KEVIN HUMPHREYS TD KEEPING IN TOUCH Autumn 2013 HARD PRESSED FAMILIES TO 34,000 JOBS CREATED In the last 12 months, 34,000 jobs have been created. 250,000 GET FREE GP CARE FOR people lost their job under Fianna Fáil before the last election. CHILDREN AGED 5 & UNDER Too many are still out of work or have had to emigrate. But progress is being made. In our constituency of Bay In this year’s Budget South over 2000 jobs have been announced in the last 2 years Labour secured funding including: of €37 million for the I first rollout of free GP 800 Jobs at SKY HQ care to children aged 5 or I 800 Jobs at Capita under. This is a I 150 Jobs at Butterfield Fulcrum commitment we made to I help hard-pressed 100 Jobs at Twitter families cope in uncertain I 100 Jobs at Aztec Money times. 250,000 children I 100 Jobs at Swrve Games will benefit from this I 50 Jobs at Realex Payments year’s Budget measure. I 50 Jobs at Ancestry.com Over time it will be rolled out to the entire population. It makes I sense for people to have easy access to their GP so that problems 40 Jobs at Dropbox are caught earlier. If serious illness can be stopped or managed I 35 Jobs at Marin Software before ending up in hospital, it’s better for the patient and cheaper I 30 Jobs at Virtu Financial for the Government. The wellbeing of the country will improve and Kevin outside Google HQ in I 20 Jobs at Groupon this will reduce pressure at A&E’s. Silicon Docks World leaders like Google, BetFair, As someone who had young children, I know the financial pressures PaddyPower and Facebook continue to hire in the area, alongside that an unexpected illness can have. This reform will ensure that many Irish SMEs. families don’t have to worry about finding a €50 fee for the doctor when one of their children gets sick. No parent should have to Restaurants, shops, hotels and tourism activities are showing a prioritise bills when a child needs medical care. This is one of the strong recovery. NAMA is to start investing in the Docklands first steps to a universal health insurance system that is focused on SDZ with strong demand for office space and apartments in that need, not income. area. JUNCTION OPENED BY PRESIDENT HIGGINS President Michael D Higgins officially opened the Junction on Pearse St on 16th September as part of the 40th Anniversary celebrations of St. Andrews Resource Centre. I was delighted to have been able to facilitate the development as a youth café in the evenings and an enterprise centre during the day. It is a project I had worked on for some time in partnership with St Andrews and . It is already proving a great success. What was once Helen’s corner shop now provides local youth groups with a space to plan and meet goals. The Enterprise Centre, working with Inner City Enterprises will enable the self-employed and new businesses to find the support and space they need to get up and running.

Kevin & Cllr. Maria Parodi at the The community of Pearse St have continually proved themselves capable of meeting any challenge, and opening of the Junction I wish St Andrews Resource Centre every success in the next 40 years.

KEVIN HUMPHREYS TD Tel: 01 618 3224 Web: www:kevinhumphreys.ie Kevin Humphreys Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2 Email: [email protected] Flickr: kevinhumphreystd @KHumphreysTD HOLLES ST HOSPITAL ON THE MOVE The Government has committed to co-locating the National Maternity Hospital, currently sited on Holles St, in a new build on the St. Vincent’s University Hospital campus at Elm Park that will cater for up to 10,000 births per year. Both I and Cllr Gerry Ashe who currently sits on the Board of the Hospital are delighted that this long promised project has been given the go ahead. € 150 million will be invested in a state of the art, custom built, modern Kevin & Cllr. Gerry Ashe outside Holles St Maternity Hospital health care facility, providing care to international standards in the most appropriate surroundings and with access to the facilities and staff of a major acute hospital; in short - the best care in the best environment. In the early 2000’s when I served on the Board of Holles Street, this was a long held dream – but the €150 million of funding committed by the Government will make it a reality. This is an issue I have raised many times in the Dáil with the Minister, and I am delighted he has proceeded with what will be a major capital investment in the healthcare infrastructure in our area. Labour in Government is focused on investing in the infrastructure we need for tomorrow that will also Proposed Location of New National Maternity Hospital on the Elm stimulate job creation. Park campus

