Tag Archives: Fianna Fáil

THE Taoiseach will be in Ennis on Sunday week (December 5) for the annual Éamon de Valera Commemoration. Micheál Martin has attended previous gatherings at the de Valera monument in the town park at Ennis Courthouse, in his capacity as Fianna Fáíl leader. This visit has added significance due to Micheál Martin’s role as Taoiseach, and the event will be attended by members of the party faithful from Clare as well as the upper echelons of Fianna Fáil. The event will be the 40th annual commemoration of the founding leader of Fianna Fail, Taoiseach and President of Ireland. The ceremony will be hosted by Clare Fianna Fáil Comhairle Dáil Ceantair. The statue of Éamon de Valera, by Jim Connolly, was unveiled in 1981 and has been the focal point for commemorative events for the last four decades.

Clare TD joins commission to refine party’s direction DEPUTY Cathal Crowe has been given a new role by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin to come up with a national strategy to give Fianna Fáil a major shot in the arm. The Meelick Deputy has been appointed on to a new commission, which will examine the aims and objectives of Fianna Fáil. He is clear on what position Fianna Fáil should hold in the political spectrum. “While Fianna Fáil will be measured on how it delivers in government, we have to stand for something greater. I see Fianna Fáil being a little bit left of centre, republican in outlook, supporting the marginalised by tackling rural isolation and poverty. “Fianna Fáil has a broad church of support but needs a bit of refinement and redefining.” A majority of Clare Fianna Fáil councillors expect a new party leader will be elected once Micheál Martin’s term as Taoiseach ends when Leo Varadkar takes over at …

A teaching union has declined to comment on Deputy Cathal Crowe’s decision to register as a substitute teacher for work in national or secondary school free of charge. The Clare Fianna Fáil Deputy has registered as a substitute teacher for the 2021/22 academic year, to assist Clare schools that are in need of cover. A primary teacher by trade, Deputy Crowe is offering his services to both primary and secondary schools on days when politics doesn’t take up his time. “I’ve registered with Sub Seeker, which is an online platform for school principals to get substitute teachers to cover absences within their staff,” said Deputy Crowe. Responding to Clare Champion queries, the INTO stated as a matter of policy, the union does not comment on the registration status of individual members. The union remains concerned that the national supply panel for primary and special schools, which provides ready access to a qualified teacher to schools requiring substitution, does not cover …

THE possibility that a major public building has defective concrete blocks has been raised in the Dáil by a local TD, who said that if this proves to be the case, it will put Clare “to the top of the list” in terms of government support. Deputy Cathal Crowe made an impassioned plea for Clare homeowners affected by pyrite and/mica to be given equal access to redress scheme and a Local Property Tax (LPT) exemption, currently only available in Donegal and Mayo. Addressing the Minister for Finance, he was sharply critical of the scope of the existing Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme, which offers a maximum of 90% of remediation costs to homeowners in those two counties. “I am of the view that a major public building in a certain county has pyrite in it,” Deputy Crowe told the chamber. “Many people hope it does not. I hope it does for the simple reason it will advance the cause of …

DEPUTY Cathal Crowe has confirmed he will not support any motion of no confidence, if one is tabled against an Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the near future. Media reports have claimed that rebel Fianna Fáil deputies are plotting behind the scenes to oust Deputy Martin as leader after a series of poor opinion polls. There is growing unease within the party after its worst ever 4.6% share of the first preference vote in the Dublin Bay South constituency recently. Speaking to the Clare Champion, Deputy Crowe said the Taoiseach is doing a good job leading the government, which has prevented the economy from imploding and also saved lives in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. He believes the Fianna Fáil party needs to “settle” itself now and avoid any leadership contest at the moment, which would be very destabilising for the party and the country. However, once Deputy Martin’s term as Taoiseach ends, he feels this would be an ideal …

MEASURES to kick-start tourism in the wake of Covid-19 have been welcomed, with Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD pledging to fight to have both the rates waiver and lower VAT rate extended. Deputy Cathal Crowe, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on tourism, also welcomed proposals to extend the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS), as well as to reform the insurance sector and revise the Stay and Spend Scheme. The measures form part of a suite of recommendations made this week by the Tourism Recovery Oversight Group. “Although all the measures to keep the tourism sector buoyant at this time are costly to the State,” Deputy Crowe acknowledged, “it makes sense that they should continue – because simply put, the alternative is to stand back and watch the sector collapse, resulting in a huge amount of other pressures on the State’s social welfare system. In this time, we have seen the tourism sector reach a rock bottom …

WHEN Patrick Wallace, the Returning Office for the constituency of Clare declared the final result in General Election 2020, it fulfilled a long-time goal for Meelick man Cathal Crowe. He had been in politics for a decade and a half at that point, but, by his own admission, he had been “like a child looking through the turnstile at Cusack Park, dying to get out on the pitch”. The first sitting of the 33rd Dáil saw the ball thrown in and Deputy Crowe has been playing at a blistering pace for the last year. “It has been a learning curve and an immense honour,” he said. “Getting the [Dáil] seat was a landmark moment. I’d been trying for a while and, despite the good vibes on the ground, the count was still a nail-biting event and I’m very appreciative of our peculiar PR-STV system. I might have wanted a better result for the Fianna Fáil party, but Clare got the …

President Michael D Higgins has led the tributes to former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator Brian Dr Hillery who has died aged 83 after a short illness. In a glowing tribute, President Higgins said the news of the death of Brian Hillery will have been received with great sadness by all those with an interest in politics and economics, by those who encountered him in a long life of public service, and particularly by his colleagues in the Fianna Fáil Party. Minister Higgins said after taking an early interest in commerce and the economy, Mr Hillery went on to make a distinguished contribution as a Senator and TD for Dún Laoghaire, to his mark in the world of administration and finance, serving as Ireland’s representative on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as Director at the Central Bank, as a Financial Regulator, and as a member of a number of bodies providing advice to Government. “He also held with …