This article is from page 13 of the 2012-05-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
THE Sinn Féin drive to energize the party in rural counties came to Clare last week as party leader Gerry Adams visited Ennis.
The party leader visited a number of locations in the county town last Thursday as part of the party’s rural Ireland consultation process.
“The first phase is to listen, and we will be doing that all over the summer. We believe that rural Ireland in particular has been devastated in recent years – by unemployment, by emigration,” said Deputy Adams.
“A lot of these charges, like the septic tank charge, are a full frontal attack on rural dwellers. If you live in the city, if you are part of a system you are okay, but if you live in a rural area you are not.
“But we thought that the first phase of this should be a listening phase. Whether it is small school, people who have had a Garda station closed down or people who have seen the cost of public transport go up. But particularly people who have the imagination to create jobs – they should be supported.
“An example of this is two brothers who we met just now over at Ennis Mart, who could not get the money they needed to start their business and employ people.”
Sinn Féin will continue its rural Ireland consultation process until the end of the summer and they will produce a document on their finding later this year.