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WATER SERVICE WORKERS have held strike action at ten local authorities across the country.
They are protesting a deal put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission last year to resolve tensions over the future of water service staff who are being transferred to Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water).
Trade union Unite said today’s picket is also over the “ongoing failure” of local authorities and their representative association – the Local Government Management Agency – to sit down for talks over what the union believes to be shortcomings in the WRC’s agreement.
Unite members voted to reject the ‘Framework for the Future Delivery of Water Services’ document put forward by the WRC last year.
They are seeking a commitment that members transferring to Irish Water will retain their public service status.
The pickets are underway at councils in Cork, Galway and Waterford, along with Louth, Carlow and Tipperary.
In Dublin, water service workers have held pickets at Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council.
Unite members working in water delivery services standing strong in Cork this morning - the LGMA needs to engage with workers to resolve this dispute! #RespectWorkers pic.twitter.com/imyUzD6Gfz
— UNITE union Ireland (@UniteunionROI) June 30, 2023
Tom Morrissey, who was on the picket line outside the council’s Menapia offices in Waterford city, told The Journal that members want to be heard by their employer.
“We voted to reject the framework document but the LGMA and Uisce Éireann are trying to push ahead with it without our support. We’re here to try and bring the LGMA back to the table to discuss with us the big issues.”
Among these are the union’s stated desire to strengthen protection of local authority workers involved in water services delivery, and to remove age barriers for those wishing to avail of redundancy and retire.
Additionly, the union has urged that the Framework be amended to specify a date and wording for a referendum enshrining public ownership and management of Ireland’s water system in the Constitution.
In Waterford alone, there are dozens of workers at around ten demonstrations, outside water treatment plants, two council offices and machinery yards.
“My own plant in Adamstown (in Co Waterford) has been manned since it opened in 1987 and this is the first time nobody is up there,” Morrissey said.
“Those decisions weren’t taken easy – there’s fellas there with 40 years’ service and they’re down there at the gate for the first time ever.
“That’s what happens when you don’t respect the ballot by members.”
Morrissey said he found little comfort in assurances from Minister Darragh O’Brien that workers’ terms would be protected.
“We have the word of the minister but in my view that’s a lame-duck minister and by the time we’re dealing with this decision, we could be dealing with another minister who might not feel bound by anything,” he said.
“So the most important part for me is for a date of the referendum and wording of the referendum to keep water in public ownership.”
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Meanwhile some young lady in Kildare was prosecuted for being in the possession of €10 worth of cannabis and has a criminal record against her name for life. The criminal justice system in Ireland completely broken and nothing short of disgusting – justice for criminals, not victims. This sentence comes under the category ‘scott free’.
@Shane McGrath: would you rather they jailed her for 2 years and then sent her back to Brazil? What a waste of tax payers money that would be, sending her home costs us nothing and washes our hands of her at the same time, for once i think this was a very sensible outcome in the courts
@Fergus Sheahan: Where is the deterrent in this sentence?
@Fergus Sheahan: yes but if you are going to make her leave the country, deport her straight away, not allow her a further 3 months here. Also she is currently working as an au pair….no parent in their right mind would hire someone to live in their house and mind their children if you knew the person was on their second selling drug charge.
@Jarlath Murphy: she’ll still have a conviction so she’s never leaving Brazil again
@Shane McGrath: If you’re talking about the 27yo woman, she was given 200 hours community service and had the probation act applied. She doesn’t have a criminal record.
@Fergus Sheahan: Never leaving Brazil again, where did you draw that nugget from?
That will really cramp her style when selecting her holiday destination!
“Let me see I can travel anywhere … Bar Ireland “
@Shane McGrath: this woman also has a criminal record for life. While I strongly agree that cannabis should be legal it doesn’t alter the fact that the woman in Kildare broke the law. Country is better off deporting this woman than locking her up
@Honeybadger197: Still – 200hrs community service for a bit of ganja, what a sorry state of affairs.
It’s good that a lot of people will get off without a criminal record for it, but actual legalisation is well overdue. Decriminalisation at the *very* least.
