FG euro candidate envisages transatlantic college

Fine Gael European Election Candidate Madeleine Taylor-Quinn plans to deliver a €2bn university institute for the West of Ireland if elected.

The institute will be Taylor-Quinn’s key objective. It would be intended as a joint EU-US multiple research centre, funded jointly by the European Union and the United States.

Taylor-Quinn estimated the Institute would require a joint EU-US investment in Shannon in excess of €2bn but claimed spin-off investment to the west of Ireland would total billions more, and deliver several thousand jobs.

The strategy builds on Fine Gael’s policy of developing a Transatlantic Foundation at Shannon, to foster closer EU-US relations.

“If elected as an MEP for the North/West Constituency on June 11, I will work tirelessly to promote the transatlantic cause. I will stand alongside Fine Gael’s partners in the European Peoples’ Party, the largest political grouping in Parliament, to make the Institute happen," said Taylor-Quinn.

“I bring two decades of work for the West to bring the job. And I will use every ounce of that experience to develop the West as the "Coast of Knowledge".”