Thousands of families across the South East who applied to the government for help to meet the cost of their children going back to school face the prospect of not receiving any help until after the new term has begun, Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, has discovered.
Under pressure Community Welfare Officers have been working [...]
Thousands of applicants face delays – John Paul Phelan
Special Needs Children requiring speech and language therapy now forced to travel
PUPILS with special needs will now have to travel long distances and will lose even more class contact time with teachers and classmates because of further government cutbacks which are again hitting the most needy and vulnerable in society, Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, says.
He and his Seanad colleague, Paudie Coffey, FG, are furious [...]
Jobs crisis hits new heights as dole queues in Kilkenny edge towards 7,300
ONLY a fresh, new government with costed plans and a common sense approach to tackling the deepening jobs crisis in this country will put Ireland back on track and save a whole generation of young people from the looming prospect of choosing between emigration and a decade on the dole, Fine Gael Senator, John Paul [...]
Intellectual disability services decimated by HSE cuts
Fine Gael Senators John Paul Phelan and Paudie Coffey have criticised the scale of the reduction in services available to people with intellectual disabilities in recent years, after the matter was raised in the Oireachtas Health Committee.
Continued HSE funding cuts of millions of euros have forced service providers to radically reduce the type and level [...]
Speech by Senator John Paul Phelan to FG selection convention
Why are we here? If your answer is a shared set of values and beliefs, my answer is that is not enough. That can be the basis of a club but a not political party.
Along with values we must share a common purpose, and that purpose must lead on to action. A political party exists [...]
Reverse proposed Kilcreene cuts now
Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, has said proposed cuts at Kilcreene Orthopaedic Hospital will force countless elderly people and others who are in severe pain and languishing on growing waiting lists for hip, knee and other necessary joint operations to endure further hardship and discomfort.
The 31 year-old Carlow-Kilkenny Senator made his comments in the [...]
Credit still not flowing, despite taxpayer billions propping up banks
DESPITE pumping billions into our banking system, financial institutions are still refusing to lend or extend credit to keep viable businesses experiencing short-term cash-flow problems afloat, Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, says.
Speaking in the Seanad in the wake of an independent report into the banking crisis which continues to cripple the Irish economy, the [...]
School transport hike is anti-family & anti-rural
Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, has slammed Government plans to hike school transport fees from €300 to €500 and to impose such charges on primary as well as secondary school children.
“This measure is anti-rural and anti-family. It will undermine the viability of school transport in rural parts of Kilkenny; it will demolish the concept [...]
Increase PLC places and grant WIT university status so rural Kilkenny students can stay in the region- Ph
As leaving certificate students across Kilkenny knuckle down in the final weeks ahead of their June exams, Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, says farm families will be under more pressure than ever this year to finance the growing cost of their children attending third level.
He has urged the Government to lift the cap on [...]
AGRI-DIESEL must be exempt from carbon tax
AGRI-DIESEL must be exempt from carbon tax and already cash-strapped farm families who have no viable alternative cannot be further penalised, Fine Gael Senator, John Paul Phelan, says.
He’s calling now on Fianna Fail back-benchers to stand up and be counted and to follow the French government’s lead. The French have already parked the notion of [...]