THOMAS

PRINGLE T.D.Independent Donegal South West

Dáil Éireann, Phone: 01 618 3038Fax: 01 618 4118

Constituency Office, KillybegsPhone: 074 974 1880Fax: 01 618 4118

Constituency Office, Ballybofey & Dungloe. Phone: 087 216 8719

Contact: Email: thomas.pringle@oir.ie Web: www.thomaspringle.ie

Spring 2013

Pensioners’ Medical Cards WithdrawnI have had a number of pensioners contact me in recent weeks and months about how their medical cards are being cancelled with no notification given, with many medical cards having a few years left on them.

This is causing a lot of distress and anger for these pensioners, some of whom have long-term illnesses and I find this to be completely unacceptable that they are left in the dark and being expected to pay for their medication while having to reapply for a medical card.

I intend to take this up with the Minister for Health and the HSE as I find this to be a grave wrong.If this has happened to you or anyone you know, please do not hesitate to contact my Constituency Office in Killybegs on 074 974 1880.

I have condemned the arson attack on the house in Park Hill, Ballyshannon, which is in my opinion the inevitable outcome of the reckless remarks of local councillors in recent weeks.Donegal County Council bought the house for a traveller family and local councillors Seán McEniff and Eugene Dolan made racist statements about the decision, and within weeks the house was burned.The council will now have to repair the house before they can allocate it to the family and this will just add extra costs for the council. It would have been better for the local councillors to have taken a constructive approach, working towards ensuring that the family received all the support

they required and work with the community to make sure that there was a smooth transition for the family.Myself and Councillor John Campbell contacted the Minister for Social Protection to ask for her intervention in this matter to furnish the house that they will now be forced to stay in for the foreseeable future as furnishings were in the house that was destroyed. Thankfully, they have been granted an Exceptional Needs Payment towards some essential household items.Luckily there were no injuries but will it take someone to be seriously hurt before these councillors take responsibility for their words and actions?

Thomas Condemns Ballyshannon Arson Attack

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Constituency Office Opening HoursKillybegs, Bridge Street (Mon-Fri) 9.30am-12.30pm and to 1.30pm to 6pmTel: 074 974 1880

Ballybofey, Navenny Street (Wednesdays) 10am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pmTel: 087 216 8719

Dungloe, Gweedore Road (Thursdays) 10am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pmTel: 087 216 8719

I have called for evidence that the impact on jobs was assessed when the government instructed that public service bodies such as schools are to now purchase supplies from centralised companies through public procurement.In a recent Priority Question to Minister Brian Hayes in the Dáil, I asked if he had assessed the impact on local jobs of a circular sent to public service bodies that states that single suppliers on a national level for their day to day purchases for public bodies, such as schools purchasing stationary and office supplies, can now only purchase these supplies from one provider. This means that, for example, paper has to be ordered from one supplier for the entire public service.There are many small companies throughout the country that provide supplies to public bodies which will now suffer greatly and result in job losses as a result of this decision put in place by the National Procurement Service. By choosing only one company to provide specific supplies is bad for competitiveness, bad for business and very bad for jobs.There are a number of local companies in Donegal that have provided supplies, such as janitorial supplies to schools, for many years and are now facing a bleak future. When I highlighted these concerns to the Minister he accused local public sector managers of ‘looking after their friends’ when choosing where to buy their goods from, yet this government seems to think choosing one company for the

entire public service is somehow the right way to go.If local jobs are lost, which will happen if this is allowed to continue, the value of the procurement framework is undermined and will end up costing more to the State.I have asked for the assessment on the impact of local jobs and I now await the evidence that this assessment was indeed carried out, but have yet to hear back from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin on this.