@Ohhh_reeally: So can she leave the country and come back later ? Article doesn’t state that’s the case .
Alao the woman in Kildare has a drug conviction , so she is basically banned from ever entering a lot of countries should she ever try emigrate .
@Malachi: I completely agree 200 hours CS is madness. I’m all for legalisation, regulation, & taxation of the good herb. Just pointing out she didn’t have a criminal record.
@Fergus Sheahan: sends a message Fergus that Ireland is open season with no consequences
@Fergus Sheahan: I would rather they jailed her. And maybe some balance across the justice system based of a strict set of sentencing guidelines…
@Shane McGrath: costs average 70k to keep a prisoner in Ireland. We have a finite number of prison spaces, it’d be silly to put her in prison.
@Pat Bateman:
Well then immediate deportation. This isn’t the first reported case of rickshaw operators selling drugs and a deterrent is needed.
@Fergus Sheahan: she be back on next plane
@Malachi: 200hrs and no conviction; she was dealt with as much leniency as the court could give.
@Shane McGrath: for such a small amount Shane it is insane but as you andvi know she certainly didnt get that for a first offence. Bit more to this than youre letting on
@Fergus Sheahan: There is an appeal against her deportation which was part of the sentence what if she wins ?
She should have been deported after she was caught the first time.
@John’s Voyage: there should be a no tolerance approach to immigrants from outside the EU, 1 serious offense and you’re deported the day after your trial, end of
@John’s Voyage: she hadn’t been convicted yet. Innocent until proven guilty applies to everyone.
@Paul Hughes: Why only from outside the EU ? There’s no prohibition on deporting locally convicted criminals from another EU country either. The EU treaties essentially give EU nationals the right to legitimately work and live in other EU states. They don’t state that an EU member state has to tolerate criminal behaviour by non-national EU citizens in it’s jurisdiction.
@Rob Coins: “awaiting sentence for a previous offence”
What a joke!
Come to Ireland and work as a criminal, if it doesn’t work out we will just send you back!
If it does work out you will either become fabulously wealthy in a drug cartel or if you play your cards right you maybe successful enough to become a Bankster and be lauded in your community as a stalwart and pillar of society!
@Jarlath Murphy: My favourite part was when you managed to show horn bankers in to an article about a Brazilian selling drugs! Top work! You are a true fighter for the the normal people of Ireland! zzzzzzzzzzzzz
@Johnny Leddin: Ahh good to see the 5m PAYE funded Strategic Communications Unit Members are on message!
Nothing to see here move on!
The normalisation of criminality continues unabated!
@Dolph Styles: Someone has to the Party of Lawlessness and Disorder is wrecking the place!
@Jarlath Murphy: Just throw in something about the homeless to top off your stupid comment
@Johnny Leddin: *you’re. E.g. “you’re in need of assistance with forming sentences.”
Any foreign nationals that commit a crime should be deported.no jail time no community service.just put them on a plane.
@Red hurley: Depending on the crime of course?
I know a South African that was deported from South Korea but he spent over a month in their jail’s before being released. Not sure why we don’t have something like this in place.
What a disgrace…..twice caught selling drugs and we won’t deport you straight away, no take 3 months to leave the country. And she currently has a job as an au pair…minding children….the mind just boggles
Very very strange and inequitable sentence,
Only in Ireland
@Ciaran Bolton: Not really. This shit is pretty much par for the course all across Europe.
I hope the Gardai keep at the rickshaw gang.
It’s rife with drug dealing and should be banned from operating in Ireland.
@Gerry Fallon: They provide a great service the Rickshaw drivers do, wudja gway ourra dah pal.
@Gerry Fallon: drug dealing is banned
A few puncture repair kits needed. Thats gonna be one long cycle home
So talking about the problems that Brazilians have brought to Ireland on an article about a Brazilian Drug dealer gets comments deleted.
Wasn’t the Journal the one writing articles two years about the amount of Brazilians in Ireland.
