Junior doctors face longer working weeks

Junior doctors face longer working weeks if a new Labour Court directive is adopted.

The Court has issued a ruling on the working hours of junior doctors, which recommends that their working day and working week should be extended, and which severely limits the opportunity for doctors to earn overtime pay. Junior doctors are currently rostered to work from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Thursday, and from 9 am to 4 pm on Friday. Any work they do at night and at weekends is considered overtime, reports irishhealth.com.

The recommendation, if implemented, will lead to major savings for the HSE in junior doctor overtime pay at a time when it is trying to cut payroll costs. The IMO is to meet later this week to discuss the proposal and will ultimately ballot its members on it. In excess of €260 milliion per annum is spent on junior doctor overtime.

In-store tobacco advertising ban to be enforced from tomorrow

A ban on the display and advertising of tobacco in retail stores will come into effect tomorrow.

Tobacco will now be placed in closed plain containers behind the counter.

Vending machines in pubs will be token operated and within the sight of the bar manager, reports RTE.

Bus Eireann cutbacks talks underway

Management and unions at Bus Eireann are today engaged in talks at the Labour Relations Commission in a bid to resolve a dispute over the company's cost-cutting plans.

A planned strike over the €30m cutbacks was deferred last week after the Commission invited both sides to discussions. Bus Eireann wants to shed up to 320 jobs and alter the working conditions of employees.

However, the company has agreed to suspend implementation of the cuts pending the outcome of the latest talks.

Killeen Calls On EC To Stimulate Dairy Market

Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen, T.D., has pledged his support to measures being put forward by the Irish Government aimed at securing additional supports for the Dairy Industry.

The Clare Deputy said that the European Commission had been presented with a set of proposals including an extension of closing dates for private storage aid and the removal of the "free at frontier" price for cheese. “The European Commission must continue to support the milk market effectively, and that further support for the Dairy Industry is absolutely essential and urgently needed”, stated Minister of State Killeen.

He continued: “Along with my colleague Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith I urge the EC to consider removing the "free at frontier" price for cheese that is blocking the use of export refunds for certain cheeses. This is a self-imposed technical impediment not warranted in the current circumstances. Furthermore, the EC should consider extending intervention purchases of butter and skimmed milk powder beyond the end of August and extending closing dates for private storage aid.”

Minister of State Killeen stressed the need for the EC to continue to step up efforts to stabilise the situation and stimulate the market.

Woman dies in Carlow house blaze

A 27-year-old woman has died following a house fire in County Carlow in the early hours of this morning.

Fire Officers were called to the scene of the blaze at Dereen Heights in Carlow town, at around 3am. A number of units attended the scene.

Weekend disruptions for rail users

A security alert on the Belfast to Dublin railway line has disrupted cross-border train services.

Bus transfers between Newry and Dundalk are currently in operation due to the alert.

Meanwhile, rail users are being warned about major disruption to train services at Dublin's Heuston Station this weekend. Bus transfers will be in place for all inter-city routes into and out of the station from 8pm this evening until Sunday night. The closure is due to work on the Kildare Project, which involves the construction of new tracks and stations between Hazelhatch and Dublin.

Staff walkout threat at 19 Tesco stores

Strike notice was today served on 19 Tesco stores around the country amid claims some workers have had more than €100 knocked off their wages.

The Mandate trade union maintains a dispute around the company breaching an existing agreement regarding reduction of workers hours has caused the industrial action, according to breakingnews.ie. Its Tesco members voted 95% in favour of strike action, which will start on Thursday July 2. Two more days of walkouts are planned for Thursday and Friday, July 9 and 10.

The stores affected are: Arklow, Ashbourne, Bloomfield, Carlow, Crumlin, Gorey, Greystones, New Street in Killarney, Longford, Naas, Navan, Newbridge, Omni, Poleberry, Rathfarnham, Roscrea, Roxboro, Tralee Manor, and Wicklow.

Post office raid in Kildare

An armed raider has escaped with an undisclosed sum of money after holding up a post office in County Kildare today.

The incident happened in Castledermot at around 10.30am, reports breakingnews.ie. The raider, who had his face masked, threatened staff before making his escape in the Carlow direction.

No shots were fired and nobody was injured during the robbery.

Carlow arts complex requires extra funds

An additional €400,000 is required to complete works on an €8.5m Carlow Visual Arts centre, the town and county councils have been told.

Town Clerk Joe Watters described the development as the "dawning of a new future" in the town. He told local authority representatives a further €400,000, from both county and town councils, will be needed to clear off final costs.

Agreement on future development of Carlow Town

Plans for the future development of Carlow town centre have been passed by local representatives, placing greater emphasis on business expansion.

The proposals had been on public display for ten weeks. Several planning submissions were forwarded to the local authority during that time, reports build.ie.

These related to the upgrade of the N9, the promotion of Barrack Street as the core of Carlow town and business developments in the town centre.

Jobs blow for Carlow

160 jobs have been axed at a manufacturing plant in Carlow.

A further 100 positions at Braun will be saved and transferred to the company’s Newbridge site by mid-2010.

Management said the job losses were a result of the decision to phase out the Braun gas-powered cordless haircare business by June 2009, due to a decrease in consumer demand over the past few years.

Annual Review Highlights Importance Of Agri-Food Sector To Economy Says Killeen

The newly published Annual Review and Outlook for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 2008/2009 highlights the importance of the agri-food sector to the Irish economy.

