It has been an honour to represent Donegal in Government as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine over the past four and a half years. I have sought to maximise this opportunity to deliver in every way possible for our county.
I have worked extremely hard to deliver for the people of Donegal while serving as a Cabinet Minister. I ask for your support in this election on Friday, November 29th and pledge to continue to work to deliver further progress for our county if re-elected.
I was glad to ensure Cabinet approval in July for the TEN-T project to apply for planning permission following completion of route selection as well as design and pre planning reparation work.
The new Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme continues to roll out with over 300 houses now under construction in the county and over 50 fully completed. The first annual increase in rates under the scheme was agreed by Cabinet in October and will see an average 8% increase in payments for all currently in the scheme and the overall cap increase by 10%. This will see the average grant paid under the scheme rise by €26,000 to €356,000 with an additional €37,500 also available through SEAI energy grants. The maximum funding available under the scheme for rebuilding a home has now risen to €499,500.
As Minister for Agriculture, I have worked to deliver a strong CAP that ensured fairness for Donegal farmers.
Over the past four years as Minister for the Marine, I have delivered funding for 25 pier and harbour projects across Donegal. Of the €50 million spent on county council owned piers and harbours nationally, €28 million has been spent in Donegal.
In September of this year, I was delighted to announce along with the Minister for Higher Education that ATU Letterkenny will be the location for one of Ireland’s two new veterinary colleges.
Donegal received the fourth highest allocation in the country after Dublin, Cork and Galway in the Sports Capital Grant allocation by Minister of State for Sport, Thomas Byrne, in September seeing a total of 89 clubs receive record funding of €13.5 million.
Carndonagh Community Hospital has seen investment of €4.24 million to complete a significant refurbishment and upgrade while €4.33 million has been committed for improvement works at Buncrana Nursing Unit. Letterkenny University Hospital has also seen significant investment over the past four years with over 200 extra staff recruited and the delivery of 49 additional acute beds. Construction work is well advanced on the new €59 million Letterkenny Community Hospital.
I am looking forward to meeting as many people as possible over the coming weeks and putting forward my track record of delivery over the last four and a half years as a government minister.
Thank you.
Contact Information:
Email: charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 074 91 373131 (Carn) 07 917722 (Letterkenny)