Legal Challenge to the ESM After the decision of the Supreme Court to refer three questions on the legality of the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in August 2012 a date was set for the hearing in Luxembourg in October.For the first time in its history the full court, 27 judges, of the ECJ sat to hear a reference from a member state court. The hearing took place on October 23rd and heard submissions from twelve member states of the European Union, the EU Commission, EU Council, the European Parliament and my legal team.On November 27th the court delivered its verdict on the referral questions and ruled that the ESM was established in compliance with the EU Treaties. The court also asserted that it had the jurisdiction to hear the case and review treaty changes by the

simplified revision procedure, which had been challenged by a number of member states.The ECJ has sent the decision back to the Supreme Court and we are awaiting a summons from the court to formally conclude the case. More later….

Answers Needed on Public Procurement Policy

Leaders’ Questions I had the great honour of representing the people of Donegal and the technical group at Leaders’ Questions from April to December 2012, where I got to ask the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste a question on a matter of public importance every week in the Dáil.

Issues I raised included mental health and suicide, hospital catchment area policy, job creation in the North West and the protection of the fishing industry. It was very important to me to highlight these matters on a national platform and I look forward to continuing to bring matters of public importance to the Dáil on behalf of the people of Donegal.

Spate of Local Burglaries As you are aware, there have been a number of violent burglaries across the county in recent months and I have brought the urgency of this to Minister Shatter a number of times and will continue to work hard on this issue.The government has shown a complete lack of understanding of the terror that many people are living under in Donegal following this spate of attacks. The fact that such a small number of people can reap havoc on an entire county such as Donegal clearly demonstrates the recklessness of the government’s decision to cut garda presence in rural Ireland with little or no consideration for what is needed on the ground.It has been pretty clear for some time that there has been a major issue with burglaries targeting the elderly in Donegal. The recent violent burglaries on the elderly are utterly despicable, but unfortunately this has been an on-going

problem for some time now.I have been extremely concerned about this issue for some time because of the lack of garda presence in rural areas and the further closure of five stations in Donegal, and the fear this has caused. I highlighted this issue to the Taoiseach in the Dáil late last year at Leaders’ Questions, but it obviously fell on deaf ears and we are now seeing the brutal consequences of this government’s attack on rural Ireland.Speaking on these burglaries in the Dáil, I was informed by the government that the number of aggravated burglaries has gone down by over 17% in the last 12 months. I think if Minister Shatter paid a visit to Donegal and spoke to the victims of these brutal crimes he would learn quickly enough that that is far from the case in Donegal, with low garda presence allowing a small number of criminals to run rampant.

What is needed is the reversal of the decision to close these five stations and the provision of adequate resources on the ground in Donegal to deal with these burglaries which would send a clear message that this barbaric behaviour will not be tolerated in Donegal, or anywhere else. What the people of Donegal need is action, not lip service.

Job Creation Must Be Condition of Seafood Grant Schemes I have called for the creation of jobs as a condition of grant aid under seafood business development and seafood processing schemes to ensure that the maximum number of jobs are created and maintained in the seafood processing sector.Operated by Bord Iascaigh

Mhara, the Seafood Processing Business Investment Scheme which began in 2010 had the creation of employment as a key element in the selection of seafood processing projects for financial assistance under the Scheme, but it was not mandatory.

Speaking in reply to recent questions posed by me, Minister Coveney stated that he is proposing to change grant support for ‘value added’ processing from 25% to 30%, and reduce the grant rate for ‘processing improvements’ to 20% in an effort to steer this sector towards value added processing to encourage diversification and job creation.But grant announcements are misleading for workers in the fishing industry as it appears from grant announcements that are made that they are linked to the number of jobs, but that these jobs are more aspirational and not really the deciding factor.For example the Killybegs High Level Group Report in June 2011 announced the creation of 250 jobs based on grant approvals, but these jobs are not a condition of grant aid making it difficult to verify if these jobs have been created and where.While I welcome the increase in the value added grant, there needs to be a focus on it creating jobs and I am calling on the Minister to create that concrete link by making job creation a condition for such grants.

Supporting Local BusinessI recently attended the Irish Local Development Network’s (ILDN) briefing in Dublin to meet with representatives of the local development companies in Donegal, the Donegal Local Development Company and Comhar na nOileán, and to hear their concerns regarding the potential impact of proposals to align local government and local development, as put forward in ‘Putting People First’ published by the Department for Environment, Community and Local Government last October.The alignment proposals are a serious concern for these companies and present a serious threat to their future viability, and I was glad to meet with them to discuss these issues.

