Fianna Fail will today announce its manifesto for the South Tipperary by-election, promising to make the constituency the "information technology capital" of Ireland. Fine Gael said last night the plan was yet another cynical attempt to buy votes.
In its "Vision for the Future of South Tipp" to be announced in Clonmel, Fianna Fail said a fibre optic cable to be laid later this year will give south Tipperary access to the Internet at a speed 20 times greater than most parts of the State.
The cable, which can handle up to 30 million phone calls simultaneously, will pass through the towns of Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and Tipperary, and will be the basis for an "economic development corridor" through the constituency.
The party's candidate, Mr Barry O'Brien, said Government funding for the project had already been secured.
A Fianna Fail spokesman said other counties would also have access to the cable, which was landed in Wexford in February as part of a £60 million joint investment involving the Government and the telecommunications company, Global Crossing.
But he said South Tipperary would benefit to a greater extent because other counties would receive the cable in their principal towns only, with spurs connecting it to other centres. The investment in South Tipperary was part of a long-term strategy, which will make it easier for the IDA and other agencies to attract high-tech jobs to the area.
Fine Gael's director of elections, Mr Charles Flanagan, said the Taoiseach had said on local radio last week he "didn't want to be doing things" simply because there was an election. "Yet we are now looking at the third attempt in the space of a week to buy votes in Tipperary South."
"The people of Tipperary will not be fooled by such a blatant act. This latest attempt at auction politics raises the question of why the people of South Tipperary were so undeserving for the last three years and are so deserving now. This desperate act by Fianna Fail is further evidence that their candidate and campaign is floundering," he said.
Labour's candidate, Ms Ellen Ferris, welcomed the announcement but said it was only part of the investment programme needed in the constituency. "We must invest in people also by providing high-quality information technology courses targeted at those without jobs," she said.
She called for the opening of centres of the Clonmel-based Tipperary and Rural Business Development Institute (TRBDI) in Tipperary town, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel and Cahir.
The Independent candidate, Mr Seamus Healy, claimed the announcement was a reaction to pressure placed on the Government to make jobs an issue in the campaign. "But we need more than promises. We need an announcement of jobs and an announcement of decentralisation for South Tipperary before this election is over."
Other elements of the Fianna Fail manifesto include continued investment in the TRBDI and support for South Tipperary to be included in the forthcoming Government decentralisation programme.
On transport, the party says it will ensure the constituency benefits from an increase in funding for county roads, and will ask CIE to provide regular services, linked with railways, for commuters travelling to Limerick, Thurles, Tipperary, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir.
