Landbank locals say Minister Foley’s role is critical to their future
REPRESENTATIVES of the communities of Tarbert and Ballylongford were among the first to congratulate Deputy Norma Foley on her elevation to senior cabinet this week.
This was despite Minister Foley’s support for a Programme for Government that appears to have knocked the long-awaited economic saviour of LNG entirely on the head.
Now, they say their future is riding to no small part on Minister Foley’s shoulders as they called on her to hold the Government to account in its latest promises for the landbank and its communities.
“We wish to congratulate Minister Norma Foley on her appointment as Minister for Education and wish her the very best of luck in that role,” John Fox of the Tarbert Development Association said on Monday.
“We’re confident that Norma will keep in mind the people of Kerry, in particular the people of North Kerry and Ballylongford and Tarbert. She’s in a position of influence at the top table now so to speak and, as such, will be aware of everything going on.
“We know she will keep all parties to account and to honour their pledges to have something established within three months’ time, to come up with some positive ideas and some flesh on the bone for this area.
“Public trust out here is at an all-time low, but having said all of that, we would be confident that Norma will do her bit in her position.”
Minister Foley met with members of the Tarbert Development Association, Ballylongford Enterprise Company and Shannon Business Alliance just days before getting the nod for top table in a meeting locals described as ‘well worthwhile’.
Mr Fox said they were especially pleased that the now minister travelled to Ballylongford to meet with them on the issue of LNG and the economic future of the area.
“We were delighted that she came out to meet us, and though there is no indication of anything concrete in terms of the package promised in the next three months, we are confident our new minister will watch out for our spot bearing in mind the role the Government has to play,” Mr Fox said.
Green Party pledges on future offshore wind plans are far off the mark for locals, also.
“There is the potential to have maybe 50,000 MW of electricity generated offshore by wind, but it will take ten to 15 years to even get started on that process. By the time you would have harnessed 50k MW, you’re looking at 40 years. We need to see people clocking in and out in jobs on the land-bank in the near future, battery farms and the like won’t do the job. When you look at the schools, class sizes are getting smaller and we have to amalgamate teams to play matches...we just can’t afford to give up on our community as it will die if we do.”