Fianna Fáil County Council candidate James Carroll has welcomed the recent announcement by Mr. Michael Finneran, T.D. Minister for Housing, Urban Renewal and Developing Areas clarifying the actual facts regarding the current position on mortgage arrears and the re-possession of houses.
“The recent statistics from the courts service shows that that repossession is by no means an automatic outcome of getting into arrears. It should be noted that the numbers of repossession orders sought are only a small fraction of the numbers of mortgages in arrears.”
“Less than 10% of repossession orders actually result in the repossessing of houses,” added Mr. Carroll
“Another important new development in this area is the new mandatory Code of Conduct on Mortgage arrears. This builds on the existing voluntary Code of Practice issued by the Irish Banking Federation, and incorporates a requirement for the lender to wait at least six months from the time arrears arise before taking legal action”
“Fundamentally in this difficult time it is incumbent on our financial institutions that they do their utmost to assist those who are recently unemployed and struggling to pay their mortgages,” concluded James Carroll.
The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith TD spoke this week to EU Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to emphasise once again his continued concern for the current state of the dairy market.
Drogheda East County Council candidate James Carroll wants the Minister to press for the immediate activation of all forms of market support “to get the sector through this very difficult period. The Minister will meet Commissioner Fisher Boel in Brussels shortly to discuss these issues further and I will urge him to make the Irish case as strong as possible.”
Emphasising the fact that the outlook for the short term is extremely difficult, the Minister reminded the Commissioner that we are facing an unprecedented situation. Allied to the correction to markets that is now taking place as a result of historically high prices in 2007 and early in 2008, there is the further complication of the credit crunch. These two, in combination, have placed an enormous burden on the dairy sector and have caused a slump in demand as a consequence. While noting the response to date to support the market, through the early introduction of Private Storage Aid for butter, the commitments made regarding intervention for butter and skimmed milk powder, which open for buying-in next week, and the reinstatement of export refunds in recent weeks, the Minister emphasised that “the levels at which refunds and intervention function will be critical to the speed at which we emerge from the current slump”.
The new, young Monasterboice candidate said: “We are at a critical period in the market and as supplies come on stream in abundance in the next few months I strongly believe that we need a multiple track approach – a short sharp utilisation of the full range of market management measures”. This can be achieved quickly with competitive refunds that lead to the permanent disposal of product. In addition, the continuation of intervention for butter and SMP after the mandatory limits of 30,000 tonnes of butter and 109,000 tonnes of SMP are reached is extremely important but will only be effective if the tendering arrangements remain relatively attractive. The Minister also urged the Commissioner to avail of the option open to her to introduce support for the use of SMP in animal feed and aid for the production of casein.
“These schemes would, if appropriately structured and quickly activated, help restore order to the sector that may not recover quickly enough in their absence,” James Carroll concluded.
ENDS
Drogheda East County Council candidate James Carroll is encouraging all local businesses to contact Louth County Manager to provide examples on how to improve Louth’s enterprise environment
This comes after the Taoiseach announced at the Small and Medium Firms Association Annual Awards Dinner a number of new steps to assist the enterprise sector:
Among these:
- reduce regulatory burdens in the planning area;
- to help cashflow to businesses, the Government is introducing, on an administrative basis, a commitment to reduce the payment period by central Government Departments from 30 to 15 days;
- an assessment will be completed by end-April of the impact of extending this to the local authority, health and education sectors.
“All the different County Managers will be meeting their effective line manager, the Minister for Environment and they will also be meeting with the Tánaiste. Now is a prime opportunity for established businessmen, businesswomen and new entrepreneurs to bring their experience and expertise to the table where it will really matter”, he added.
“The creativity, the passion, the discipline and the drive that powered our SME sector is still alive and kicking; Ireland’s entrepreneurs are up there with the best of them. And that has to be a great source of confidence for our country’s future”, concluded the newly selected Drogheda Borough Council candidate for Drogheda North.
ENDS
“The enactment this week of the charities bill is an important event for the charity sector in Ireland”, noted Drogheda East Fianna Fáil County Council candidate James Carroll.
The Charities Act provides for a new Charities Regulatory Authority and a ‘Register of Charities’ upon which any charity operating in Ireland must be entered, and which will be available to the public.
“Charities will have to keep proper books of account, and provide information to the new Authority on their charitable activities, which will also be made available to the general public. This will enable people to verify the charitable bona fides of organisations that call on their support. It will herald in a new era of transparency and accountability for charities,” added James Carroll.
“The charities sector is held in the highest esteem by the people of Ireland, and rightly so. Yet, the absence of regulation leaves the sector as a whole potentially open to abuse, including by organisations who may make themselves out to the public to be charitable in nature, yet are actually profit based”, he said.
