Sinn Féin’s Tipperary General Election candidate Cllr. Séamie Morris has reminded his constituency rivals of his ability to do rather than just talk about doing. Speaking after an interview for the Seán O’Rourke Show on RTE Radio Friday, he said the venue in which the show was held was one he had filled many times with his sports tourism initiative.
Cllr Morris said: “The radio debate was held in the Abbey Court Hotel in Nenagh, a friendly hotel I know very well. Minister Kelly looked through the glass in the door and saw lots of young people down for an all-island Eight-ball pool tournament. He used that as an opportunity to say that his austerity policies were the cause of the economy doing well, and that the group present was evidence of a bustling economy.”
“The fact is the group was sports related and had nothing to do with his efforts. On the other hand, I’ve brought sports tourists to that hotel and filled it more than once. I had the foresight to realise that hurling was a sport which could uniquely drive employment and inward spend, and I also had the initiative to make that happen.”
“One of the teams that came here to learn hurling came all the way from Kansas, USA – twice – and used a double-decker bus, there were so many of them. 50 High School rugby teams from the USA and Canada have been here over the last 3 years. While others are merely talking about the hotel being full, I have actually done that. In those 3 years the hotel has been full several times as a result of me using my initiative and creating the product that drew them in.”
“As Minister Kelly said, Tipperary is the home of hurling. He’s right, it is the home of hurling. But words are cheap. Anyone can say what he said, but only I had the insight to turn that fact into employment for the young people who are working here now.”
“Minister Kelly also claimed direct involvement with the arrival of First Data. While I welcome the arrival of First Data – and hope the company will do well here with the well-educated and hard-working workforce available to them in Nenagh, we’ll wait until they arrive and get going before we celebrate. Towns in Tipperary need jobs, but they need them now. A job at the distant end of a pipeline isn’t enough, when a mortgage is due this week.”
“Up and down the county people are recognising that I have been innovative in how I do things. I could have complained, and I could have whinged. But instead, I used my time as a politician to create tourism and to create employment for the young people in our county.”
“It’s up to the people to decide, but if they don’t like how things are now, and they don’t want more of the same, they’ll have to decide to make the change and vote Sinn Féin.”
