Ganley’s Flawed Approach Would Be a Double Negative for Ireland

The Director of Fine Gael’s referendum campaign has dismissed  the logic of Declan Ganley's claim that a No vote could somehow increase Ireland’s capacity to get a better deal on bank debt as making no sense.
Simon Coveney said "It is my view that rejecting The Treaty would damage our capacity to secure better terms on bank debt, rather than having the opposite effect".

“The approach that Declan Ganley is proposing would result in a double negative for Ireland: weakening our negotiating capacity on other issues and rejecting a Stability Treaty that is good for Ireland’s future.

Mr Ganley’s idea that we would choose to reject the Stability Treaty, damaging our own economy in the process, as a negotiating tactic, is flawed thinking".

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Credit to CLDC for their work in rural Clare

Killaloe sports development secures €200k funding.

I felt it was worth highlighting the great work of the Clare Local Development Company. Read my press release here.
Clare Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy has praised the contribution of Clare Local Development Company Ltd (CLDC) to community life in rural parts of the County. Senator Mulcahy was responding to the news that CLDC has allocated funding totalling €200,000 to Ballina/Killaloe Sports & Community Facilities Development Co Ltd for the construction of two natural grass playing pitches and a synthetic pitch at Clarisford, Killaloe.

The works, which were sanctioned this week by the Government, are being carried out under the Village Renewal & Development measure of the EU LEADER Rural Development Programme 2007-2013. According to Senator Mulcahy: “Community projects such as this would not be possible without the support, financial and otherwise, provided by CLDC. The organisation, formerly known as Rural Resource Development, has a proven track record of providing invaluable assistance to community and voluntary groups in securing LEADER funding.”

Senator Mulcahy noted that over €5 million in LEADER funding was available to support and fund a wide variety of projects in Clare in 2012 and 2013. “€1.8m was paid out to a wide range of community and enterprise projects in Clare during 2011 under the current LEADER Programme, bringing to €3m the amount paid out locally since 2009. The actual amount approved in this period was €5.5m. Projects such as the sports development in Killaloe bring a new lease of life to rural parts of the county and also present a central social outlet for the people of the communities concerned.” Senator Mulcahy congratulated the members of Ballina/Killaloe Sports & Community Facilities Development Co Ltd for their efforts to develop the playing pitches and associated facilities at Clarisford.

“As a former Mayor of Clare and Shannon I have witnessed at first hand the differences that such facilities can make in a local community,” he explained. “I wish to congratulate the community group for making a substantial private investment in this development. Were it not for the commitment of the Project team, the additional funding allocation from CLDC would not have been secured. I have no doubt that the community facilities, costing almost €400,000 in total, will help to further improve the quality of life for members of the local community,” conclude Senator Mulcahy.

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Good News For Restaurants

The Restaurant Association of Ireland are delighted with the news that the Minister for Tourism has today announced that the 9% VAT rate for tourism services will be retained until the end of 2013.

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Autonomy Will Allow Shannon Airport To Grow

It has been a long time in the making but today is a big day for Shannon and the region.

On top of all the monumental news in relation to the airport and the Free Zone, I also want to throw another idea into the melting pot. Assuming that we get an opportunity to rename the airport, I'm suggesting we name it after the great visionary who started it all and call it "Shannon Brendan O’Regan Airport". What do you think?

I've put out a press release on the events and you can read it here in the rest of this post.

Shannon-based Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy has welcomed the Government’s decision to grant full autonomy to Shannon International Airport and merge Shannon Development and its existing tourism, enterprise and industry roles with other regional development agencies, including the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Failte Ireland and the new Airport Management structure.

The former Mayor of Shannon and Clare said autonomy would enable Shannon Airport to compete independently for business “without the dead hand of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA)”. He said the Government announcement in relation to an autonomous Shannon Airport and Free Zone marked the culmination of years of lobbying from public bodies, regional development agencies, private organisations and politicians in the Mid West Region.

“As a member of Clare County Council in 2007, I was one of 32 Councillors to back a motion requesting that Shannon be freed from the shackles of the DAA after the Authority’s failure to prevent Aer Lingus from axing its Shannon to Heathrow services. It has taken five years for autonomy to be finally granted and I think this is a momentous moment not only for the airport but also for the wider Mid West Region,” Senator Mulcahy said.

He continued: “The focus now turns to identifying the exact make up of the new management structure at the airport, which I believe should include a representative from each of the major agencies in the Mid West as well as a selection of community and business leaders. The best way of driving the future development of the airport and the surrounding Free Zone is to have local and regional experts from the fields of business, tourism and aviation at the helm.”

On the issue of whether debt-free status would be granted to Shannon, Senator Mulcahy stated: “Discussions are presently taking place in relation to the debts that have built up at Shannon Airport through the years. I am confident these considerable debt issues will be resolved in the coming months and that the facility and its new management structure will be well placed to develop a new and progressive marketing and development strategy for the Airport and Free Zone by the time full autonomy is achieved.”