That is according to Junior Agriculture Minister Tony Killeen T.D. who pointed out that the indigenous strengths of the sector were evident from the report, which states that the sector accounts for 6.6% of GDP, 8.5% of employment, and EUR8.1 billion in exports.

Minister Killeen said: “The report indicates that Irish raw materials and services account for a significantly higher proportion of expenditure within the food and drink sector (70%) than for the manufacturing sectors as a whole. Moreover, 44% of food and drinks companies are located in the BMW regions compared with 30% of other manufacturing industries. In addition, the report shows that the wider biosector contributes approximately one-third of the net flow of funds into the economy generated by manufacturing exports.”

Home Energy Savers Scheme Expected To Create Thousands Of Jobs

Conor Lenihan, TD, Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources today officially launched a nationwide scheme expected to generate thousands of new jobs in the clean-tech sector over the next 6 to 12 months.

The main focus of the Greenloan Home Energy Savers Scheme is to create significant employment opportunities in local communities throughout Ireland by grouping homeowners to avail of large discounts in upgrading their properties.

Over 250 clusters comprising thousands of homeowners in all 26 counties have already been created under the scheme, which was originally piloted in 2008 as part of the pilot phase of the SEI Home Energy Saving Scheme (HES).

See Greenloan.ie

Clare Hotels Win Green Awards

Dromoland Castle and the Radisson SAS Hotel have had their efforts to protect the environment officially recognised at the 2nd annual Green Hospitality Awards ceremony, held at the Killarney Park Hotel in County Kerry today.

Over a dozen businesses from across Kerry, Clare and Limerick received awards at the event, which honoured hotels and restaurants that have demonstrated a commitment to quality and service in the area of environmental protection. The Green Hospitality Award is granted based on performance in Environmental Management Systems, Waste Management, Water management and Energy management. Green Hospitality participants undergo audits, which ensure that the hospitality business is meeting its requirements and is acting responsibly with respect to the environment.

The step-by-step programme has swiftly become the standard for environmental management within the hospitality industry in Ireland. Over 180 Irish hospitality businesses participate in the programme, the most successful of its kind in Europe. The Green Hospitality Award has four levels: Bronze (Introductory), Silver (Good Practice in operation), Gold (Generally Best Practice in operation) and Platinum (World Class Performance). The categories are designed to allow companies move at their own pace but also to start the process. Platinum Award winners will be positioned to move towards achieving the EU Flower Accreditation level.

The Clare recipients of Green Hospitality Awards this year are Dromoland Castle, County Clare (Gold) and Radisson SAS Hotel Limerick City (Bronze). Dromoland Castle has also been nominated for the Green Hospitality Annual Award for Most Improved - Water Management, a national accolade for the property that has shown most improvement in their water reduction and management. Other regional winners include The Moorings Guesthouse, Portmagee (Gold); Fitzgerald’s Woodlands House Hotel, Adare; Adare Manor Hotel; Carriage House Adare Manor; Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick; Dingle Skellig Hotel; Killarney Park Hotel; and Quality Resort Hotel Killarney (Silver); and Killarney Avenue Hotel; Killarney Plaza Hotel; Killarney Towers Hotel; and River Island Hotel in Castleisland (Bronze).

The Green Hospitality Award programme, which is coordinated by Hospitality Solutions Consulting (HSC) Ltd. and Clean Technology Centre, was officially launched in Cork in 2004. It has since been extended to Waterford (2006), Limerick/Clare/Kerry and Kilkenny/Carlow (2007), and nationwide (2008/09).

Primary support is delivered in the Limerick Clare Kerry region through the Regional Waste Management Office (RWMO) and nationally the Environmental Protection Agency has adopted the programme into its Green Business Initiative (2008–11). According to Philippa King, RWMO Waste Co-ordinator, the benefits for participants in embracing the concept of the programme are significant. She explained, “The scheme offers many incentives to participants. For example, they can reduce energy, waste and water costs by up to 40%, which is especially rewarding in the present harsh economic climate. Furthermore, being environmentally-friendly is a good selling point for any business.”

Ms. King added, "The involvement of so many businesses from Clare, Kerry and Limerick, since the award scheme was first introduced in this region in February 2007, is a testament to the local hospitality sector's environmental awareness and the desire to respond to the changing attitudes of their customers. The Regional Waste Management Office is delighted to be involved in this worthy scheme, which will hopefully help to convince other hotels, restaurants, pubs, B&B's and other tourism operators to go green."

She continued, “Clare businesses can join up with the Regional Office and can avail of expert and on-site advice and workshops for subsidised fees. We also provide things like Excel templates so that they can look at their electricity bills. For example, they could reduce on lighting to save on energy usage. We help them to implement an environmental policy and include staff.”

According to Mr. Maurice Bergin, Director of the Green Hospitality Awards, “The average Irish hotel needs to perform considerably better in terms of control of Energy, Water and Waste Management and is in fact performing up to 67% worse than the world average.” He stated, “This is quite startling especially when you consider that the reduction in costs experienced by our members is between EUR50,000 and EUR150,000 in the first year, after full implementation of the program. The really surprising factor is that much of these savings come from low or no cost systems and practices being put in place in each property”.

"The Green Hospitality Awards require continual improvement and a real commitment to the environment. If the hospitality business fails to continually improve, meet with the standards or does not act responsibly, the Green Hospitality Award can be withdrawn", concluded Mr. Bergin. For more on the Green Hospitality Award Scheme see www.ghaward.ie. Limerick, Clare and Kerry County Councils, and Limerick City Council fund the Regional Waste Management Office. For further information log on to www.managewaste.ie.