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FORMER DEPUTY LEADER of Fine Gael, James Reilly, has announced plans to retire from politics after he missed out on a seat in Dublin Fingal.
Reilly was first elected to the Dáil in 2007 but lost his seat in 2016.
He was subsequently appointed to the Seanad by Enda Kenny, despite his own previous criticisms of the upper house .
He ran in the recent by-election in his constituency, coming fourth and losing out to the Green Party’s Joe O’Brien.
Reilly received 3,280 first preference votes in this weekend’s general election and was eliminated on the eight count.
Speaking to RTÉ News, he thanked his supporters, adding:
My current reflection is, after 13 years in public life, I owe my wife a debt of gratitude, and I promised I wouldn’t spend more than 10 years, so I’m going back to look after my family and practice [medicine].
Asked if this was the end of this political career, he replied: “Yes, I do believe that.”
“There’ll be one happy person here tonight for sure, and that’s my wife,” he said.
Reilly also joined others in calling for Leo Varadkar to ‘reflect’ on his position as leader of Fine Gael.
Reilly served as Minister for Health in the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government from 2011, from where he maintained a strong anti-smoking stance, seeking extensions to the smoking ban and increases in the price of cigarettes. He paved the way for the introduction of plain packaging.
The former minister also called for the Eighth Amendment to be repealed, despite Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s hesitation to commit to a referendum in 2015.
After a cabinet reshuffle in 2014, he became Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.
Reilly was president of the Irish Medical Organisation before entering politics and is a practicing GP in Lusk.
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It’s illegal to not allow a 15 minute paid break after 4 1/2 hours work. Disappointing to see tesco dragging their feet about breaking the law
It’s simple folks, if you disagree with this – and you damn well should, don’t shop there. When these stores begin to see even a tiny drop in their profits they’ll suddenly find their conscience.
Or they will close it and all the jobs are gone.
@Ger As long as it’s profitable they won’t, but would you seriously want this threat held over our heads forever? We have to allow jobs like this, with low pay and illegal conditions, we have to take the crumbs from the table and suffer in silence, be grateful for it or else we’ll have no jobs at all. Seriously???
Meanwhile these stores won’t reveal their profits in Ireland, they won’t let us know just how much they’re making here but they have to do so in the UK by law. Why do you think that is?
If we enforced our legislation properly (which we more or less are above) there won’t be a need to boycott anything
No 2 FF/FG while it’s illegal not to allow a break, it’s my understanding that it doesn’t have to be a PAID break in all cases. It depends on the contract.
Ger
They won’t close.
They will pay up and they all should pay up. In the meantime we should boycott Tesco or at least spend less there.
Every little helps!
@Ger. People will not stop shopping – they’ll just go elsewhere, and the staff will follow them to where there is better working conditions.
Tesco have been making huge profits here for many many years – way above the rate in UK arm of company. They can afford to pay the staff.
Tesco should be fined as well as forced to give back pay.
Thats correct Jimmyjoe. But in this case they were treating one group of employees different. They were discriminated against in that all the other people who do the exact same job in the company get paid breaks, yet they were singled out.
Had it been in your job and two people sit side-by-side doing exactly the same work, and one gets paid for the 15min break and the other doesnt, that would be discriminatory too.
The Conrad hotel does not pay staff for breaks ,also pays normal rates for working Christmas Day ,it’s been getting away with this for years .
Report them
Conrad hotel is no different so to the rest of the Hospitality Sector. Most of them anyway.
No hotel or restaurant pays breaks, I haven’t had a paid break in 15 years, get over it!!
I even worked in one place, who took the hour pay out of your wages, and still no break was given!! Ha!!
On another note, are all employees entitled to Sunday premium pay in all employment sectors, does anyone know?
There are some exemptions. Chefs for instance. Chefs also never get a decent break and eat standing up in the kitchen when things quieten down for 2 mins. Its an industry wide thing in chefing.
No
I think companies can decide to pay you extra on Sundays, but they’re not obliged to.
They should pay up in total, if they don’t it’ll set a precedent and the likes of tescos will say no pay for breaks and when brought to court pay a percentage of the pay due and be financially better of than if they pay the full amount.
They should Tesco and sue the miserable b’stards!
Any improvements over at Dunne’s?? I’ve boycotted them for about 2 years now. Miss my vouchers. Wouldn’t mind a rummage round.
Full time contracts are still “on the table” no indication whether they’ll ever be picked up and actually given to staff
My boycott amounted to nothing so Ryan….
Tescos ‘Every little helps ‘ except if you work for them !!
Should everybody get paid breaks.my two breaks are unpaid on a 9 hour shift ? If so I’ll be due 10 years compensation
Yeah you’re supposed to get fifteen minutes paid break if you’ve worked 4.5 hours.
Just sent an email to siptu to try clarify it
Yes, you are entitled to a break of 15 minutes after a 4 ½ hour work period but there is no entitlement to be paid during these breaks and they are not considered part of your working time.
As it says in the article the paid breaks are part of Tesco’s own company guidelines, hence the legal action.
I doubt that the Bailieboro store is even making a profit…unlike the Tesco store in Cavan town where the workers appear to take their break outside on the pavement.
have your say