New model for local flood relief

Flood relief schemes for Freshford and Piltown are about to begin through funding by the O ce of Public Works.

e OPW is now funding two sta in Kilkenny County Council who are dedicated to managing, jointly with the OPW, ood risk schemes across four communities in Kilkenny. is provides the opportunity to pilot together

Free books for school children

Children attending primary and special schools in Kilkenny and Carlow are set to benefit from free school books from September, Fine Gael TD, John Paul Phelan has said. Deputy Phelan outlined details of a hugely significant funding package which will eliminate the cost to families for all school books, workbooks and copybooks at all primary and special schools.

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Fair Deal is not such a fair deal

An average €1,025 more is payable on behalf of HSE residents in Co Kilkenny under Fair Deal as cost of care crisis persists for private and voluntary nursing homes. Figures show HSE nursing homes receive an average 69% more (€744) a resident, a week, under Fair Deal fees payable by comparison with private and voluntary counterparts.

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Young farmers ‘protected’

Young farmer schemes and tax breaks will be fully protected, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar promised ahead of a planned meeting with Macra na Feirme after their march to Dublin.

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Jobs outlook

with Kilkenny County Council a new delivery model for ood relief schemes.

Minister of State for the Ofce of Public Works Patrick O’Donovan said: “ e history and experience of ooding in these communities has brought devastation and is a cause of great concern to the families, business and wider community.”

“Within the current resource constraints, and from lessons learned to date, trialling a new delivery model for Freshford and Piltown will deliver important ood relief measures for these towns and inform the most e cient approach to delivering the next tranche of 60 ood relief schemes nationally.”

Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny e Government’s investment in ood relief of €1.3 billion to 2030 under the National Development Plan has al- lowed the State to treble, to 90, the number of ood relief schemes that are at design and construction. With the 12,500 homes and businesses already protected by completed ood relief schemes in 53 communities nationwide, the OPW and local authorities currently have work completed or underway to protect 80% of properties at risk.

County Council, Pat Fitzpatrick said he wanted to acknowledge the commitment and funding provided by the O ce of Public Works for these projects and ongoing projects in Ballyhale and Graiguenamanagh.

Economic, health and geopolitical trends have created divergent outcomes for labour markets globally in 2023. While tight labour markets are prevalent in high-income countries, low – and lower – middleincome countries continue to see higher unemployment than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

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