#OurFuture - Labour's Alternative budget

Posted on October 05, 2017

We have made clear that we don't believe there is enough space for any tax cuts in this Budget. Instead, we have argued for the construction of 5,000 public homes, and the funding of Sláintecare (a new national strategy to build our public healthcare system) as the central points of our proposals.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are having a phoney war over tax cuts that will amount to between €2 and €4 per week for middle-income families. We have said that cutting school costs, reducing college fees by €1,000 next year, eliminating hospital inpatient charges, and increasing the public subsidy of childcare would save families a lot more

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Our vision for renewed prosperity to be built on rock of fiscal responsibility and investment

Posted on April 28, 2015

Speaking during the Spring Statements today Minister Brendan Howlin said we must not allow this country to return to the devastating cycle of boom-and-bust that has been the hallmark of previous governments. 

He said: "We must learn the lessons of the past decade and not repeat the mistakes that brought us to ruin. Our vision and plans for renewed prosperity will not be built on the sand of short-term and unsustainable increases in Government spending.  It will be built on the rock of fiscal responsibility and investment in the productive capacity of our people."

Minister Howlin said our task now is to map the next phase of our nation’s journey.  

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Permanent link | Comments | Categories: Agriculture • Arts Sport & Tourism

Our Plan for the Rural Economy

Posted on February 15, 2011

(Left to right) Deputy Ruairi Quinn, Cllr Tom Fortune, Deputy Sean Sherlock and Deputy Mary Upton.

"As a Dail Deputy representing a largely rural constituency I have a particular interest in the potential of the agri-food sector and the wider bio-economy," said Labour's Spokesperson for Agriculture and Food, Séan Sherlock. Speaking with Mary Upton TD, Ruairi Quinn TD and Wicklow candidate Cllr Tom Fortune at the launch of Labour's Plan for the Rural Economy he said "Ireland has a prime opportunity to make a quantum leap in food production through the export of food products.

(Download our Plan for the Rural Economy here.)

"Irish agriculture needs to position itself to take advantage of new markets, a growing world population and a move towards more market-driven policies at EU level, which is pushing up demand for quality food products.

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National Ploughing Championships 2010

Posted on September 23, 2010

The Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore TD with rugby legend Paul O'Connell at the National Ploughing Championships 2010.

A scrum of well-wishers turned out to see the Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore TD as he met rugby legend Paul O'Connell at the National Ploughing Championsips yesterday, you can see more images from the day as we upload them to Flickr.

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Crisis or Opportunity? Rural Ireland and the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy

Posted on March 23, 2010

The Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore TD and Alan Kelly MEP at last September's National Ploughing Championships

This Friday, Alan Kelly MEP for Munster, is hosting a conference "Crisis or Opportunity? Rural Ireland and the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy" on the future of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy and its effects on rural Ireland.

The one day event will be held in Tipperary Institute from 10am until 4pm this Friday, March 26th.

Alan explained: "It is my aim to bring all the stakeholders together so we can identify our needs and come up with a common strategy to get the best possible deal.

"Our rural communities are highly economically dependant on the future of CAP so we must rise to the challenge of finding a new and better CAP after 2013

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Restoration to consumer confidence vital to pork industry

Posted on December 09, 2008

There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel with regard to this meat contamination fiasco.

Farmers, meat processors and workers have all been plunged into a crisis not of their own making and the longer the problem continues, the harder it will be to fix.

I believe that the priority has to be to get Irish pork products back on to supermarket shelves and butcher shops.

That's the only way we can increase consumer confidence and safeguard the thousands of jobs that are now at risk in the industry.

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Unite 4 Our Planet Forum

Posted on February 08, 2008

Sean Sherlock TD, Joan Burton TD, Eamon Gilmore TD, Liz McManus TD, Joanna Tuffy TD and Tommy Broughan TD at the Unite 4 Our Planet launch.

The Unite 4 Our Planet forum takes place this Saturday, February 9th, in Dublin's Mansion House from 10.30am until 3.30pm.

A number of speakers will address the forum including the Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Anne Carter, Brendan Halligan, Chair of Sustainable Energy Ireland, Deputies Joanna Tuffy, Liz McManus and Tommy Broughan as well as Senator Dominic Hannigan. In the afternoon a guest panel comprising Oisin Coughlan, Pat Finnegan and John Sweeney will address the forum and take a Q+A session afterwards.

UPDATE: February 12th

Extracts from Saturday's forum are available for viewing on our You Tube channel. You can also read all the speeches in our media centre, click on the links to read Joanna's, Liz's, Tommy's and Dominic's speeches.

Permanent link | Comments | Categories: Agriculture • Communications • Environment • Transport

Forum on Universal Health Insurance

Posted on January 24, 2008

Spokesperson on Health

Over the next couple of weeks we will be hosting two public forums, one to be held this weekend entitled 'Universal Health Insurance' and the next on February 9th entitled 'Unite 4 our planet' which asks if an integrated approach can help tackle climate change (more on that later in this post).

This weekend's forum will be chaired by our Health Spokesperson Deputy Jan O'Sullivan in Dublin's Mansion House beginning at 10.30am and finishing up at 1.30pm.

The forum will be of particular relevance to anybody with an interest in or involved with the health services.

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Permanent link | Comments | Categories: Agriculture • Environment • Health • Marine & Natural Resources • Transport • Jan OSullivan • Sean Sherlock

An apple a day

Posted on April 18, 2007

When we talk about food poverty in Ireland, obviously we are not talking about famine or wide-spread food shortage, but there is a serious problem when 19 per cent of boy children and 14 per cent of girl children go to bed hungry.

Food poverty is an issue which affects the rich and poor alike. Recent figures show 15 per cent of children from the higher social classes experience food poverty.

Food poverty is the inability to access sufficient nutrition. If we want a healthier society we must get our children eating more fruit and vegetables and less junk food.

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Permanent link | Categories: Agriculture • Health • Policy

Food labelling made easy - eat well be well

Posted on January 17, 2007

Unless you know what you are looking for, labels on food can be very confusing.

Unless you know exactly how much salt, fat or sugar you are supposed to eat each day, choosing the healthiest foods is almost impossible at the moment for busy shoppers

There is no consistency in the labelling of food products and often foods that one would expect to be healthy can have surprisingly high levels of salt or saturated fat. We believe that every consumer should be able see at a glance whether a food was high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt and not have to read the fine print.  a system which will see dietary advice presented in a prominent and easy-to-follow format on the front of food packaging.

Among the proposals put forward are:

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