Senator Mulcahy said there were a number of ways in which new business could be secured at Shannon Airport. “Every effort must be made to entice low cost carriers such as Ryanair back to Shannon and to promote the airport as a low cost passenger hub. Furthermore, the customs and border pre-clearance facility should be extended to include U.S.-bound cargo traffic.”

“As the airport can no longer survive alone on air passengers travelling to and from the facility, the development of ancillary operations such as an international cargo hub is key to securing the future viability of Shannon Airport. Furthermore, the removal of the DAA’s influence over the airport will allow for the exploration of the development of a global logistics centre for humanitarian aid in Shannon, a proposal that has been put forward by Clare County Council in the Clare County Development Plan 2011-2017. Developments like this are feasible considering Shannon’s strategic location, the facility’s unrestricted runway, its round-the-clock operation and the availability of a large amount of space around the airport.

“Other possible developments that could be explored by the Airport’s new management structure, once established, are a residential flight school and a centre for space collaboration and research co-operation. Each of these proposals has been suggested in the past but their potential has never been fully investigated due to the overbearing influence of the DAA,” he said.

Senator Mulcahy suggested that the airport be renamed and rebranded once the transition had been completed. “I suggest renaming Shannon Airport as Shannon Brendan O’Regan Airport, in memory of a man whose entrepreneurial spirit was behind the establishment of the Shannon Free Airport Development Company and the world’s first Duty Free Shop at Shannon Airport.”

Meanwhile, Senator Mulcahy said the placing of the landbank around Shannon Airport, currently managed by Shannon Development, under the remit of the new Airport management structure would “contribute immeasurably” to the growth of the Shannon Free Zone.

“The proposal to bring the IDA on board to assist with industry placement in Shannon is a massive step in the right direction. Land must be available for investors to purchase at a much more competitive rate than what it is currently being offered. A reduction in this rate will attract investment from both existing and new clients.

“Furthermore, I believe that a proportion of the existing and future rental income from industrial estates in the Shannon Free Zone should be used for the refurbishment of the various estates and the promotion of the airport,” concluded Senator Mulcahy.

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An Important Clarification from the Minister for Finance

Michael Noonan made an important statement the today. It clears up a lot of misinformation on the subject of access to ESM and IMF funds. I think it's important the everyone clearly understands the situation.

Statement by Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan, TD:

"The statement by a spokesman for the IMF quoted in today's Sunday Times is being misinterpreted. The IMF have made it crystal clear in the negotiations of the Greece, Ireland and Portugal bailout programme that: they will not provide unilateral assistance to Eurozone countries they have only been prepared to contribute to a bailout if Europe takes the lead the amount of the IMF contribution depends on the amount of the European contribution If Ireland votes no in the referendum, Ireland will not have access to access to ESM funds. The ESM will be the only source of bailout funds when the Irish programme ends. The Government wants to give certainty at home and abroad. Certainty builds confidence. A Yes vote gives certainty and builds confidence. A No vote is a leap into the unknown”

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Cancer in the Shannon region – how we compare nationally

I have been asked on a number of occasions if there is a possibility that Shannon and the surrounding region has a higher incidence of cancer relative to the rest of the country. So in February, I asked the general question of Dr Harry Cromber, Director of the national cancer registry and within the overall picture I also asked him to look specifically at breast cancer. His office have now come back to me with their findings.

Dear Mr Mulcahy,
Attached please find results of the analysis of cancer incidence in the Shannon-Town area as you requested (attached in both word and excel format: "cancer data"). As Dr. Comber has indicated we can only provide statistics to the level of electoral division (ED). Shannon-Town lies within the ED "Clenagh" (see attached map "SHANNON AREAS ED'S"). 

So we looked at incidence rates in Clenagh and compared them to rates in the wider Mid-Western Health Board overall as well as to Ireland overall. To be sure that all residents of the area are included, I repeated the analysis to include the electoral district "Drumline" also as its border with Clenagh is fairly close to Shannon town. The results are shown in 2 tables in the attached file. Basically the analysis for Clenagh alone and for the wider area (Clenagh and Drumline combined) shows that the number of cancer cases found in the area was slightly higher than what would be expected based on known incidence rates for the region or the entire country overall but this was not statistically significant. Overall in Clenagh alone, incidences of all cancers were 3% higher than the national average. As the analysis consists of basically comparing incidence rates in local areas with average overall reference rates, it is normal and expected that some areas will have higher incidences than the reference and other areas will have lower incidences. The 95% confidence intervals are generated to give us an idea of how reliable these results are - ie how much the results show a true pattern and are not just a random chance finding. In this case the 95% confidence intervals are wide and show that the results are not statistically significant.

