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James Horan/Photocall ireland

EU asks for return of €6m in unspent Dell retraining funds

The European Commission gave Ireland almost €15 million to retrain workers laid off at Dell – but it hasn’t all been spent.

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION is to ask Ireland to return almost €6 million of the cash it gave the Irish government to retrain the staff laid off by Dell in Limerick – because the cash has not been spent.

Ireland was given some €14.83 million under the Commission’s Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which was to be used to retrain some of the 1900 staff who lost their jobs when Dell closed its Limerick facility in 2009.

Under the terms of the fund, member states are required to spend their funding within 18 months of the application being made – and the Commission now says it will ask for just under €6 million to be returned because it hasn’t been spent within that time.

Under the Commission’s current calculations, Ireland has not spent €5,978,311.30 of the funding it was given to retrain the staff, many of whom remain out of work since Dell told staff of their redundancy in January 2009.

The cash has not yet been returned to Brussels because the Commission has not yet issued a debit note explaining how and when Ireland should return that cash.

The details were provided in response to a parliamentary question by Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty, who said he was still receiving complaints from former Dell workers who said they were finding it difficult to access the funding, which was intended to pay for training and education courses.

“It is an absolute disgrace that any money, let alone a figure of such magnitude, should be returned unspent,” Doherty said.

Are the Minister and his officials seriously telling us that the redundant workers did not want this money or did not seek to have it spent to assist their retraining and return to the work force?

Cannon separately said that Ireland had submitted a full report dealing with its spending under a similar fund for Waterford Crystal workers in February, and that a similar report for the staff of S R Technics was to be finished in the coming weeks.

Read: Application for EU retraining fund for TalkTalk workers almost finalised

More: EU approves €35.7m of aid for redundant workers in Ireland

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8 Comments
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    Mute Stephen Todd
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:29 PM

    If I’m reading that right, he was well within his rights to pursue that in court and deserved the compensation he got

    603
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    Mute Steve McMahon
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:48 PM

    Must have been some toilet visit concidering it aged him bout 30 year years in the process

    321
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    Mute Paddy Ryan
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:50 PM

    I was wondering how the insurance on my train station was so high this year.

    127
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    Mute Alan Kennedy
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    Jun 8th 2016, 7:13 PM

    It’s PC gone mad!

    Gone are the days when you could be dragged out of the jacks with your pants around your ankles, beaten by a Garda and sent home to you mother and be thankful for it.

    104
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    Mute Andrew Halpin
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    Jun 8th 2016, 9:45 PM

    Well there was time travel involved. The cubicle is obviously a portal of some description.:-?

    28
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    Mute OnTheOutside
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    Jun 9th 2016, 12:58 PM

    Clearly a case for the Doctor, only a time lord can figure this one out.

    4
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    Mute Shane Walsh
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:53 PM

    I remember seeing one of those rail security guys kick and push a homeless man at Connolly one day for no reason at all. They are on some sort of power trip and get a kick out of pushing people about, some day they will push someone too far and god knows what could happen.

    225
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    Mute molly coddled
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    Jun 8th 2016, 2:36 PM

    I’ve had the displeasure of meeting a few of these security guards, once at a hospital they flatly refused to get a wheelchair for my dying mum who was being admitted as a medical emergency because I was parked in the wrong spot. Second time was at a hotel in Dublin they started banging on the door accusing us of smoking and threatening us with fines, they obviously had the wrong room and no apology was forthcoming even after I showed them in. My eldest at the time had done a round the world trip he said the eastern bloc people are grand and friendly, just don’t put them behind a counter or in a uniform it’s then the Soviet in them takes over.

    143
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    Mute tam peters
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    Jun 8th 2016, 3:37 PM

    Since when is it the job of rail security guards to get a wheelchair for your mother at a hospital??

    38
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    Mute Seán Domhnall O'Sullivan
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    Jun 8th 2016, 3:48 PM

    agree, far less serious but I recall one guy pulling me aside a day I forgot my student travelcard and deliberately embarrass me, got my ticket and wrote on it failure to produce I.D., thats fair enough but for no good reason shout and announce he didnt believe I was a student (yah I just got a backpack on for the craic) humiliating me in front of a busy train station and was pretty sure I saw them givin another lady a hard time on a diff occasion.

    53
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    Mute molly coddled
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    Jun 8th 2016, 7:01 PM

    You stay classy there tam. I have some calamine lotion for that burn if you’d like to borrow it

    17
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    Mute Zozzy Zozimus
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    Jun 8th 2016, 9:22 PM

    What burn?

    8
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    Mute Motherofdivinejebus
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:26 PM

    €10,500 for spending a penny……….

    203
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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:32 PM

    Hardly grounds for deportation??

