Work & Life - Issue No 7

work &life THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS

ISSUE 7 • WINTER 2009

FIGHTING IRISH

Meet the IMPACT man behind 2009’s top exhibition.

PLUS

ALSO INSIDE

YOUR PUBLIC SERVICE CAMPAIGN WE MEET MCLOONE CASH-STRAPPED LIVING FIRM UP YOUR SOFT SKILLS SOUPED-UP COOKING

NYC. OFFENSIVE SONGS. PHYSIOTHERAPISTS. GAELTACHT SCHOLARSHIPS. GOING OUT GEAR. REDUNDANCY RIGHTS. YOUR LETTERS. YOGA. HOLMES MOVIE. WINTER GARDENS. HURLING DUBS. WIN BOOKS. COMPETITIONS.

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In this issue

work &life – Winter 2009 COVER FEATURES

REGULARS

MORE REGULARS

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FIGHTING IRISH Meet the man whose National Museum team has just won a prestegious award.

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DEFENDING PUBLIC SERVANTS NIALL SHANAHAN gets behind IMPACT’s massive publicity campaign, which aims to defend public services and the people who deliver them.

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We look at the vital work of under-pressure physiotherapists.

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LESS CASH

SOFT SKILL SHUFFLE Now’s the time to brush up on your so-called soft skills.

MARTINA O’LEARY says how.

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MARGARET HANNIGAN is rattlin’ those pots and pans and coming up with some souper winter recipes.

BOOKS Top Irish author and screenwriter ANNA McPARTLIN speaks to Work & Life.

WORKPLACE RIGHTS

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MUSIC RAYMOND CONNOLLY looks at some daft censorship decisions.

FASHION FEST

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SPORT The Dubs need to keep hold of Anthony Daly, says KEVIN NOLAN.

NEWS

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TRAVEL & TRIPS New York City has it all. And it’s tempting enough to get the teenagers along too.

SOUPED UP KITCHEN

Win Win Win…

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TRISH O’MAHONY tweaks her work gear to create fantastic outifts for a night on the town.

Get advice on how to cope with living on less money.

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YOUR LETTERS

MARTINA O’LEARY outlines your rights in redundancy situations and says you should act fast to get your full entitlements.

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AT THE MOVIES The silver screen’s favourite fictional character is coming to a cinema near you. Again.

Globalisation, NAMA, union subs. And smiles!

MAKING A STAND Work & Life gets IMPACT general secretary PETER McLOONE’s take on the strike ballot, pay cuts and the pension levy.

PUBLIC SERVICE

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BE GOOD TO YOURSELF Why not sign up for yoga classes, asks KAREN WARD.

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GREEN FINGERS JIMI BLAKE is spending the winter getting the garden into shape.

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STRIKE BALLOT COMMUNITY CUTS IMPACT CAMPAIGN LISBON PUBLIC SERVICE BASHING LOCAL GOVERNMENT AER LINGUS

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Put pen to paper and win €50.

Win a copy of Anna McPartlin’s new novel.

Enter our Tell us what prize quiz and you think and win €50. win €100.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 1

That was then…

THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS

work&life The industrial relations temperature is rising this winter as IMPACT ballots its 55,000 public service members for industrial action. In this issue we interview the union’s general secretary PETER McLOONE, who outlines why the growing threat to your pay, pension and job security make a ‘Yes’ vote a must.

Our main feature article looks at the background to IMPACT’s massive new public relations and advertising campaign, which is now making the case for public servants and their pay. Continuing our theme of dealing with the recession, MARTINA O’LEARY looks at ways of living on less money. And she outlines your rights if redundancy looms in your workplace.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. TRISH O’MAHONY explains how she convinced her teenagers to join the family holiday – albeit with a trip to New York. (Kids these days?

They don’t know they’re born!). Trish’s regular fashion piece could also help you save money while looking deadly on an after-work night out.

We also profile the IMPACT museum worker whose team has just won a prestigious award, and we unlock the vital work of physiotherapists in hospitals and community settings across the country. Like the rest of us, they’re under pressure from budget cuts and rising demand.

Designed by: O’Brien Design & Print Management.

Phone: 01 864-1920.

Email: nikiobrien@eircom.net.

Printed by Boylan Print Group.

Advertising sales: Frank Bambrick.

Phone: 01-453-4011.

Unless otherwise stated, the views contained in Work & Life do not necessarily reflect the policy of IMPACT trade union.

Work & Life is printed on environmentally friendly paper, certified by the European Eco Label. This magazine is 100% recycable.

IMPACT is Ireland’s fastest growing trade union with over 65,000 members in the public services and elsewhere.