€30M FOR NEW SOCIAL HOUSING & €25M FOR RETROFITS In Budget 2014, Labour secured an extra €30 million for new social housing. Half of this will be for the construction of new homes, and €15 million will be invested in renovating long-term vacant units back into social use. This will result in an extra 500 homes and I will be fighting to ensure our area gets its fair share as there is a very high demand and lots of vacant flats in need of major refurbishment. This €30 million investment is on top of the 4,500 units that will be delivered nationwide in 2014 through existing programmes. Labour in Government has also budgeted €25 million to improve the energy efficiency of 12,500 local authority houses. This will result in warmer homes and lower energy bills for thousands of families.

€200 MILLION SECURED FOR CHILDRENS EDUCATE TOGETHER NEW PATRON FOR HOSPITAL DUBLIN 4 SCHOOL With the sale of the license for the Due to growing population, there National Lottery to a consortium is a need for a new 16 class led by An Post, the current school in the Dublin 4 area operators, €200 million has been covering Ringsend through ring-fenced for the construction of Sandymount to Ballsbridge & the badly needed, new National Donnybrook. Educate Together Children’s Hospital on the grounds has been selected as the patron of the new school, as the parent of St James. Dublin 4 Educate Together start-up start up group clearly Despite the tough Budget situation, Children’s Hospital to be built on St group meeting with Minister Ruairi James campus demonstrated a parental choice Quinn Labour is committed to making sure for a multidenominational school. this critical health project goes ahead and is built as quickly as possible. Cllr Dermot Lacey said ‘as a parent I We are delighted with this news, having worked closely with parents know how important this project is, and we must ensure our children involved in the campaign. Their hard work and commitment has paid have access to state of the art health care facilities.’ off, and it is intended to open in September 2014 with two classes of Junior Infants. BOOK RENTAL SCHEME FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO HELP TACKLE COSTS It was announced in the Budget that an extra €5 million will be provided for each of the next three years to invest in book rental schemes so that they are available in every primary school in Ireland. Each year, €15 million is provided to schools to invest in school books which should be used to fund rental schemes and reduce the costs to parents. This funding has been protected since Labour entered Government, and we are now expanding it. In 2012, a survey showed nearly a quarter of primary schools do not currently have Kevin Humphreys TD with Minister and Cllr Maria Parodi at the Leaving Cert results day in Ringsend book rental schemes, despite the fact that such schemes can reduce the costs to College parents by up to 80%, bringing the average cost per child from about €100 per year, down to about €20 per year. The extra money will allow for a grant of €100 per child in each school which is not currently operating a book rental scheme (€150 per child in DEIS schools). To further help tackle back to school costs, Minister Quinn is also working on a policy that will require all Kevin Humphreys TD with your Labour Cllr Team and Emer schools to give parents Costello MEP at the Launch of the 2013 South Dock Festival control over the cost of – another successful year! uniforms. INVESTING IN SCHOOLS IN DUBLIN BAY SOUTH

NEW CLASSROOMS FOR EXTENSION OPENED FOR ST NEW SCHOOL FOR SCOIL MHUIRE MATTHEWS HADDINGTON ROAD The Minister of Education has granted On Haddington Road the Department funding to Scoil Mhuire Lakelands for the has bought the former secondary school, provision of 3 extra classrooms. This is a and this will be redeveloped to cater for devolved grant which gives the school the projected increase in numbers in St itself the funding to build the rooms. As Brigid's NS and Scoil Mhuire NS. Design part of this, the school will finance a 4th and development work on this project is classroom. This will replace a prefab, as now at an advanced stage, and planning part of Labour’s plan to provide permission is to be applied for shortly. permanent classrooms for our children, Together with a number of other while two further classrooms are to cater projects in the area, this will ensure that for growing pupil numbers in the area. children have proper classrooms when they start school and not have to rely on prefabs.

