A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Poll shows 60% of farmers to vote FG
Some 60 per cent of farmers surveyed in a Red C poll published in today’s Irish Farmers Journal say they will vote Fine Gael, writes Seán Mac Connell.
The poll found only 19 per cent of those polled will vote for Fianna Fáil, five per cent each for Labour and Sinn Féin, 10 per cent for Independents and 1 per cent for the Green Party. Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney, (23 per cent) is seen as the best candidate for the next minister for agriculture, followed by Jimmy Deenihan (18 per cent) and Denis Naughten (16 per cent).
On who would make the best taoiseach, Micheál Martin and Enda Kenny each polled 39 per cent.
Call to postpone Seanad elections
Elections to the next Seanad should be postponed to allow time for it to be abolished, according to Independent Galway East candidate Sean Canney, reports
Paul Cullen
.
Mr Canney warned if a new Seanad is elected its members may not be dislodged for up to five years. He said if elected he would seek abolition of the Seanad and postponement of elections to it in return for his support.
“The Seanad has been used as a creche for young politicians and a retirement home for older ones,” he said.
A county councillor since 2004, Mr Canney doubled his vote to more than 3,300 in the last local elections.
Call for return of oil and gas resources
People Before Profit has called for the return of Ireland’s oil and gas resources to public ownership in order to help generate revenue for the State, reports
Elaine Edwards
.
The party, which is part of the United Left Alliance umbrella group in the election campaign, published its policy on energy and natural resources yesterday.
Dr Kieran Allen of the school of sociology in UCD, who helped produce the policy, said there was an estimated €750 billion worth of oil and gas off the coast of Ireland at a “conservative” estimate.
The party had not had the benefit of access to expertise within the Department of Finance in order to establish exact figures or to assess the potential for generating revenue from such resources, however.
Dr Allen said Ireland had the “second lowest” government “take” in the world from natural resources.
“If a county is in massive debt, what are you going to do about this?”
He said Norway, a comparable country, took 78 per cent from its natural resources while Ireland’s “take” was just 25 per cent.
State told it should stop paying subvention to fee-paying schools
The State could save more than €90 million by discontinuing the payment of subventions to fee-paying schools, the United Left Alliance said, reports
Fiona Gartland
.
Last year, €90.5 million was provided by the Department of Education to 55 fee-charging secondary schools for teachers’ wages. These do not get per capita funding to cover running costs. The largest sum, €5.8 million, went to Blackrock College, Dublin, which had 58 teachers; St Andrew’s College in Booterstown, with 52 teachers, got €3.27 million; and Belvedere College, with 51 teachers, got €3.2 million. A department spokesman said teachers in all recognised schools, including fee-paying, are paid by the State.