We represent staff in the health services, local authorities, education, the civil service, the community sector, aviation, telecommunications and commercial and non-commercial semi-state organisations.

Find out more about IMPACT on

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www.impact.ie

Unofficially dubbed ‘Easycouncil’, after the Britishbased airline Easyjet, the initiative is apparently accompanied by “a relentless drive for efficiency,” codeword for outsourcing and cuts in the 3,500-strong workforce.

In a development reminiscent of the late 1970s, this model of “new conservatism,” which is spreading among Tory-controlled councils, is being seen by some as an indication of how a national Tory government would treat public services. The unlamented Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation policies were eagerly driven by zealots in Tory local authorities.

Pressed on the issue by the British Guardian newspaper, Freer revealed that his “new relationship with citizens” boiled down to their accepting that councils would provide fewer services. Happily for him the ‘budget airline’ rebranding, rather than the cuts agenda, grabbed the headlines.

The Dublin telephone system collapses on 28th September 1984 after a pirate radio station’s phone-in competition overloads the network.

The following month, Dunnes stores workers begin a sit-in three months into their anti-apartheid strike over the handling of South African fruit.

Charles Mitchel, RTÉ’s first news reader and one of the founding members of the actors’ union Equity, reads his last news bulletin in November. He had read the very first Irish television news bulletin on 31st December 1961, minutes after the station was launched.

60 years ago

The People’s Republic of China is officially proclaimed on 1st October 1949, followed swiftly by the official establishment of the Democratic Republic of Germany (DDR) on 7th October. November sees the banning of street names in any language other than English in Northern Ireland.

80 years ago

In October 1929, the Shannon hydroelectric scheme is handed over to the ESB bringing electricity to Galway and Dublin.

90 years ago

And we’ve got all the usual competitions and prizes – plus your letters. Oh yes, and MARGARET HANNIGAN’s souped-up kitchen is producing some comforting broths to get you through the winter nights.

IMPACT trade union

Barnet’s Tory council leader Mike Freer says the ‘no frills’ approach is not about “rolling back the frontiers of the state, but about targeting our interventions.” In practice, this translates into adult social care recipients having to choose which vital services they will keep after budgets are slashed. Oh, and rich residents can pay to jump queues for planning applications.

Front cover: Lar Joye in the National Museum, Collins Barracks. Photo by Michael Crean Photography.

We’ve got another books giveaway and RAYMOND CONNOLLY’s music column looks at the changing sensibilities of pop music’s occasional censors. Remember Frankie Goes To Hollywood? Meanwhile, MORGAN O’BRIEN takes a look at the new Sherlock Holmes movie.

Why not close the curtains, cosy up by the fire and enjoy this issue of Work & Life.

SCARY PLANS by a British local council to adopt a budget airline ‘business model’ may offer an insight into how public services will be devalued if the Tories win next year’s general election.

Work & Life is produced by IMPACT trade union’s Communications Unit and edited by Bernard Harbor.

Contact IMPACT at: Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

Phone: 01-817-1500.

Email: rnolan@impact.ie.

25 years ago

Crash landing for UK local services?

www.dreamstime.com

Winter warmer

STRANGE WORLD

Work & Life Magazine is a full participating member of the Press Council of Ireland and supports the Office of the Press Ombudsman. In addition to defending the freedom of the press, this scheme offers readers a quick, fair and free method of dealing with complaints that they may have in relation to articles that appear on our pages. To contact the Office of the Press Ombudsman go to www.pressombudsman. ie or www.presscouncil.ie.

All suppliers to Work & Life recognise ICTU-affiliated trade unions.

In November 1919, Irish labour leader James Larkin is arrested in New York and charged with circulating a publication advocating the forcible overthrow of the government.

118 years ago

Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish Protestant landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, Home Rule MP and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, dies of a heart attack in his home in Brighton, England on 6th October 1891. He was 45 years of age. Five days later, his funeral in Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery was attended by more than 200,000 people.

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

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IMPACT people

The National Museum of Ireland has just won the 2009 Heritage Council and Northern Ireland Museum biennial award for best exhibition with its ‘Soldiers and chiefs: The Irish at war at home and abroad since 1550’. IMPACT representative LAR JOYE is one of the curators of the winning exhibition.

Describe yourself.

Being a historian and a curator of history I have a passion for history, a passion for explaining history to others and engaging with visitors to the museum. In Ireland everyone has a view of Irish history; it can be controversial and challenging.

My job is to reignite a type of passion for history. In Ireland history is very much family-based. It’s about what your grandfather or your father, grandmother or mother did. It can be a mixture of oral history and folklore. The stories you’ve grown up with are sometimes more interesting than the history you learn in school.

Photo: Michael Crean Photography

Tell me about the exhibition.

