Speaking in the Seanad on Time to Talk Day and the Special Olympics

Co Louth public areas will get a facelift this Summer with the €90,000 funding allocated to various projects

Senator Mary Moran has welcomed the announcement today that the €90,000 promised to Co Louth in the Public Area Enhancement Scheme has been awarded to various worthwhile projects throughout the county.

“Back in March we received the good news that Louth County Council will receive €90,000 to assist in the works in our public areas. Submissions were invited from community groups and Tidy Towns organisations. The purpose of the scheme is to allow local authorities, in cooperation with community groups, to undertake public area enhancement work before and during the busy tourist season. I am delighted to see that in County Louth there is a wide variety of projects in the list to receive funding, such as the provision of outdoor gym equipment along the Navvy Bank/Castletown River Walk in Dundalk (€21,250), drainage and ducting in the park in Blackrock to eliminate water logging and facilitate the installation of a water feature (€11,250) and other projects dealing with street furniture, the cleaning up of derelict buildings and the improvement of sinage on tourist sites. I would like to wish all the community groups well in their work over the summer months and commend them for their dedication and endeavour to keep Co Louth beautiful”

List of projects and funding allocated:

Tomorrow Friday 16 May is National Time to Talk Day

 

 

 

Let's get talking about mental health this May.
Support the Green Ribbon campaign: Changing minds about mental health ...one conversation at a time.

See Change, the National Stigma Reduction Partnership presents the annual Green Ribbon Campaign to promote open discussion of mental health during May 2014.

• Take part in National Time to Talk Day on Friday May 16th by simply making the time and space for a conversation about mental health with family, friends and colleagues #TimetoTalk
• You don’t need to be an expert to start talking about mental health or have all the answers.  Sometimes the most helpful thing you can do is to let someone know that you are there for them and simply listen. Are you ready to start your conversation? 

Pick up your Green Ribbon at one of the various community events on the national Green Ribbon calendar and at major Irish Rail stations and at every Citizen's Information Centre and MABS office nationwide.

New €2million National Competition to find Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur

Winning business at county level can receive investment of up to €25,000, national winners eligible for extra investment of up to €50,000 

The Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation today (Thursday) launched a new competition to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, with a total fund of €2million available to invest in winning businesses and entrepreneurs in every county in the country. 
This project is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the Local Enterprise Offices.

The competition will be run by the new Local Enterprise Offices, and the winners at county level will be eligible for an investment in their business of up to €25,000, while the winners at national level can receive an additional investment of up to €50,000. Investments in winning businesses will be determined according to business prospects and investment needs. 

Mentoring, marketing and other supports will also be available to participating businesses at various stages of the competition.

The competition is open to individuals aged 30 and under and will be judged under three distinct categories: 
·        best new idea 
·        best start-up business 
·        best established business with new add-on

The first stage will be a county-based competition (run by the 31 LEOs) leading to the naming of the Best Young Entrepreneur in each county. This stage will include boot camps and mentoring programmes. This will be followed by regional finals and ultimately national finals with one business-person being crowned Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur before the end of the year.

There have been expressions of interest from television production companies on the possibility of covering the later stages of the competition in a reality TV format. It is expected that high-profile entrepreneurs will act as judges at various stages of the competition.
The aim of the initiative is to encourage and support a culture of entrepreneurship among young people in Ireland, to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice, and to encourage the establishment and development of new innovative businesses by Ireland’s young entrepreneurs. This is hugely important for job-creation as two thirds of all new jobs are generated by businesses in the first five years of existence – more start-ups and a thriving entrepreneurial culture will lead to more jobs being created. 
Applying is simple – go to localenterprise.ie or your Local Enterprise Office – and the deadline is 30^th June 2014.
Launching the competition today, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD said: "I see the entrepreneurial spirit of young Irish people everywhere I go and the Government wants to support that so that young entrepreneurs can realise their ambitions and their business success can help make recovery local in every part of the country. 

 This competition being run by the new network of Local Enterprise Offices can give a young individual or business a real injection of capital and expertise to take their ideas to the next level. The vast majority of the 1,200 jobs created each week last year were in small, local companies so it is obvious there is real potential to grow further jobs by supporting local entrepreneurs.  This latest Action Plan for Jobs project is another Government measure to do just that." 

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said: “Central to our plans for jobs and growth is supporting more businesses to start-up. Two thirds of all new jobs are created by start-ups, so if we are to create the jobs we need we must support more entrepreneurs to start new businesses. That is why we put in place the entrepreneurship forum chaired by Sean O’Sullivan and that is why we established the Local Enterprise Offices to provide more and better Government supports to businesses in one easily-accessible place at local level.
“Part of this plan is also fostering a stronger culture of entrepreneurship and promoting start-up business as a career option for young people. That is what is behind this new competition to find the best young entrepreneur in every county in Ireland also ultimately Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur. We have excellent start-ups and entrepreneurs in Ireland – we just don’t have enough of them. I urge young people in every part of the country who is considering starting a business, or who might have a business idea – get involved, pitch your idea, take advantage of the mentoring and the supports, and maybe you will be Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur in 2014”.
For further information contact
 Press Office, DJEI, Tel: 01 631 2200, email: press.office@djei.ie 

If you are from Louth you can contact the local office in Dundalk at:
https://www.localenterprise.ie/Louth/ 
or
042-9327099

Speaking in the Seanad on the closure of Drogheda Community Training Centre

Dundalk Women's Aid future secure

Labour Senator Mary Moran has welcomed the news that Women's Aid Dundalk have been allocated further funding of €50,000 per annum towards the running costs of the service by Louth County Council pending the signing of a new Service Level Agreement.

'I am delighted that the future of Women's Aid Dundalk is now secure pending the signing of the new SLA with Louth County Council.  Over the course of the last year I have worked with the staff of Women's Aid Dundalk to deal with these ongoing funding issues.  This news is a testament to the hard work of the staff in the service and is well deserved.

'The future of Women's Aid Dundalk is now secure.  I was delighted to be able to support this service over the last year and I will remain supportive into the future.  Women's Aid Dundalk provide a service which is very hard to replicate and I will fight to ensure it remains in our community.  I am delighted that the incredible value of this service to the community has been recognised

Speaking in the Seanad on Tuesday on the abduction of the Nigerian Children