised as a key provider of local economic development. new and existing tourism packages inm key sectors of the market must be further developed, such as language tourism and a9-county tourism package.

The introduction of a bilateral agreement on an irish/ british holdidy visa must be actively pursued.

Fine Gael Proposal 9 – Career development Support

FÁS should provide structured career counselling in targeted economic black spots, which should include:

· Skills assessment and aptitude profiling.

· Linking individual skills gaps with identification of skills and education opportunities – both part-time and full-time.

· Given the scale and intensity of the job losses, to run out of course or additional programmes as necessary and to offer new courses as required.

· Any time issues which act as a barrier to retraining or to education participation should be lowered so that newly redundant employees can immediately participate.

Fine Gael Proposal 10 – Communications and energy

A full review will be undertaken of the availability and development potential of broadband infrastructure and plans developed to utilise State owned companies’ investment in Broadband.

The Government must collaborate with providers to build interconnectors between existing proprietary networks and new ‘open access’ platforms.

This region’s proximity to the Moyle Interconnector and the planned EastWest Interconnector should be used to develop an export-driven energy production industry.

2.0 introduction

Fine Gael’s Border Forum met for the first time in Monaghan Town in February 2010. One hundred and fifty members of Fine Gael from seven counties gathered along with senior Northern politicians with a view to developing North-South initiatives as visualised in the Good Friday Agreement. This Forum gives currency to Border issues, and already it has begun to develop new policy initiatives designed to capitalise on the potential of this region.

The devastating impact of the 940 Quinn Insurance job losses highlighted core economic problems that afflict this region on both sides of its border. This is the first report of the Border Forum which focuses on economic and jobs issues for the region. While this report places emphasis on the economic needs of the region, the Forum is also examining other areas of cross border co-operation, including the sharing of health facilities.

The political border that runs through Ulster has afflicted the economic development of the province for ninety years. In recent decades the presence of the Quinn Group in the region has been a counterbalance to many of the problems that arise from this afflicted development. Its problems severely challenge the region.

The 10 proposals put forward by the Fine Gael Border Forum respond to the border region’s devastating job crisis. Each proposal is underpinned by Fine Gael’s conviction that the border region’s crisis can only be solved by consolidating existing jobs and developing the region’s potential. All of these proposals must be delivered within the context of the €3bn of cuts to stabilise the deficit in 2011 and our commitment to reduce government borrowing to below 3% GDP by 2014.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton hosted a very successful economic conference in Washington DC on the development of the Northern Ireland economy. This conference was attended by over 200 businesses from both sides of the border which resulted in some very successful business marriages. In 2011, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, plans to host a similar conference. Fine Gael believes that the border region should take a lead role in discussion on this economic development.

Enda Kenny TD Joe McHugh TD

Leader Chairperson

Fine Gael Fine Gael Border Forum

3.0 The Context

The devastating impact of the 940 Quinn Insurance job losses highlighted core economic issues that afflict this region on both sides of its border. The political border renders both sides of the region peripheral to the main centres of economic activity on this island. This has endured for nine decades and has generated relatively low levels of urbanisation.

Senior unionist and northern nationalist political leaders addressed the launch of Fine Gael’s Border For
Date: Wednesday 21 July, 2010

North-West Rail Link Campaign

North-West Rail Link Campaign

Petition findings and analysis

February 2010

A report by

Joe McHugh TD

for the

British—Irish

Parliamentary Assembly

www.DonegalMatters.com

Irish rail intercity map 2009

Irish railway map 1906

Foreword

    Foreword

In January 2008 www.DonegalMatters.com [1] established a petition that calls for the development of integrated rail services in the north-west of Ireland. The online petition is interactive and invites signatories to commit opinions on the subject. www.DonegalMatters.com sponsors a complementary written petition. 10,000 people have signed the petitions to date.

This short publication reports and discusses the results of the online petition to-date. The publication features graphical illustrations of results, together with written analysis and references. Ten interlocking themes are identified and assessed.

The people who distribute e-links to the online petition and the people who distribute written petition sheets deserve credit for their contribution to this project. Their work illustrates north-west Ulster’s rich culture of civic patriotism. Special thanks are reserved for Canon David Crooks and Ms. Kathleen Harkin, Donegal.

Ms. Aoife Gallen, Department of Commerce, NUI Galway contributed enormously to this petition. Her commitment and academic application give currency and focus to its findings.

Táim buíoch freisin d’fhoireann leabharlann Oireachtas, Baile Atha Cliath, a chur ar mo chumas ábhar sa leabharlann a cheadú.

This www.DonegalMatters.com petition has already surpassed its targeted 10,000 signatures. New targets have been set, and the next phase of the campaign to secure public railway services for this island’s 32 counties begins today.

