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FINE GAEL TD for Roscommon/South Leitrim Frank Feighan has announced he will not be contesting the general election.
He said the decision was personal and the party did not put pressure on him to not run in the Roscommon/Galway constituency this time around.
Feighan came under fire from constituents when he voted in favour of replacing Roscommon A&E with an urgent care unit and an out-of-hours GP service. His colleague Denis Naughten lost the party whip for voting against Fine Gael on the issue.
When asked if his decision was in any way influenced by party headquarters, Feighan said: “Not at all.”
In a statement issued this evening, he noted:
“This is a personal decision which is one I have not taken lightly but one I feel is taken in the best interest of my party and my constituency.
Roscommon Hospital will always be associated with my name. And I’ll always take pride in the fact that not only is Roscommon Hospital safer, but has a long term future with a €20 million investment plan taking place there. The introduction of the air ambulance and advanced para-medics has saved many dozens of lives.
Fine Gael Councillor Maura Hopkins ran as the party’s candidate in last year’s Roscommon/South Leitrim by-election. She is the frontrunner to be chosen to run in Roscommon/Galway now Feighan has stepped aside.
The Taoiseach praised Feighan in a separate statement, describing him as “a man of great courage, integrity and loyalty”.
He commended his work as a councillor and Senator and as a TD since 2007.
“I want to sincerely thank him for his hard work and excellent service to the people of Roscommon/South Leitrim over the past 16 years.
“Frank has worked tirelessly to help this government deliver infrastructure projects and enhanced services to the people of Roscommon and Leitrim, including making Roscommon Hospital safer and relentlessly working to resolve the water crisis in his constituency,” Kenny said.
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“At a cost of 32 million to the exchequer” Should say at a cost of 32 million to PRSI paying employees and self employed.
Government is very quick to take our taxes but they nearly begrudge us getting anything back for it, lol
@Jp Vaughan: its not about what you can get back but what more will go into their pay off’ s and their pension. That gives them something to smile about.
@Jp Vaughan: I was thinking the very same thing!!
“your PRSI” – therefore the scale & polish is not ‘free’ rather it has been ‘pre-paid’ When you get something from the government it is not free, it has been paid for by taxpayers
@Peter Buchanan: absolutely and remember we used to get money off fillings and extractions but the government annihilated those services in 2010 just leaving the dental check up.. cute wh0res are FGFF, we are paying for these services out of our own money anyway
After loosing my job in 2013 I went back to college to educate and up skill myself, completed a 4 year degree and gained immediate full time employment, to told at the dentist you need to be in 5 years full time employment to avail of the free visit, I guess the previous 19 years employment didn’t count.
@Lobert Rester: Well done you and best wishes for the future.
The ironic thing is that a workshy politician only has to spend a few months to qualify for pension and benefits.
Good old Ireland.
Lisa need braces
@Faixa Roxa: dental plan
@Faixa Roxa: €4000-5000
@Faixa Roxa: €4000-5000
@Faixa Roxa: some orthodontists do payment plans.. ring around, I did
@Faixa Roxa: these braces are painless, invisible and periodically emit a delightful burst of Calvin Klein “obsession ” for teeth..
@dan: we don’t have a dental plan right now..
” these braces predate stainless steel, so you can’t get them wet”
@Faixa Roxa: for God’s sake will someone please think of the children
So government provides people services with their (the people’s) own money – (while conveniently not mentioning the billions they waste on pet projects and privatising national resources) – and pats themselves on the back for being generous #voteffg
Not really free.
@Paul Freeman: agreed still cost me €30 for my ‘free’ scale and polish
If you are in a position get any part of it back from the taxes youve paid, all the better, but don’t put off that trip to the dentist any longer; untreated periodontal disease is linked to multiple other problems from Alzheimer’s disease to male infertility. (I’m a sufferer, with no connections to a dentist apart from the bills!)
@Yam Crum: well done for highlighting the links between gum disease & our general health
Free dental check is loved by dentists to get you in the door so that further expensive treatment can be identified and recommended.
@Tim McCormack29: you show your dentist by staying home with rotten teeth. That’ll show the money grabbers.
@Tim McCormack29: The kind of freebie known in many professions as “the sprat to catch a mackerel” :-)
@Tim McCormack29: nonsense. A dentist isn’t going to make up treatment for anybody
@John Paul: Not true.. Panorama in the UK asked people to get a check up and they were first checked that they did not need any work..
Some dentists found work that “needed” to be done.
Only 4,422 people claiming the medical devices …
Have they not heard about it?
@Rob Cleary: They have but there’s a lot who are working who don’t qualify due to their PRSI status such as civil and public servants on older pay arrangements.
@Belebop: sorry what?
@Rob Cleary: Did you not know? There’s thousands of public, semi state and civil servants who pay either partial or no PRSI. Their jobs were seen as jobs for life back in the day, therefore no requirement to contribute. If they got sick they would get full pay, reducing as per length of illness it was part of their service contracts. Sounds great but in reality long term illness led to many retuning to little or no pay for weeks. The system was abolished in recent years with changes to the pay scales of new entrants to the service. All pre1995 and most post 95 pay no PRSI, reducing to a small number of post 2003 workers. Everyone after that pays PRSI so can avail of the schemes.
@Belebop: sorry what, can you speak up?
It is great to finally get something back in direct relation to the PRSI taxes taken out every month.
Crumbs from the swill trough to keep the peasants happy while the pigs bury their snouts .
They base it on your peso payments from two years ago, don’t they?
So your payments in the last year are. It counted. If you were out of work or contracting, then tough, gotta pay up yourself.
Can my wife claim from my PRSI?
@Harry Trafford: yes
Everyone should take advantage of this its good to get something back.
https://www.sisuclinic.com/blogs/teeth-whitening-dublin-best-and-cheapest
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