Why have County Wexford roads fallen apart?

Dr. Liam Twomey calls for urgent action and an enquiry on why recently resurfaced roads fell apart during the recent cold spell.

The awful state of our roads after the recent sub zero temperatures must receive top political priority in the next few months stated Dr. Liam Twomey.
“The massive number of potholes and roads that are simply falling apart is unbelievable, I have reason to travel on a huge number of local roads from The Hook right up to Bunclody in the last three weeks, and we have a crisis on our hands. Some roads look like they have been bombed in a recent war and are beyond repair”.
There was fantastic work done by the council engineers and local authority workers. However, urgent actions are required to repair the damage.

Actions Dr. Twomey intends taking immediately include:
*Writing to Minister Gormley to ask for urgent funding to repair damaged roads and to take urgent remedial action to prevent further deterioration of more roads.
*Write to Minister Lenihan to ask him to divert funding from the NRA to local authorities to rapidly provide the funding that is needed for our non-national roads. He will also raise this issue with Minister Lenihan when they debate the Finance Bill in the Seanad.
*He will also contact his Fine Gael colleagues on the County Council and the relevant officials to see what can be done now to prevent damage to vehicles on our roads at huge cost to hard pressed individuals and businesses.
*He will also seek an inquiry from the council why some roads that were resurfaced in the last year or two and were meant to last for twenty years are now a crumbling mess. This inquiry must also give answers why sand and mud has broken through the surface of roads that were resurfaced in the last decade.
“These roads should have a bed of stone underneath, roads I have walked in the last few days have only sand under the surface tar, this makes no sense” said Dr. Twomey.
*The council must also take into account what measures will be taken in future to make future roads maintained more resistance to this type of weather.
Dr Twomey acknowledges that this problem will not be solved overnight. If elected to be part of the next Government, Dr. Twomey promises to work with his council colleagues to deal with this crisis as a matter of urgency.

FINE GAEL COMMITTED TO WEXFORD HOSPITAL

Fine Gael’s Dr. Twomey was pleased to be able to facilitate Wexford General Hospital Community Alliance when Dr. McKiernan asked if he could help set up a meeting with the leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny and Fine Gael’s Health spokesperson, Dr. James Reilly.

Dr. Twomey said that the meeting went well. “Dr. McKiernan and Fr. Fegan wanted to be reassured that Fine Gael is committed to Wexford General Hospital and to keeping its A and E Department open and Enda and Dr. Reilly promised them that commitment. As Fine Gael may be leading the next government, it is important for the Alliance to know that we are on their side.”

“We in Fine Gael have a very different approach to Minister Harney and this government in providing health care. Our health policy is called Faircare and that is what it will be: a fair health care system for all. It puts the patient at the centre of the health system and patients will be seen based on medical need and not based on money. This policy will do away with the two tier system that has proven so unfair for patients in Wexford and throughout the country, over the years.”

Dr. Twomey added that he was again dismayed but not surprised that Wexford General Hospital had the second highest number of people on trolleys outside of Dublin this week. “Again this underlies the importance of Wexford General Hospital to the people of Wexford. Fine Gael realise how essential the current hospital services are and particularly the 24 hour A and E department. It is because of Fine Gael’s commitment to the hospital that Dr. Reilly is coming down on Monday 29 November 2010.”

Dr. Twomey pointed out “the government is not gone yet and the budget details still have to be announced. As long as Fianna Fail is in power, I will continue to fight to ensure that current services at Wexford General Hospital are maintained.”

QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ASKED ABOUT SUGAR FACTORY CLOSURE

Fine Gael’s Dr. Twomey wants Fianna Fail and its Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to explain why Ireland’s sugar beet industry was closed down, when the European Commission did not have the correct information. “According to the European Court of Auditor’s Report, when the Commission made it s proposal on sugar reform in 2005, they were unaware of Greencore's rationalisation /restructuring that had taken place leaving it with just one factory in Mallow.”

“The sugar beet industry was extremely important for Wexford farmers. When Greencore closed its factory in 2006 it ended eighty years of beet and sugar production in Ireland and affected 3,700 growers in Wexford and throughout the south east and southern areas of the country as well as the staff in Mallow and associated industries around the country. “

“The government have a number of questions to answer. It was up to the then Minister of Agriculture Mary Coughlan to give the Commission the correct information and defend the beet farmers and the sugar industry in Ireland. Fianna Fail are always saying that the smart economy is the way forward for Ireland but did they consider at the time that sugar can be used as a source of bioethanol or that sugar is also used by other chemical industries?”