As you mentioned female breast cancer specifically in your email, I generated figures for this cancer specifically (table 2 in the attached "cancer data" file). Results here show that although slightly more cases were diagnosed that what would have been expected, this also was not statistically significant. Looking at the range of cancers diagnosed in Clenagh and the wider area overall and the age profile of patients diagnosed there - the results are very similar to the national picture - in other words, nothing unusual appears when looking at the age distribution of cancer patients in the Shannon-Town area or the type of cancers diagnosed there compared with the country overall.

There are some notes in the attached file (below the tables) that explain elements in the tables in a bit more detail and I have also attached a document on cancer clusters that we normally provide with this type of analysis - it provides a bit more information on the limitations of local area analysis and some points to bear in mind when looking at the results. I hope that the attached information is useful to you. If you have any queries on the data or anything in the results or need any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards, Sandra Deady PhD,
Data analyst, National Cancer Registry

This is the link to the statistics CLICK HERE 
This is the link to a general document on cancer and how it should be looked at in a local context CLICK HERE

Regards
Tony

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Clare County Council Backs Re-Zoning of Lands For Renewable Projects

I have been working with the Carbon Sole Group lately on a very exciting project for the Shannon region. Plans to develop a large combined heat and power plant are well advanced. A project like this will bring jobs and renewable energy to our doorstep and I don't need to tell you that in today environment, that is huge! Here's a press release explaining what it's all about.

Fine Gael Senate Spokesman on Energy, Communications and Natural Resources, Tony Mulcahy has welcomed a decision by members of Clare County Council to back the rezoning of lands at Stonehall, near Newmarket on Fergus, to facilitate the development of a large-scale renewable energy projects.

The majority of Clare’s 32 Elected Members this evening voted in favour of rezoning an 80-acre tract of land at Stonehall, which was has been included in the Shannon Town & Environs Local Area Plan 2012-2018.

Senator Mulcahy said the move paved the way for third parties to develop green energy projects in line with the objectives for Shannon set out in the Clare County Development Plan.

“I wish to congratulate Clare County Council for its vision in facilitating the creation of a green energy valley that provides a reliable source of energy for Shannon Town, including the Airport and Free Zone. I also want to compliment the Council’s Elected Members, interested third parties and residents of Stonehall who contributed to today’s decision”, stated the Shannon-based Senator.

Senator Mulcahy said he supported one particular project that has already been earmarked for Stonehall, pending a successful application to the planning authority.

“I have met with Carbon Sole Group on numerous occasions in recent months. I believe that the company’s proposal to develop a70MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility at Stonehall would help to create and sustain hundreds of jobs directly throughout the region, as well as provide a clean, cheap and reliable source of energy to the surrounding hinterland, attracting employment intensive investment to the District Heat Network.”

“The company has informed me that it has selected Shannon as a possible location for the CHP, due to its close proximity to forested regions where bio-fuel could be sourced but also due to the size and layout of the town with respect to industrial & commercial areas that will benefit from future foreign direct investment (FDI) attracted to a Carbon Neutral Zone, as the town will be no longer reliant on fossil fuels and associated thermal energy price fluctuations,” he said.

Senator Mulcahy noted: “The rezoning decision allows the Carbon Sole Group Ltd, the technology delivery partners Green Exergy AB (Swedish company experienced in delivering efficient clean CHP) and other third parties interested in developing green energy projects in Shannon to progress their plans, and in doing so give Shannon town and its environs a valuable opportunity to secure both long-term energy security and a low carbon future.”

Senator Mulcahy said plans to develop the facility were already at an advanced stage. He commented: “Carbon Sole Group’s grid connection application for a Shannon Biomass HeCHP has been deemed completed by ESB Networks and Eirgrid. The company is awaiting a decision from the Commission for Energy Regulation on priority despatch as per SEM market decisions, in line with renewable electricity and heat targets. The decision requires further clarity on the efficiency certification process with respect to “useable heat” as when distributed through district heat networks in order to facilitate extra capacity to attract future employment to Shannon and the regeneration of the industrial and commercial estates.”

Senator Mulcahy continued: “As spokesperson for The Oireachtas Committee on Energy & Natural Resources I have met with Sean Daly (CEO of Carbon Sole Group Ltd) and Rolf Lindgren (Vice President of Green Exergy AB). It is clear that both parties have the proven ability to deliver world-class biomass High Efficiency Combined Heat & Power and related green energy infrastructure/district heat network.”

“These investments in green energy and infrastructure will deliver increased GDP whilst reducing CO₂ emissions as proven in Sweden, a win-win for the Midwest region. More importantly, this is an investment in job intensive green energy, built on farming and forestry supply chains. This process will deliver direct employment in the operations and full-time equivalents in harvesting, haulage, installation of the district heating (DH) network, heat exchangers and servicing of such, further downstream attracting FDI to a sustainable regional carbon neutral economy,” Senator Mulcahy concluded.

-ENDS-

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