sean kelly mep june 2010 newsletter

Sean Kelly MEP Newsletter, June 2010

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A chairde,

Welcome to my June Newsletter. In an action-packed month I enjoyed the privilege of having three firsts in my role as MEP.

Firstly, in my capacity as Rapporteur or Report Author, I produced the Report on the International Fund for Ireland. The "Kelly Report" went before Parliament's 736 MEPs and was overwhelmingly adopted.

Secondly, when the Chair of the Regional Development Committee couldn't go to a series of fact-finding meetings and discussions in Mannheim, I was asked to step in and so I represented the Parliament as Chairman at some high level discussions - I made sure to speak slowly so they could understand my Kerry accent!

Thirdly, on Tuesday last I hosted my first Parliamentary Seminar as an MEP, on the future of Sport in the EU. Delegates came from all over Europe and as a result of the conference we have set a target of having 100 million more people in the EU physically active by 2020.

In between there were many highlights, especially being honoured to attend the conferring of the Freedom of Cork City on the great Peter Barry. It was also a privilege to attend Limerick City Hall for the election of Cllr Maria Byrne as only the fourth woman to become Mayor of Limerick in 814 years.

Incidentally my own first cousin, Cllr Gerry Breen, was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin on the same night.

Congratulations also to Cllrs Jim Daly and Richie Butler who were elected as Mayors of Cork and Limerick County Councils respectively and also to the large cohort of

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Councillors who were elected as Mayor of so many of our towns across Munster, proving how large and influential Fine Gael is in local government.

Across the constituency I had the privilege of attending many wonderful events including the following - Tipperary Peace Award ceremony for the late Ted Kennedy and his sister and former Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, 10th Anniversary of Cappoquin's twinning with Chanat in France, the Special Olympics in Limerick, raising the Green Flag in Hospital NS, presenting Student Awards in Ballybrown and the Babymax fundraiser in Cobh.

On the sporting front I enjoyed the games between Kerry and Cork, Waterford and Clare and the Dog Night in Tralee where I pulled two muscles sprinting against some famous celebrities!

On the political front I attended meetings dealing with CAP, CFP, Tourism and Renewable Energy.

The highlight was probably being part of a Fine Gael Delegation to Northern Ireland where we met the Northern Secretary Owen Paterson, First Minister Peter Robinson, as well as the Sinn Féin, SDLP and Alliance leaders.

I spoke about my IFI Report and also queried the situation in Belfast regarding the Stadium Development.

So overall a very good month and thankfully no sign of volcanic ash! May you enjoy a good, volcanic-free Summer!

Le gach dea-ghuí,

Sean Kelly.

In this month's Newsletter:

Page 3: Waterford Crystal EGF Voted Through European Parliament in Presence of Waterford EGF Delegation

Page 4: Shaping the New EU Tourism Policy

Page 5: Enda Kenny TD - Leader of Fine Gael

Page 6: Summer Cheer - Roaming Costs Come Down

Page 7: Haulbowline Toxic Dump

Page 8: Dermot Earley - Salute to a true hero and legend

Page 11: Young Fine Gael Corner - Summer School 2010 Tramore

Page 12: Jargon Buster - the Single Market



David McGuinness, Joe Kelly, Mé Féin, Joe Breslin (Secretary, Waterford EGF Committee), Barbara Matera MEP (Author of Waterford EGF Report), Senator Paudie Coffey

Waterford Crystal EGF Voted Through European Parliament in Presence of Waterford EGF Delegation

I invited Waterford Crystal Workers' representatives and Senator Paudie Coffey to Strasbourg this month for a series of meetings ahead of a key vote to grant €4 million in EGF to help retrain and upskill workers.

There was an overwhelming vote in favour of the fund, which was supported by MEPs from all 27 member states of the EU.

The ball is now firmly in the Government's court - a co-ordinator or one-stop-shop must now immediately be appointed to facilitate the delivery of EGF-funded courses.

There are many lessons to be learnt from the Dell experience and one is to involve the private sector in developing tailor made training for workers;

Sweeping powers must be given to a co-ordinator to facilitate access to courses for workers.



Pictured with Vice President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani

Shaping the New EU Tourism Policy

At the end of May I hosted the first conference on EU Tourism policy in Ireland, Tourism Capital, Killarney. Tourism has recently become a competence of the EU under Lisbon.

It is of utmost importance that the voice of the Irish tourism sector is represented loud and clear in the shaping of this new policy.

To that effect I arranged a meeting with the man in charge of Tourism policy at the EU level - Vice President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani.

In the meeting Vice President Tajani was very positive about the possibilities for promoting EU tourism on the global level - we need to attract as many tourists from the emerging powers to bolster our faltering economies.

Vice President Tajani was also very positive about Ireland and its possibilities for language tourism - he even sent his own daughter to Maynooth to learn English!

