Taoiseach Enda Kenny took to the campaign trail in Roscommon-South Leitrim yesterday ahead of Friday’s byelection.
Mr Kenny had a number of engagements in the two counties, including the official opening of a community school in Ballinamore, which was built following a 46-year campaign.
He also campaigned in Carrick-on-Shannon, where credit card company MBNA, which once employed more than 1,000 people, is to close next month with the loss of the remaining 160 jobs there.
Des Guckian, an Independent candidate in the byelection, said it was a pity the Taoiseach did not include MBNA on his itinerary and explain to the workers “why the Government let them down”.
Jobs and contaminated water are the key issues in the constituency, where 10 candidates are contesting the by-election resulting from Luke Ming Flanagan’s election to Strasbourg.
Slow on jobs
During a debate on Shannonside radio, Senator John Kelly, the Labour candidate, acknowledged that progress on jobs had been slow to filter down to rural areas, but said unemployment in Roscommon had dropped by 7 per cent in the past 12 months.
Independent candidate Gerry O’Boyle said emigration was an issue. A recent flight from Knock airport to the UK, he said, had been “just like I was walking the town of Castlerea” because so many familiar faces were returning to jobs in London after a weekend at home.
Exempt
Mr Kelly said it was a “scandal” that about 21,000 people in Roscommon were being forced to buy drinking water. He said people living in areas affected by “boil water” notices should be exempt from waste water charges as well as for drinking water.
If this was the case, “Irish Water would get the finger out much faster and solve these problems right across the county,” he said.
Fianna Fáil candidate Ivan Connaughton said it was “a con job” that people who could not drink water from their taps would be receiving bills from Irish Water on the same day as everyone else.
Mr Guckian said there was a danger that if Irish Water became profitable, the Government would sell it off “and then they could charge anything they like for water”.
Mr Kelly acknowledged the closure of the A&E department in Roscommon town was still a key issue in some parts of the constituency.