“Proper regulation will enhance public confidence in genuine charities, and strengthen the sector as a result, however there is a considerable body of work yet to be done before the new regulatory regime can come into force on the ground” concluded James Carroll, the new young local candidate for this June’s elections.
ENDS
James Carroll has welcomed the move by the European Central Bank to cut its interest rate by half a percentage to a record low of 1.5 per cent.
He is calling on all banks to pass on the cut to their customers.
“It is vital that banks pass on the cut to all customers and to businesses”, he said.
“Some banks have come out already to announce that they will be passing it on, but I believe there is an onus on every financial institute to pass it on.”
“Rates have now fallen by 2.75% since October. The benefit of this must be passed on to lenders who are feeling the pinch in recent months.”
“Banks should not only pass on the interest rate cuts to all their customers, they should also free up money for small businesses that need it so much right now.
“Passing on the benefits of the cut to all customers is in everyone interests because it will help stimulate the economy and I want to urge the banks to do the right thing here and to pass on the benefits to their customers,” James Carroll who is running for the Drogheda East County Council area.
ENDS
James Carroll, Louth County Council candidate for this June’s local elections got the honour of opening the RTE1 TV coverage at the recent Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis at the City West Hotel in Dublin.
James, who was first on at 11am on the Saturday morning spoke on a motion calling on the government to embrace the Smart Economy and the need for Ireland to move to the next level of economic growth which is a research-led economy focused on exporting goods and services.
“I also believe in the need to move towards an energy-secure green economy. We need to start creating jobs in new areas and move our economy in a different direction,” he said during his televised speech.
“It was a great honour to have been selected to speak live on RTE1. A number of people have contacted me as a result of this exposure. As a new, young candidate to receive a TV coverage, such coverage is great for upping my profile and displaying to people what I am about.”
James will also be profiled regularly on Fianna Fáil’s new website, www.fiannafail.ie over the coming three months. He has been selected as one five new council candidates nationwide who will be followed throughout the campaign and who will be making their own blogs and videos while working on issues, out meeting people and trying to secure a council seat as a first time candidate.
“This will be a tough election but bringing fresh and novel ideas and being a new, determined and energetic candidate are strengths that I want to bring to my work on Louth County Council”, James Carroll added.
ENDS
Drogheda East Fianna Fáil County Council candidate James Carroll has welcomed the announcement of €975,000 for Group Water Schemes in Co. Louth.
Michéal Kitt, the Minister for Local Services, a junior Minister at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government published his Department’s 2009 Rural Water Programme this week.
Minister Kitt announced allocations totalling €100m for a range of new and improved rural water infrastructure, mainly to improve drinking water quality in community owned group water schemes.
“There are as many as 5,500 group schemes throughout the country providing drinking water for over 170,000 households, as well as for farms and other local businesses,” James added.
“€675,000 has been allocated for small Public Water and Sewerage Schemes in Co Louth. This vital piece of funding will see a visible improvement in the quality of water.”
“€40,000 has also been allocated for the takeover of Group Water Schemes by Louth’s local authorities,” he said.
“Specific funding has also been ring-fenced for Group Water Scheme Network upgrading totalling €170,000. This is a sizeable amount and should make a real difference for people on Group Water Schemes here in County Louth”, concluded James Carroll.
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Appendix:
Details of the allocations in County Louth are as follows:
| County |
LOUTH |
| New Treatment Facilities for Group Water Schemes |
€ 0 |
| Takeover of Group Water Schemes by Local Authorities |
€ 40,000 |
| Group Water Scheme Network Upgrading |
€ 170,000 |
| Minor Works on GWS Awaiting Substantial Upgrading |
€ 30,000 |
| Connection to GWS to Local Authority Mains |
€ 0 |
| New Group Water Schemes |
€ 0 |
| Small Public Water and Sewerage Schemes |
€ 675,000 |
| Total |
€ 915,000 |
ENDS
The youngest declared candidate in the south Louth area for the County Council elections, James Carroll has encouraged all of those who will be 18 years of age or older on June 5th to register to vote prior to the June local and European elections.
“In the results of the recent National Youth Council survey it was noted that 30 % of young people aged between 18 and 25 are not registered to vote,” noted 25 year old James Carroll.
“A more concerted effort needs to be made to ensure that all those not currently are added to the Supplementary Register before the upcoming June elections.”
“As a new, young candidate, I believe in the long run, we need to review the current system of registration and move towards the automatic electronic registration of young people when they reach the age at which they are entitled to vote,” added James Carroll.
END
Contact Senator James Carroll, Seanad Eireann, Leinster House, Dublin 2
Tel: 01-6184374
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