A round-up of other news stories in brief...
Dublin Bus deal on pay and overtime
Drivers at Dublin Bus will be paid for at least five days a week, but provisions for guaranteed overtime arrangements will have to go under a deal reached between unions and management.
The proposal was drawn up in a bid to avert a planned strike over cost-containment plans. As part of the new rationalisation plan, brokered at the Labour Relations Commission, there will be no compulsory redundancies at the company.
However, new work practices will be introduced which will give management greater flexibility in the way drivers are rostered.
Dublin Bus had sought to let go 160 probationary drivers and reduce its fleet by 120 buses in a move aimed at tackling a projected €31 million deficit this year.
Under the new plan, the fleet reduction will go ahead but the company will offer a voluntary redundancy deal to 80 senior drivers. The drivers will be offered statutory redundancy terms in addition to one week’s average pay for each year of service.
80 jobs to go at meat plant
A midlands-based meat company is to make 80 staff redundant because of a fall- off in customer demand for expensive cuts of beef and lamb.
Dunbia, in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, announced the job losses yesterday. The Dungannon-based company employs 2,500 workers in five plants on both sides of the Border. The Dunbia plant employs 250 people processing lamb and beef.
HR manager Gordon Milligan said there had been a significant drop-off in demand for fillet and sirloin steak and for lamb which is traditionally one of the most expensive meats.
Points notices ‘not being enforced’
Almost one third of penalty points issued to offending drivers on Irish roads have not been enforced, a Fine Gael TD has said.
Fergus O’Dowd, the party’s transport spokesman, said the Government must clamp down on unlicensed drivers to end the “staggering” problem.
Mr O’Dowd also called for gardaí to be given additional powers to remove driving licences from offending motorists to ensure they are properly penalised for their wrongdoings.
Figures obtained from the Road Safety Authority by Mr O’Dowd indicate that 188,581 of the total of 608,324 current issued penalty points could not be enforced on drivers.
Dublin firms to fund drug project
Dublin city businesses are to fund a new Ana Liffey Drug Project initiative aimed at getting drug addicts off the streets and into services and, potentially, housing and jobs, writes Olivia Kelly.
The Dublin City Business Improvement District is providing €25,0000 towards the cost of a bus for the drugs project. Twelve “street ambassadors” who currently monitor litter and give advice to tourists, are also being trained to provide information to drug addicts and refer them to the Ana Liffey centre at Abbey Street.
The centre’s director Tony Duffin said the bus would vastly improve its services.
European sales of Irish seafood rise
The European appetite for organically farmed Irish salmon has seen a 13 per cent leap in annual sales abroad, according to An Bord Iascaigh Mhara.
Total retail sales of all Irish seafood also increased by 12 per cent last year, and there is “considerable potential” for more growth – and more jobs – Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) chief executive Jason Whooley has forecast.
Commenting on annual figures issued yesterday, Mr Whooley said he believed at least 300 new jobs could be created in the organic salmon farming sector alone. The “fundamentals” of the Irish seafood sector were so strong that considerable extra employment could be created with the right approach, he said.