Tag Archives: EU

Irish support for the European Union remains very high and is growing, in particular among young adults, according to a new poll. The Red C poll, commissioned by European Movement Ireland, found 90% support for the EU among Irish people, and that 87% believe that Ireland has, on balance, benefited from the European Union. At 94%, support for Ireland’s EU membership is even higher among young adults in the 18-24 age bracket, up from 85% in 2015. Commenting on the poll findings, Dara Murphy, Minister of State for European Affairs, said, “The findings are particularly significant, coming less than a month before the United Kingdom, our nearest neighbour, goes to the polls on the question of its continued EU membership.” “I’m particularly delighted to see very high support for the EU among young people, with support among the 18-24 age group having increased considerably on last year, to reach 94%.” “Coming from a small open country, I think Irish people …

THE importance of Leader funding to communities in County Clare is set to be raised with the European Commission. The EU rural development fund supports community and economic development in towns, villages and rural areas across Europe. The rollout of the 2014-2020 programme has still not been announced by the Department of the Environment. Speaking from Strasbourg, Liadh Ní Riada, MEP, said the funding must be made available to communities. “The Leader programme delivers much-needed investment to community projects and small businesses outside of our big cities. It is a vital support for so many projects that drive local economies and improve the quality of life in rural Ireland. “Many community projects are ready to proceed with projects and have been waiting for almost two years for this funding to come on stream. “The preparation for the 2014-2016 programme have been marked by confusion, mismanagement and silence from government. “It’s not even clear what organisations will be delivering the programme …

Ireland South MEP, Seán Kelly, has been appointed as lead negotiator and spokesman on European energy consumer issues on behalf of the European People’s Party. The talks underway in Brussels, aim to deliver a new deal for energy consumers and seek to increase the transparency of prices and better empower consumers to lower their energy bills, according to the leader of Fine Gael in the parliament. Mr Kelly, Ireland’s only full member of the Parliament’s Committee on Industry Research and Energy (ITRE), spoke of the work as being a “massive opportunity” to ease the burden on already stretched household budgets. “Years of austerity have been tough on Irish families. Even though our economy is now growing rapidly, the majority of households are yet to feel the benefit – it has not yet made its way into Irish homes. One way we can spread economic growth around the country is by putting money back in people’s pockets. “Taking measures to lower …

A new package of measures has been announced by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to address difficulties in the dairy and pigmeat sectors. This is good news for Clare farmers, according to Fine Gael TD Pat Breen. “These measures are very welcome for Irish dairy and pigmeat farmers. Particularly positive is the decision made by the EU Commission to allow advance payments of 70% under the direct payments scheme and 85% for rural development schemes before completion of controls. These advance payments are expected to be made to farmers in Clare by mid-October and should significantly ease cash flow, he said. Deputy Breen said this package from the EU Commission is the result of hard work at a European level by the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and reflects the majority of the demands presented by the Minister to the Commission in a six point plan. “The increase of more than 100% in the rate of private storage aid for …

County Clare stands to benefit from an amendment to a tourism report passing through the European Parliaments Transport and Tourism committee today (Tuesday), which calls on EU member states to provide free Wi-Fi in tourist towns and areas. Supporting the initiative, Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune commented, “Dublin and Cork already provide free Wi-Fi in parts of the cities and I don’t see any reason as to why we should not be rolling this out to more tourist towns and cities. Tech-savvy tourists would appreciate a way of checking emails, booking attractions, managing their flight bookings, posting pictures and keeping in contact with loved ones back home. In an increasingly competitive global tourist market, Ireland needs to ensure it is leading the way with its tourism offering. “What better advertising can we get than having tourists posting pictures and reviews of our towns on their social media sites? They are posting where they are and talking about their experience, free …

ELDERLY farmers living in isolated areas could be targeted by criminals following the publication of names of recipients of direct Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) payments. Under CAP, for the 12 months up to October 2014, €75.58 million was shared by 6,310 Clare farmers. Farm leaders believe some elderly farmers in very rural areas “are now living in fear that criminals will use the details of their CAP payments as a reason to attack them and extort money from them in their own homes”. The publication of payments on the Department of Agriculture website has been described as an “invasion of privacy” and farm leaders are angry that they are the only group that has been singled out for what they claim is unfair treatment. Farm leaders have also pointed out that the published figures for individual farmers are gross amounts that do not represent the real profit on a farm after all the day-to-day expenses and costs are deducted. The …

Ireland’s house prices were 16.3% higher in the last quarter of 2014 than in the last quarter of 2013, according to Eurostat estimates released today (Wednesday) This is the highest annual house price increase in the EU. The estimates also show that the rate at which Irish house prices increased over the year in 2014 was by far the fastest in the EU. However, the rate of increase slowed down as the year passed; from being up by 6.8% in Q2, then up by 6.2% in Q3, followed by a lower rate of increase of 3.8% for Q4. The year-on-year increase in Ireland is the largest among the EU Member States (for which data are available) for this period, and is followed by Malta (+11.0%), Sweden (+10.4%), Estonia (+10.1%) and the United Kingdom (+10.0%). The average house price increase in the EU for the same period was 2.6% in the EU, and 1.1% in the euro area. The largest falls …

An ambitious new EU energy package could see the Shannon Estuary serve as an energy hub for Europe and save Irish householders money, according to Sean Kelly MEP. The Ireland South MEP welcomed the announcement of the Energy Union and called on member states to work to harmonise their national energy strategies for the benefit of the entire EU. “Increased EU energy cooperation will see us improve the security of our energy supply, increase our competitiveness, and move towards a low carbon system. An integrated energy market brings more competition and ultimately more affordable energy prices for European consumers”, said the MEP. “It is clear that we are far too dependent on unreliable external sources for our energy supply, particularly Russia. There is an urgent need to diversify our energy resources to ensure the European consumer is not adversely affected by geopolitical crises such as the one we have seen in Ukraine,” he said. Mr Kelly said increased efforts to …