If you’re over 65 and haven’t availed of your free panic alarm, contact my office on 074-97-41880 and we’ll help you apply. To be eligible you must be:

• Aged65oroverandhavelimitedmeansorresources• Livingaloneorwithsomeonewhoalsomeetstheeligibilitycriteria• Livingintheareacoveredbythecommunitygroupadministering the grant support• Abletobenefitfromtheequipmentbeingsupplied• Willingtomaintaincontactwiththecommunitygroup

Closure of Mary’s of Donegal shows government’s failure on domestic economy

The closure of Mary’s of Donegal in recent months is another indication of this government’s failure to the domestic economy in Donegal and throughout the country.This is a savage blow for the staff and community in Donegal Town and the loss of the sixteen jobs in Marys will be hard felt all across the community. This government has totally neglected the domestic economy and the constant refrain of an export led recovery rings hollow for the staff and community in Donegal Town.Where are the commitments to end upward only rent reviews and reforms that assist businesses that this government promised? These changes may not have helped in the situation Marys has found itself in but they could have helped to return confidence to the local economy and encourage people to continue on and shown that the government has the interests of the local people at heart. We can see what an export led recovery means for Donegal when only 28 of the 6,500 jobs created by the IDA are in the North West.The government has totally refused to provide any stimulus to job creation other than increasing the numbers on CE schemes. We need more than that from the people who are charged with the recovery of the economy. They could have used Budget 2013 to introduce a part-time work initiative that would have provided 100,000 places for long term unemployed, supported the creative economy in the North West that has the potential to create up to 18000 jobs in the next five years and provide additional capital spending that will create jobs and improve the conditions for future job creation in the country. Instead the government attacks those that can least afford it and removes billions of Euros from the economy in a policy that even the IMF has said has failed.All across Donegal retail premises are lying empty and more and more small businesses are considering their future and the government does nothing. When will they take action and stop the decimation of our communities through unemployment, stagnation and emigration?What we need is a government that puts its people and citizens at the heart of decision making and not the FG/Labour coalition that is more interested in pleasing the ECB and Europe than protecting its citizens.

Dáil Éireann, Phone: 01 618 3038Fax: 01 618 4118

Constituency Office, KillybegsPhone: 074 974 1880Fax: 01 618 4118

THOMASPRINGLE T.D.

Independent Donegal South West

Constituency Office, Ballybofey & DungloePhone: 087 216 8719

0612

Be Safe on Our Roads Pedestrians and cyclists are our most vulnerable road users, especially during the darker spells of the year and at night. But even as the days become longer it is important to be cautious when out for an evening walk or cycle. I have a number of free high visibility vests in my offices, so drop in or contact my office if you’d like one. Be safe, be seen.

Help Keep Our Communities Clean During the drier months, Donegal County Council encourages everyone to help clean up our rural areas and blue flag beaches, which can be done in by groups or individuals. Equipment can be provided by Donegal County Council and clean up registration forms are in my office to avail of these– all is needed is your free time!

To report illegal dumping in your area, contact Suzann Tinney, Waste Awareness Oficer, Donegal County Council on 074 917

Contact:Email: thomas.pringle@oir.ie Web: www.thomaspringle.ie

Looking after our Mental Health I recently attended the launch of the Samaritans Impact Report last month and met with Suzanne Costello, Executive Director of Samaritans Ireland (left) and Anne Corcoran, Samaritans volunteer (right). This report highlights the increased demand on their services last year, and I have highlighted the need for a more effective approach to tackling mental health and the high rate of suicide numerous times including in the Dáil to the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.

Remember, If there’s something troubling you, then get in touch with Samaritans on 1850 60 90 90

Working With Me Councillor John Campbell, Independent

Mobile: 087 657 4885Email: john@johncampbell.ie

Office: Main Street, Mountcharles, Co. Donegal