A HSE spokeswoman said the rise was a cause for concern. It said that homosexuals from Latin America were a particularly high-risk group “some of whom are acquiring HIV in Ireland, and others who are coming to Ireland already infected with HIV”.
I’m sorry you don’t like the truth
A Woman who moved her from Brazil speaks of the job opportunities available to her
“I discovered there are a lot of Brazilian women working as lap dancers, strippers and prostitutes.”
Is that enough evidence Journal?
@GizmoIrl: Pakistanis account for the biggest number of marriages involving a non-Irish EU citizen and non-EU citizen last year (396) followed by citizens from Brazil (126), India (125), Bangladesh (73) and Venezuela (49).
@GizmoIrl: Overcrowding: In such a market, overcrowded bunk-bed accommodation, no official contracts, and rent in cash only is the norm, with tenants predominantly from Brazil and Latin America.
@GizmoIrl: “It’s just tight because there’s no space for you; it’s sick, it’s totally sick.” But he added the price of an individual room in the ordinary rental market was simply out of many foreign students’ budgets.
If it’s not within the budget then stay home and get an app to study English.
@GizmoIrl: The Journals musings on Brazilians in Ireland
http://www.thejournal.ie/brazilian-students-ireland-numbers-samba-2400685-Oct2015/
http://www.thejournal.ie/brazilian-students-ireland-1739850-Oct2014/
@GizmoIrl: Deportations: Brazil makes up the largest single nationality, with 9.6%.
http://www.thejournal.ie/deported-stats-inis-report-2637069-Mar2016/
@GizmoIrl: yeah, let’s also talk about this http://www.thejournal.ie/assault-theft-drunk-and-disorderly-met-police-3735918-Dec2017/?utm_source=facebook_short
Should be made go on trial in her country of origin. It would be an idea if an foreign national wants to go to another country and breaks the law there, they should be sent back to their country for trial. Let them pick up the expense of trial and incarceration.
@Seán Dillon: That’s absolute nonsense and would be rife with abuse. We caught this dutch man selling weed? Well, lets send him back to Amsterdam where .. oh wait. Caught a Sierra Leonian performing FGM? Let’s just sent them back to Sierra Leone where nobody will give a shit. Underage sex in Ireland? Not in Saudi Arabia it’s not.
She should be fupped out immediately
The high court has ruled all asylum seekers are now permitted to work ……. as drug dealers.
Rickshaw drivers have now been convicted of selling drugs ,rape,violent assaults and minister Ross does nothing to get them off the streets.This girl does not respect our laws and should have been sent home with immediately.
Male judge. Poor victim young foreign girl. Roll eyes.
Brain dead keeping it in her own flat in fairness, especially after already being caught previous.
In Peru you get locked up for 10 years in a harsh prison.
On bail since Nov 2016 for having drugs for sale.
Caught again in May 2017 and given bail again.
Then it takes another 8 months before it gets to court.
I’d love to know just exactly how many thousand euros her free legal aid team got out of it??
if she was irish she would be locked up. end of story.
Just legalise the damn things. Then you wouldn’t have this problem. The reality is that which substances are legal and which are illegal is not a function of the harm potential of a given substance but is rather completely arbitrary. People fall out of clubs every night of the week drunk choking on their on vomit, getting into fights and being taken advantage of sexually and otherwise. Thousands of people die of alcohol abuse every year in this country. Yet alcohol is openly advertised on TV. The effects of many so-called illicit drugs (assuming purity and quality is guaranteed as it would be in a regulated market) are no where near as harmful as the legal ones. Yet we persist in our hypocrisy.
@Damon16: When you put it like that, it would make a lot of sense to legalise soft drugs. I know Temple Bar actively discourages stag parties for that very reason.
More shite. How was she slowed to stay in Ireland without a visa. Student visa. Should of been deported first time
Legalise it.
I am 100% in agreement with the conviction of drug dealers but the implication I got from the title was that this person got caught dealing from their rickshaw which is very misleading.
Fair sentence.
Double jobbing
have your say