Kevin at the Opening of St Matthews NS extension I was delighted to attend the official opening of the 3 classroom extension for St Matthews National School in Sandymount. Congratulations are due to the parents and staff, in particular the Principal for their hard work to deliver on their ambitious plans. The modern extension would not have been possible without all their work. Ruairi and I are delighted that we were able to help them deliver a much needed facility. Kevin on Haddington Road site for new primary school €500 MILLION TO SUPPORT BUSINESS & HOME RENOVATION INCENTIVE CREATE JOBS – 9% VAT RATE RETAINED Tax relief of 13.5% will be available for families who invest The successful 9% VAT rate in their homes in 2014 and has been retained for 2015 following a proposal by tourism services and goods. the . The Home This was due to expire at the Renovation Initiative is end of the year after it was designed to incentivise brought in by our Jobs renovations and increase Initiative in 2011. This demand for small construction jobs. extension will support the The relief will be given as a tax credit over two years on many small businesses in our spending of €5,000 up to a max of €30,000 and must constituency who work in take place in your principal private residence. the growing tourism Supporting Tourism, Investment & Business industry. The scheme will only apply to registered builders with a tax clearance certificates, to help tackle the shadow Jobs and growth are our top priority to get people back to work and economy. Covered work includes extensions, allow us to put public services on a sustainable path. A package of 25 renovations, window fitting, plumbing, tiling and measures was unveiled on Budget Day along with increased investment plastering. in shovel ready projects. These included: I €200 Million extra Capital Spending – using proceeds from National START YOUR OWN BUSINESS SCHEME Lottery License for new round of Sports Capital Grants, road Labour is the party of work, maintenance and repair, 1916 Commemorative Projects and €30 and we want to encourage million for energy efficiency & retrofit schemes. and help individuals who I Reduction of Air Travel Tax to 0% - to encourage new routes, deliver are long-term unemployed new visitors and create more jobs in tourism this will come into to start their business. That effect on 1st April. It is now up to Ryanair to deliver on their promise is why Budget 2014 will of 1 million extra passengers. provide for a two year exemption from income tax I Capital Gains Tax Relief for Entrepreneurs – to encourage people to up to a max of €40,000 per re-invest the proceeds from the sale of business assets into new year for people who have companies and employment. been unemployed for at I Increasing the threshold for the Credit Review Office from least 15 months prior to €500,000 to €3 Million – to make sure SMEs get the finance they starting their own business. need from the banks. This will help people to get I Supporting Cash-flow in Retail – the VAT cash receipts threshold is their enterprise ideas up Kevin at launch of a new SME to be increased from €1.25 million to €2 million. and running, encourage ‘TenderScout’ with founder Tony entrepreneurship and I Protecting Honest & Compliant Businesses – stronger VAT anti- Corrigan innovation. Finance for fraud measures and increased Revenue powers on tobacco, fuel & start-ups can be got from Micro-Finance Ireland and the alcohol smuggling. Government is supporting over €2 billion in non-bank credit Full details of all these policies are available on my website schemes. If you would like to discuss these please get in www.kevinhumphreys.ie touch. Working with your Local Labour Team

Cllr Dermot Lacey Emer Costello MEP 087 264 6960 01 874 6109 [email protected] [email protected] Ruairi Quinn TD Kevin Humphreys TD Phone: 01 618 3434 Dáil Éireann, Email: [email protected] Kildare Street, Dublin 2 Phone: 01 618 3224 Email: [email protected] Web: www.kevinhumphreys.ie Cllr Gerry Ashe Cllr. Maria Parodi khumphreystd 087 2959571 087 682 1420 [email protected] [email protected]

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