Sinn Féin candidate slams €124,467 in funding for Longford community centres as 'paltry'
Barry Campion: 'Announcement is tokenism and auction politics at its finest'
Longford / Westmeath General Election Sinn Féin candidate Barry Campion has slammed as 'paltry' the recent announcement of €124,467 in funding for Longford community centres.
News of the funding had been welcomed by rival candidate, Longford Fine Gael Senator Micheál Carrigy, however, Mr Campion was unimpressed.
"Senator Carrigy's recent announcement of €124,467 in funding for Longford community centres is paltry to what is needed with many communities across the county lacking the most basic of sporting and community facilities," he remarked.
Mr Campion continued, "Emphasis must be now placed on repairing and upgrading several existing facilities and initiating plans for new ones. Senator Carrigy's announcement is tokenism and auction politics at its finest."
The first time General Election candidate, who ran unsuccessfully in the Granard Municipal District in the June local elections, stated that Sinn Féin, in government, will commit €1 billion of the Apple Tax money into an Equality for Communities Fund.
He explained, "The money would be invested in working class communities that have been left behind by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
"The fund will be applied using the Pobal Index; not dissimilar to how DEIS areas are identified. It will be operated under the Department of Community and Rural Affairs, and administered by local Councils.
“This will be a targeted capital investment fund for sports facilities, play facilities, community facilities, youth facilities, arts facilities and public spaces to transform communities that bore the brunt of austerity.
"These communities live with barriers created by the austerity created by Fianna Fáil's mismanagement of the economy in the early 2000s and Fine Gael's failure to address inequality in society.
"It is now time to repair the damage caused by years of austerity and the lacklustre efforts of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in the last number of years when budget surpluses were plentiful."