“During the Celtic Tiger, Fianna Fail neglected Irish industry and agriculture in favour of construction with the result that Ireland is now importing €99 million worth of sugar annually into the country. According to Iarnrod Eireann, the loss of the sugar beet industry was also a cause of the railway line closure between Waterford and Rosslare, earlier this year.”

“Our agri-food industry produces exports worth €8 billion annually and provides 250,000 jobs throughout the country; therefore it is very important for the future of this country. For this reason, Fine Gael believes it is essential to make a strong case for Ireland to ensure good support from the EU will continue to be received under the Common Agricultural Policy, which is up for reform in 2013. Agriculture is an indigenous and well organised industry that continues to offer increased potential for Ireland. Fine Gael will do its best to protect Irish farmers unlike Fianna Fail with the sugar beet farmers in 2005.”

FAIRNESS NEEDED IN BUDGET

Fine Gael’s Dr. Liam Twomey has said that the target of €6 billion will bring the deficit to 9.5% of GDP. “Unfortunately with Fianna Fail and the Greens at the helm, the public have no confidence in them and they do not believe that the cuts will be felt by everyone across the board. The public feel that people at the lower end will be hit harder than those at the top. Fianna Fail does not believe that those who have the most should pay the most and we have seen this unfair policy in Minister Lenihan’s apparent obsession to protect Anglo Irish Bank against all the economic advice and to the detriment of everyone else in county Wexford and across the country.”

“With 18,372 unemployed in County Wexford, this figure will rise without a stimulus plan. This has not been part of Fianna Fail’s policy in the last couple of years and Minister Lenihan’s solution seems to be for 100,000 people to leave the country so that the live register figures will decrease. There are about 100,000 small businesses in Ireland and if the government could support them so that they can increase their workforce by just one then that would be an extra 100,000 people off the live register.”

“This government has let the people down and Minister Lenihan and his colleagues have not been telling us the truth about the figures. They have been drip feeding the bad news in the hope that they can dupe the public into thinking that Fianna Fail has their best interests at heart. Fianna Fail have not put the country first and we have seen this first hand in County Wexford with the closure of the Rosslare to Waterford line, and the continuous threat to our A & E, our maternity services and our mental health services. Fianna Fail allowed the construction sector to increase in an unsustainable manner while ignoring our manufacturing industries and farming and this was felt most acutely in county Wexford. “

“With Fianna Fail running out of ideas, we need a Fine Gael led government with Ministers from County Wexford who will ensure that all our services will be maintained for the people of county Wexford.”

MORE SHOULD BE DONE FOR APPRENTICES

Dr. Twomey has highlighted the situation of up to 300 apprentices in county Wexford to the Minister for Education and Skills in the Seanad last week. “These apprentices are not in a position to complete their apprenticeship training because they are no longer working for the employer to whom they would have expected to return following their spell in college. It is estimated that approximately 7,000 individuals throughout the country are in limbo in terms of not being able to complete their apprenticeship training, mostly electricians, carpenters and others involved in the construction industry which is experiencing a massive downturn. There is a need for the Government to take more action to ensure these individuals to finish their apprenticeships as soon as possible. If they were able to do so, it would, at least, give them an opportunity to travel abroad to seek work and make a living for themselves.”

“FAS has the funds to provide a weekly subsidy of €250 for their employers towards employment costs, so the Minister should be looking at placing them in areas that would not have traditionally taken on such apprentices, such as the Army / the Navy and Local Authorities. There is a fear that the Unions may be blocking the apprentices finishing their apprenticeships as the Unions want them to earn €600 per week in their final year but this is not sustainable. It is more important to facilitate these young people to complete their apprenticeships. “

“If these apprentices were college students and the Government closed down the institution at which they were studying, there would be uproar if they were prevented from completing their courses because this would jeopardise their chances of obtaining employment either here or abroad. The Government needs to do more and at a faster rate. FAS has the resources so they should be working as quickly as possible help these apprentices.”