Joe McHugh TD

Fine Gael Spokesperson on North-South Cooperation

    Contents

Topic                                                                                                 Page

Introduction                                                                                                                5

Petition results & graphic illustrations                                                                     6

Tourism                                                                                                                      9

Infrastructure                                                                                                              11

Peripherality                                                                                                              13

All-island integration                                                                                     14

Environment                                                                                                               15

Employment                                                                                                               16

Education                                                                                                                   17

Health and safety                                                                                                      19

Other                                                                                                                           21

Conclusion                                                                                                                 22

References                                                                                                                24

Observations

Introduction

The political border that runs through Ulster has hampered the economic and social development of the north-west of Ireland since the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. For decades poor communication between Dublin and Belfast/London administrations disabled coordinated planning in the south and west of the province. Unemployment, emigration, and infrastructural deficits have afflicted Donegal, Fermanagh, Cavan, Tyrone, and Monaghan for 50 years.

The absence of rail services from the region is a tangible example of this administrative dualism. Donegal’s last rail track was closed in 1961, and today the north-west is the only region of this island that is not serviced by public railways.

Two late 20^th century political developments provide scope for the infrastructural development of the north-west. The European Union (which Ireland and Britain both joined in 1973) promotes and finances coordinated development of neighbouring jurisdictions. The Good Friday Agreement (1998) envisages integrated policy-making on this island, and provides for the creation of an all-island infrastructure.

Today the business of government in the Republic of Ireland is transacted within the ‘Towards 2016’ ten-year framework social partnership agreement. This document comments that, ‘The focus of North/South Cooperation must be on mutual gains to demonstrate that the economic and social success of each part of Ireland is advantageous to the other’[2]. ‘Transport 21’ supplements this framework document.

Transport 21 is notable for its commitment to improved rail services, and it commits a large proportion of its projected €34 billion budget to rail projects. Projects envisaged include the phased opening of the Western Rail Corridor, commuter rail links between Cork and Galway, and ambitious Dublin-based light rail projects. There is no reference to rail development in the north-west.

The European Commission commits €5.1bn of its 2007-2013 budget to ‘green transport’ projects. The EC proposes to spend 56% of this funding on cross-border programmes, and proposes to spend 74.2% of the €5.1bn on green (environmentally) rail projects.[3]

500,000 people live in the five Irish counties that are not serviced by railway, and in an Irish context the population of the proposed Dublin-Donegal rail corridor is second only to the population of the existing Dublin-Cork rail corridor. The argument for integrated all-Ulster rail services is similarly compelling. Ulster has a population of 1,993,918[4]. Full rail infrastructure would be of enormous symbiotic potential to the five counties and to Belfast and Derry. Belfast and Derry are the two major cities in Northern Ireland.

The reader of this report ought to contextualise its observations. Readers must understand that it reports on an online petition that was conducted on a website that does not purport to represent the population. Because this online petition features on a Donegal community & political website its findings cannot be seen as being perfectly representative of public opinion in the north-west. Nevertheless the petition is advertised throughout the region. It is likely that the online petition consists disproportionately of Donegal residents, visitors to Donegal, political aficionados, local business people, and students.

The reader must also understand that this publication does not of itself advocate the development of railway infrastructure in the north-west of Ireland. This publication instead reports and analyses the findings of an interactive petition.

The report concludes with a series of observations that lend currency and insight.

www.DonegalMatters.com presents this report to the Dublin Minister for Transport; the Stormont Minister for Regional Development; the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB); the Vice President of the EC & Commissioner for Transport; the North-South Ministerial Council; the European Railway Agency; the European Parliament Transport Committee; Donegal County Council, Cavan County Council; Monaghan County Council; Fermanagh District Council; Strabane District Council; Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council; the North-West Region Cross Border Group (NWRCBG); and the Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN).

The report is also being presented to the region’s public representatives.

    Graphical illustrations of petition results

    Tourism

-          Tourism is cited most frequently by those who signed the online petition. 15.2% of those who signed the petition commented that regional tourism projects would benefit from the existence of a north-west public rail transport infrastructure.

-          A large proportion of signatories in this category focus on the inaccessibility of the north-west for tourists. For many people road travel is the only option for those who wish to visit the north-west. Because 80% of tourists who visit Ireland do not hire cars, 4/5 of Irish tourists can only travel to the region by public bus services. The lack of alternative modes of transport is viewed as a significant impediment to north-west tourism.

Portsalon Beach, Co. Donegal

-          Donegal tourism is referenced by a large number of signatories. These people point to the tourism potential of Donegal’s loughs, history, location, geography, beaches, Gaeltacht. Signatories believe that public railway services would enable Donegal to develop its potentially strong tourism industry.

Inland Fishery Report

Click to download Inland_Fishery_Report

Date: Monday 31 August, 2009

Displaying 1 to 3 (of 3 new articles)

Result Pages: 1