I presented him with the key points and suggestions that arose at the Conference in the Malton Hotel in Killarney and two days later I received an email from his office thanking me for the submission and saying he found it very useful and would take the points on board when drawing up his proposals.

Finally, we discussed some interesting initiatives which could be launched in Ireland in the near future - watch this space.



Enda Kenny TD - Leader of Fine Gael

I backed Enda Kenny strongly in the recent challenge to his leadership.

Under Enda Kenny's leadership, Fine Gael has risen from the ashes to the verge of Government in 8 short years. He inherited a party on its knees and has driven it to become the largest party in Local Government and the European Parliament, having scored a historic victory just over a year ago in June 2009.

Added to this Fine Gael gained 20 seats in the 2007 general election, with similar gains recorded previously in 2004 Locals and Europeans.

In other words, every election has seen huge progress for Fine Gael and Enda Kenny has been the driving force behind this.

He has exceptional leadership skills, including, but not merely, his ability to energise the organisation, recruitment and selection of candidates and general sense of purpose for Fine Gael as a party that will radically transform Ireland for the better.

Our various innovative policies such as FairCare and NewERA are a tribute to the energy and impetus of Enda Kenny and his colleagues, who have brought forward the best talents to devise solutions to Ireland's problems.

There are broad swathes of the media that make their bread and butter criticising the Leader of Fine Gael, irrespective of Enda's work.

Much idle speculation about charisma and ability often lead one to think of charismatic leaders in the past, who have led us to ruinous situations.

Therefore, apart from my personal loyalty and respect for Enda Kenny, the objective facts spell out clearly that he is a successful leader of a party which is on the up.



The key traits of leadership are a sense of duty, purpose, energy, organisational skills, honesty, integrity, steel and grace under fire.

Many tough decisions await an incoming Fine Gael-led government, including radical reform of our under-performing public sector and semi-state bodies.

We need a man of steel in the driving seat, a man who is not afraid to face down the vested interests which have brought our land to the brink of bankruptcy.

That man is Enda Kenny, the next Taoiseach of Ireland.

I'm confident that Fine Gael is now more united than ever before and is better positioned to go into Government and to take the decisions that are necessary to get the country back on its feet again.

Summer Cheer: Lower mobile phone bills and no bill shock when returning from holiday in the EU

From July 1st onwards mobile phone charges will be reduced for those of us who use our mobile phones in other EU countries, this is the second time in three years that the EU has acted to reduce roaming charges on mobile phones.

The Regulation introduces a host of measures that will reduce your mobile phone bill when travelling in another EU country from July the 1st, these are:

You won't pay more than 39c (excl. VAT) per minute to make a call. It will cost no more than 15c (excl. VAT) to receive a call. When downloading data unless you have a pre-set limit agreed with your

provider you cannot be charged more than €50. The cost of downloading material from the web will cost 20% less reducing

from €1 to 80c and there will be a further reduction to 50c to be brought in by next July 2011.

Since the EU started to tackle these charges in 2007 the cost of mobile phone calls abroad have been reduced by 70% compared to what they were in 2005.

This is good news for consumers and shows how the EU can work to tackle practices that unfairly target EU consumers. Gone will be the day that you will be afraid to use your phone abroad let alone turn it on for fear of what it would cost you.

It will also be good for tourists travelling to Ireland from the EU and will in a small way help to reduce the cost of holidaying within the EU.



Haulbowline Island

Haulbowline Toxic Dump

I was gravely concerned to hear that there would not be a baseline health study conducted for the Cork Harbour region.

David Stanton TD has been working very hard on this issue and therefore it was alarming to discover, following questions he submitted to the Minister, that the working group set up by the Office of Public Works (OPW) had no remit to address remediation, contamination or containment of the site on Haulbowline Island.

I will be raising the issue with the European Commission to investigate the Government's handling of the toxic dump. I will also appeal to the Commission to provide funds for a clean-up operation and baseline report.

Public health concerns and environmental protection should be a top priority of the Government and should not be swept under the carpet. The carcinogenic and toxic properties of chromium (VI) have been well documented. It is unbelievable that nothing has been done to assess its health risks or clean u the site.

I have been actively researching the issue both in Ireland and at European level. This research has proved very worthwhile and I am formulating a plan of action in collaboration with David Stanton TD

I look forward to working with the people of Cobh and various pressure groups to highlight the issue at European level.



Salute to a true hero and legend

Dermot Earley RIP

WHEN I landed in Kerry airport last Friday, the plan was to turn left for Killarney and home. But instead I pointed the car right towards the N21 and the Curragh of Kildare.

Like most people I was sad to hear of the death of the great Dermot Earley, a hero and legend of our time. Word of his illness had spread far and wide and when the news arrived, we were shocked and saddened.

In 2006, I had the honour of presenting him with an Irish Examiner-sponsored GAA President’s Award.

He valued it as much as an All-Ireland medal. He spoke elegantly at the function on behalf of all the other recipients and I discovered sometime afterwards that he had not only written a letter of thanks to me but to every member of the committee who had organised the function.

