Waterford TD Conor D McGuinness has been appointed as Sinn Féin spokesperson for Rural Affairs, Community Development, and An Ghaeltacht, by party president Mary Lou McDonald.
Sinn Féin this week announced its team of junior spokespeople, who will work alongside the party’s frontbench team.
Speaking to WLR News, Deputy McGuinness gave his reaction to his appointment, saying: “It is an honour to be appointed to this important position within the Sinn Féin team, with its three key areas of focus. My job is to hold the Government to account and to offer policies and solutions that improve people’s lives and outcomes for communities all across Ireland.
“Community is the bedrock of Irish society – sustaining and strengthening our nation, and enriching our lives. The value of community development has never been fully acknowledged by successive Governments. The wider community and voluntary sector is underfunded, undervalued and underappreciated. Investment in community facilities has not kept pace with the need across the state.
“The fact that there are large towns that don’t have a community centre or family resource centre is an indictment of Government inaction over recent decades. I look forward to working with community development workers, with local community and voluntary groups, and with national bodies to address these issues.
“Rural Ireland has been in decline for decades due to chronic underfunding of infrastructure, policies that make it ever more difficult for people to build a home in their own community, and a sense of neglect and indifference when it comes to the need for public services in rural communities, including policing, transport and post office services. I will be working closely with Sinn Féin’s senior spokesperson on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development, Louise O’Reilly TD."
He outlined some of the key areas which he will seek to address in relation to Gaeltacht areas.
“As someone living and raising a family in the Gaeltacht, and now in my role as spokesperson, I will continue to stand with our Gaeltacht communities and the wider Irish language community," he said.
"I will work with my colleague Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD to vindicate the rights of Irish speakers, to protect community schemes, and to address the housing crisis impacting our Gaeltacht areas.”
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