It was hugely disappointing that the Government failed to include any capital spending for the Grangegorman Development in their 2012-2016 Capital programme. The capital required is only €80million and it would have led to the redevelopment of the 70 acre campus, 1000s of jobs and a worldclass Education, Health and Community Facilities. As it is the DIT currently spend €3m a year on rent for buildings around the city, this money should be saved and can be saved if the Government commit to free-up even a small amount of capital to facilitate DITs transfer to the campus. It is estimated that even as small an amount as €20million can get the project back on track. At the December meeting of the Central Area Committee I put forward the following motion that “The elected members of the Central Area Committee call on the Government to re-confirm its commitment to the Grangegorman Development and to make available funds to ensure Phase 1 of the campus is completed by 2016.”

Japan
I was proud to represent the Oireachtas Committee for Enterprise, Tourism and employment on our recent delegation to Japan. For almost 70 years Ireland has enjoyed strong diplomatic relations with Japan. Ireland opened it’s first embassy in Tokyo in 1974 In 2025 Ireland renewed and strengthened its presence in Japan