A perfect example of what a true gentleman he was.

One of the committee members was RTÉ newscaster, Eileen Dunne. It was interesting to discover that Eileen Dunne’s father, the late great broadcaster Mick, was Dermot’s hero.

Indeed they had played for the same club, which Dermot’s father help found.

He also gave great service to his adopted club in Kildare, Sarsfields. The club, in the best GAA traditions, organised refreshments for mourners at the funeral and you were no sooner in the clubhouse than you felt the imposing presence of Earley as the walls were adorned with great photographs of him from his playing days.



And what a powerful player he was. I will always remember the physical power of the man when I first saw him in Croke Park. The size and power of his thighs was what struck me most.

Years before power and muscle became obsessions for many athletes, Earley had them naturally. He was a brilliant and skilful footballer as well, one of the select few who played minor, U21, junior and senior football for his county in the one year.

Earley did that in 1966 and for the next 20 years he dominated at inter-county level for his beloved Roscommon.

Earley is regarded by many as the greatest player never to win an All-Ireland medal and in Kerry, it is a view I often heard expressed. I don’t think it bothered Dermot Earley hugely. Like the legendary Mick O’Connell, the challenge was to master the game and play it as it should be played.

Nevertheless, if any man deserved an All-Ireland medal it had to be Earley. The great Kerry four in a row team will tell you that Roscommon should have beaten them in 1980 — they were good enough but a bit of luck and lack of experience of playing in All-Ireland deciders meant they fell slightly short.

But if Dermot had been born in Kerry, how many All-Ireland medals would he have? Given his inter-county career stretched from 1966 to 1985, a period in which Kerry won 10 All-Irelands, he could have the record number of All-Ireland medals.

Indeed, if Dermot Earley had been playing for Kerry they would probably have won one or two more All-Irelands in that period. An intriguing consideration.

Having retired from football Earley put a huge amount back into the game.

He managed both Roscommon and Kildare, he was chairman, manager and filled many other roles at club level as well.

When Michael Maguire took over as Roscommon county chairman at a turbulent and fractious time, the man who guided him through it by his regular phone calls and sound advice was none other than the former Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.

Yes, his influence spread far and wide, inside and outside the GAA, at home and abroad.

Dermot Earley was a great hero and as Kieran McGeeney said of his son, Dermot Jnr, lining out for Kildare a few short hours after burying his father: "The Earleys take representation seriously."

Let’s take representation seriously, be it club or county, village or country.



Young Fine Gael Corner

Summer School 2010 Tramore, Co. Waterford.

It is great to see that the Young Fine Gael membership will be heading to Tramore, Co. Waterford for their annual Summer School in mid July 9th-11th. This is a great opportunity for all the young supporters to get involved in debating some key issues that affect young people and also to relax and have some fun.

I hear that the schedule for the weekend is packed with a multitude of activities such as surfing and golfing. For those who are afraid of surfing, there is always Splash World. It is great to see that the Ireland South constituency will be hosting this much anticipated event. Tramore is a beautiful place.

I look forward to hearing the outcome of the discussions and debates. The young people will be the next generation. I am always eager to hear their policy ideas on various topics.

One hundred delegates from throughout the country will meet to discuss motions, boost the campaign of Bye Election Candidate, Senator Paudie Coffey, and enjoy the social side of Tramore.

Amongst the topics for discussion will be crucial measures that Fine Gael will implement in Government to halt youth emigration, provide employment prospects and offer a future to a young Ireland mired in debt

http://www.finegael.ie/yfg



Jargon Buster - the Single Market

The Single Market is one of the great achievements of the European Union. It allows us to move, live, work and trade freely across a Union of 27 member states and 500 million people.

Many of the tragedies of Irish history can be linked protectionism which discriminated either directly or indirectly against Irish people, Irish goods and services.

The infamous Corn Laws of the 19th Century set up a barrier against non-UK corn entering the UK market.

This drove up the cost of domestic corn, driving up food prices and creating a greater dependency on the potato, which led to the Great Famine.

The Economic War of 1934-38 saw Irish agriculture ruined by wrong-headed and self-destructive economic nationalism by both the British and Irish Governments.

The EU Single Market prevents these types of wrong-headed policies from ruining ordinary peoples' chances in life by guaranteeing the freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital.

It allows us to travel freely to other parts of Europe, it provides our businesses with the opportunity to sell Irish products and services to 500 million people without fear or favour from other governments.

It has permitted Ireland to be a hub for multinationals which are keeping our economy afloat despite the implosion of our banks and their friends, the developers.

The Single Market is therefore a silent triumph of the European project. We have guaranteed access to a market of 500 million people.

Without it, we would be set adrift, a small island in an increasingly hostile and competitive world economy.

sean kelly mep june 2010 newsletter

Documents

kelly report

mayor of limerick

mayors of cork

northern ireland

months newsletter

report author

ifi report

freedom of cork city