Other News In Brief

FG Campaigns For Second Free Pre-School Year

Fine Gael by-election candidate for Dublin South West, Senator Cáit Keane has confirmed that she is campaigning for a second free pre-school year.

She said: "There is an increasing body of Irish and international evidence proving the benefits of early intervention for pre-school children in terms of improving outcomes and delivering significant returns to the state, both in terms of economic and societal benefits.

"The existing free pre-school year has benefitted thousands of families in Tallaght, Terenure, Citywest and Firhouse – providing educational and social stimulation for pre-schoolers, allowing parents time to work, knowing their children are in a safe and nurturing environment."

Govt Slammed For Failing To Extend Breastcheck Programme

Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Health Billy Kelleher has warned that lives are being lost because of the Government's failure to extend the highly successful Breastcheck programme to women aged 65-69.

The 2011 Programme for Government committed to an extension of the service in 2014, but the Health Minister has failed to allocate the necessary funding to secure the roll out.

Deputy Kelleher commented: "Breastcheck is an essential programme in the battle against cancer. For every 500 women who are screened, one life will be saved. The service has been extremely successful since it was introduced here and has proved to be a vital tool in cancer detection.

"Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in Ireland, with over 2,700 women between the ages of 50-64 diagnosed every year. However, women aged between 65-69 have a 1 in 10 chance of getting breast cancer but are not being screened.

"Fianna Fáil has been highly critical of the Health Minister's lack of action on this issue. It gave a commitment in its 2011 Programme for Government to extend the programme to this core group of women, in full knowledge of the financial situation the country was facing. The roll out was due to begin this year, but was dropped from the HSE's 2014 Service Plan.

"Over 40,000 women who had been promised mammograms under the screening programme are now losing out, and as many as 80 lives could be lost every year as a result."

Call For Irish Govt Not To Bury Its Head In The Sand Over Tax

Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy has responded to news that the EU Commission is investigating "illegal state aid" given to Apple over the last 20 years.

He said: "The publication today of a letter from the EU Commission to the Irish Government proves how serious the situation is regarding Ireland's treatment of Multinational Corporations.

"There has been an international move towards greater tax transparency and Ireland should play a full enthusiastic role in that process.

"It has been two years since Pearse Doherty wrote to the Oireachtas Finance Committee seeking to call in Apple and other multinationals to discuss their tax affairs yet the Government voted this down in the sub-committee that was established.

"Sinn Féin believes that the tax levied on MNCs should be no more and no less fair than the tax levied on indigenous companies, who generally pay the headline rate of corporation tax and cannot use international tax planning to reduce, proportionately, their tax bills."

(CD/JP)