2015

Farmers in Wicklow to get €523,830 in AEOS payments, which are to begin this week – Doyle

Andrew 2015, Agriculture, Wicklow - East Carlow

Fine Gael TD for Wicklow/East Carlow, Andrew Doyle says farmers in Wicklow are to get €523,830 in AEOS payments.

“The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney has announced that the AEOS payments to farmers in Wicklow are to begin this week, following the completion of detailed verification checks by his Department. These checks are required under EU regulations.

“The scheme is designed to help protect wildlife habitats, endangered species of flora and fauna and the broader rural environment in Wicklow and underpin the production of quality food in an environmentally friendly manner.

“In total more than €45 million will be paid out to farmers across Ireland before Christmas. This will bring the total paid out on AEOS for the year to in excess of €75 million.

“It follows on from over €5 million paid out to the remaining REPS farmers at the end of November, which brought the total paid in REPS for 2015 to over €30 million for the year.

“These payments will be a welcome boost to farmers in Wicklow. Fine Gael has a long term plan to keep the recovery going and part of this plan is to ensure we support and assist our farmers, who are the backbone of this country and our economy.”

 

Science and innovation strategy key to keeping our recovery going – Doyle

Andrew 2015, Dáil Éireann, Jobs Enterprise Innovation, Wicklow - East Carlow

science_centre_spiral_webFine Gael TD for Wicklow/East Carlow, Andrew Doyle, has said that we cannot underestimate the importance of the Government’s Innovation 2020 strategy which was launched by the Taoiseach and Ministers English and Bruton.

“This five year strategy will be vital to Ireland’s future economic success and our ability to create good quality jobs and attract employers.

“Our jobs strategy is aimed at creating a new economy based on exports and enterprise, and delivering full employment on a sustainable basis. Innovation 2020 will form a cornerstone of this strategy.

“Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur finals provided an insight into the wealth of talent that exists in the county. James Keogh of Wicklow won the prize for best established business at the age of 29. And last year Showoff were regional finalists in the competition”

“A key ambition of the Strategy is to increase total investment in R&D in Ireland, led by the private sector, to 2.5% of GNP. On current official projections, this would mean that over €5 billion will be invested per year in R&D by the private and public sectors by 2020. This will represent almost doubling current levels of investment (€2.9 billion in 2014).

“Fine Gael has a long term plan to keep the recovery going. We are seeing economic progress, with over 135,000 more people at work, but we cannot take for granted that stability and recovery will continue.

“Our plan will deliver;

1. more new jobs, spread right across the country

2. jobs that pay more than welfare, where hard work is rewarded

3. affordable, sustainable improvements in services using the resources from growing employment.”