“Fine Gael is standing up for rural Ireland and working hard to spread the fruits of the economic recovery across the country, which will benefit Wicklow and Carlow,” according to Fine Gael TD Andrew Doyle. Deputy Doyle was speaking after the Taoiseach, launched Fine Gael’s campaign “Standing up for Rural Ireland” today (Friday).
“While nationally the economic recovery is well underway, Fine Gael is working to ensure we spread the benefits to every town and village, parish and home across rural Ireland and this of course includes Wicklow and Carlow.
“Job creation has been the absolute priority of this Government. Nationally over 100,000 jobs have been created since the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs but Fine Gael recognises the potential of rural Ireland and we know that we can support more new businesses to set up and support existing businesses to employ more people. In Wicklow the Live Register has decreased by 15% since the launch of our Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. Across Carlow the drop has been 11%.
“The agri-food sector is a big part of this recovery and it is thriving once again. The new CAP deal negotiated under the Irish Presidency of the EU will see 60,000 farmers receive an increase in payments and the €4 billion Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 will develop the economic and social fabric of rural communities.
“A key part of growing economies in rural Ireland is broadband. Since this Government came into office high speed broadband was only available to 300,000 homes in Ireland. That figure has grown to well over a million homes. That is a major jump but we were coming from a very low base. My colleagues and I in the Fine Gael parliamentary party want to see dedicated funding put in place to ensure universal next generation broadband coverage is fully delivered as soon as possible. Broadband is a key driver in continuing to grow and support rural Ireland. That is why we need to see dedicated funding to back up the National Broadband plan.”