Deirdre Clune

AS a proud Cork woman, it was a great honour for me to be elected as a representative for the area of Cork South Central in May 2007. Since then I have met with thousands of people in the area who have helped me direct my fight for the area in an efficient and real way that makes an honest difference to people.

In 2007 I was appointed Fine Gael Spokesperson for Innovation and Deputy Spokesperson for Enterprise. In July 2010 I was appointed Fine Gael Frontbench Spokesperson on Research and Innovation. In this new post I will focus on job creation and economic development, the implementation of the recommendations of the Innovation Taskforce Report and more support for Research and Development based in Ireland.

After qualifying as a Civil and Environmental Engineer from UCC and Trinity College Dublin, I worked in the area for a number of years before my career took a different turn in 1997 and I followed in the footsteps of my father, Peter Barry, and was elected as a TD for Cork South Central. In 1999 I was elected as a member of Cork City Council for the South East Ward where I served until 2007 when I was elected to my current position.

During my time on Cork City Council, 2005 was a special year from me when I was elected Lord Mayor of Cork and represented our wonderful city at its first citizen. The position was extra special for me as my father and his father before him, Anthony Barry, had also served as Lord Mayor (1970 and 1961 respectively).

Throughout my time as a public representative I have seen big changes in Cork. We have welcomed massive investment, jobs and opporutnities. We have world class facilities and amenities that are doing ground breaking work, third level institutions that are gaining recognition and respect in international academic circles and resources that are the envy of the world.

Yet we have also lost thousands of jobs. We have vast housing estates abandoned or only half completed, we have basic services that were forgotten in the Celtic Tiger and many children are still denied a decent education.

Our people need jobs, out children need schools, our families need support. Our city and our county needs the investment they deserve. We need hope and we need to believe in our future that won’t encourage our educated and experienced workforce to go abroad and build up foreign economies.

Cork people are resilient, determined and hard working and we will come back. We will stand out as a destination that supports and encourages innovation, talent and enterprise in both home-grown and international business. To achieve this we will need a change of direction and a change of Government.