    20
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    Mute Dave Murray
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    Jun 8th 2016, 2:46 PM

    The racist comment above mine was deleted the seems, you could’ve at least deleted mine so as as mine makes no sense now.

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    Mute Alan b
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    Jun 8th 2016, 7:39 PM

    But Dave your comments never make any sense

    8
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    Mute Marg murphy
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:37 PM

    He deserved it. Pity it won’t come out the “security” mans pocket.

    179
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    Mute John
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    Jun 8th 2016, 2:04 PM

    Smoke rising from the cubicle and he pinching a loaf. Must have been a bad night on the Guinness

    141
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    Mute Glenn Webster
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    Jun 8th 2016, 3:07 PM

    Heuston we have a problem!

    87
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    Mute Screaming Toddy
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    Jun 8th 2016, 3:06 PM

    I’ll allow anyone to kick the door in on me for quarter of the price

    36
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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
    Favourite Neal Ireland Hello
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    Jun 8th 2016, 2:46 PM

    The toilets were one of the last few places you could have a sit-down in Heuston. Every time I go there lately they’ve removed more and more seating from the station.

    34
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    Mute Danny Skehan
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:40 PM

    And you wonder how insurance prices are going up?

    31
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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Jun 8th 2016, 4:25 PM

    They might be a tad smarter on who they employ the next time so.

    36
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    Mute Patrick Doyle
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    Jun 8th 2016, 4:39 PM

    Fell into shit and came out smelling of roses

    27
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    Mute Alan Kennedy
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    Jun 8th 2016, 7:11 PM

    “had gone to the rest room to use the toilet”

    Rest room? Was he transported to the US?

    25
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    Mute John Fogarty
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    Jun 8th 2016, 5:50 PM

    Hopefully he will get over this horrific tragedy and buy an 05 volkswagon passat 1.6 l and get a holiday out of it in asia and use some of the toilets over there that have no doors on them and then he wont have to worry about anybody kickin the door in…..

    24
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    Mute Fergal McDonagh
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:37 PM

    €10.5 K. Wow.

    19
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    Mute UndieGrundy
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    Jun 8th 2016, 1:39 PM

    Caught with his pants round his ankles.

    14
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    Mute Original Dodgy Boy
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    Jun 8th 2016, 9:06 PM

    Security guards coked up to the eyeballs themselves

    12
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    Mute Mark Hosford
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    Jun 8th 2016, 4:09 PM

    Well lf was embarrassed before he must be glowing red with shame now.. nobody knew anything about it before… whereas now its on the internet… I suppose the money will heal his pain.. maybe he’ll spend half on counseling and the rest on the holiday of a lifetime..

    10
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    Mute Neil79
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    Jun 8th 2016, 10:38 PM

    Id say security work can be a tough job at times , trying to reason with awkward members of the public , some who are under the influence of drugs & alcohol , do godders & Bible bashers telling you the law , maybe it’s best to turn a blind eye to certain things !!

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    Mute John Considine
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    Jun 9th 2016, 6:31 AM

    The ‘do godders’ can be troublesome hoors indeed.

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    Mute Aimoo
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    Jun 8th 2016, 5:48 PM

    So was he $hitting it before or after the security man barged in?

    8
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    Mute Mark Dunne
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    Jun 9th 2016, 7:48 AM

    Often wonder why, when an incident like this is found proven that the private security thugs don’t personally loose their licence to work…….permanently!!!

    It’d be an excellent incentive for them to behave reasonably when dealing with members of the public. All too often I’ve noted these very STT employees behave like Nazi boot boys

    7
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    Mute Joe Fingersmith
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    Jun 9th 2016, 10:15 AM

    I don’t understand the logic in “Judge Linnane, who heard there had been several hours difference between the time Masterson said he had been defamed and the incident involving Kozlovas, said the defence case – that Masterson’s claim was a fabrication – had “evaporated” in the witness box when Kozlovas was called.”

    Surely, it could be read the other way: Masterson’s case has evaporated.

    4
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    Mute @Colser
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    Jun 9th 2016, 11:23 AM

    They don’t seem to bat an eyelid the when there’s someone smoking crack on the redline luas.

    4
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    Mute Tony Mcgrath
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    Jun 8th 2016, 9:48 PM

    Spend a penny to get ten grand good business

    4
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    Mute harry hoolio
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    Jun 9th 2016, 10:02 AM

    There are a few Luas and train stations like this in Dublin with under trained ‘security’ walking around dazed and confused looking for something to do.

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    Mute Caroline Otoole
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    Jun 8th 2016, 8:49 PM

    Q

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    Mute Zozzy Zozimus
    Favourite Zozzy Zozimus
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    Jun 8th 2016, 9:23 PM

    uite so.

    5
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