Although it is a military history exhibition, we realised that most visitors relate to the personal stories, so we expanded into the social and economic history. Museums can be perceived as old fashioned and stuffy. We tried to tackle that. We strived to focus on the soldier and not generals or officers.

The most common experience of Irish soldiers abroad nowadays is on United Nations service. In the 19th and 18th centuries it was fighting in someone else’s army. It’s a very large and complex story.

This is the largest exhibition the museum has ever done and it is also the largest exhibition in the country. Irish people are so well travelled now and we found that they are looking for very hands on, interactive exhibition that has a story line and gives a good academic grounding in history.

Museums need to be more customer-orientated in the modern world as people have less free time. There is a need

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The fighting Irish

for keeping academic standards high, but also engaging and listening to people. If you don’t listen to feedback from the audience, they will not visit.

How did you get into history?

I had a really good history teacher at school. I was terrible at other subjects, but always did very well at history. After college, I was lucky that the Celtic Tiger started to roar.

Prior to that, I don’t think many history graduates got a job using their history degrees. With good timing, I was lucky that I could turn a hobby into a profession. I appreciate that, particularly in the current downturn.

What are your other interests?

It has been a busy couple of years for my wife and I and we now have two girls, aged six and four. I grew up in a house of boys so it has been steep learning curve. But they are wonderful and keep us busy.

Have you had any other interesting jobs?

I first joined the museum in 1995. I was one of the first to be employed at the end of the civil service staffing embargo, which had been introduced in 1980s. I left for two years in 1999 and was head of the Irish Film Archive in the Irish Film Centre in Temple Bar. The film archive was a fascinating job. I always had an interest in films and had worked on Braveheart and Michael Collins as an extra. In the archive we collected films, documentaries, home movies and TV programmes dating from 1896 up to the 1990s, and major films in Ireland.

The dangerous aspect of film archiving is that most early movies were filmed on 35mm film and are made of nitrate, which can self-combust. So you could have a can of film, u

which could simply go on fire one day. You can’t put out nitrate with a fire extinguisher, it burns until the fire extinguishes itself. One of my colleagues in Scotland found a great collection of early movies and put them in the back of her car. The film went on fire as she was driving to the archive and she lost her car.

What’s the best advice you ever received?

I was lucky to do a Masters in museum management in the

we go over as often as we can, he lives with his family in the lower east side. It has a very good museum called the Tenement Museum, which looks at how emigrants from Europe and Ireland lived in the 19th century.

Tell me about your IMPACT involvement.

We re-established the IMPACT branch in the museum back in 1996. I have been involved on and off since then. When I was doing the exhibition I couldn’t do much, but have got

“One of my colleagues found a great collection of early movies and put them in the back of her car. The film went on fire as she was driving to the archive and she lost her car.”

1990s and the first part of the course focused on ethics and museums, particularly accountability. Working in the public sector we need to be accountable for actions both for in a museum setting, but also to the Irish taxpayer.

What’s the best museum you’ve ever visited?

My wife is from America and this summer we went on holidays to Connecticut. There was a brand new $50 million science museum in the state capital Hartford. My kids enjoyed this but then we went down the road to the Trash Museum. It was all rubbish, but my kids got more out of the cheaper-run Trash Museum than the bells-and-whistles of the $50 million science museum.

What’s your favourite place in the world?

I love New York. My brother lives there with his family and

more involved the last year or two. IMPACT represents the needs of our members, in particular the professional staff, through dealing with the usual union issues.

What really annoys you?

Inefficiency, lack of accountability and people not living up to their full potential annoy me Alive of dead who would you like to have a quite drink with?

After the fascinating Presidential election of 2008 I think it would have to be President Barack Obama especially as he seems to be over the honeymoon period and is meeting strong opposition over health care proposals. He probably could do with a beer.

Interviewed by Martina O’Leary l .

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

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Defending public servants

Building your own soap box As IMPACT prepares to launch its biggest advertising campaign, NIALL SHANAHAN looks at the background, and the process of developing a campaign as it nears completion.

Elsewhere, the economic news gets progressively worse.

In the maelstrom of rolling bad news, the pension levy is quickly forgotten by most commentators. Eaten bread is soon forgotten. The Government has probably formed the view that public servants are a soft target. In subsequent talks, they refuse to give any guarantees on public service pay, pensions or job security. It becomes obvious that they will soon be back for more.

In the course of a summer punctuated by the publication of the McCarthy ‘Bord Snip’ Report, the unfolding saga of toxic debt, NAMA legislation and the report from the Commission on Taxation, we begin a discussion with IMPACT members about what will come next. Vitally, we talk about how we will respond when the Government makes its move.

Industrial action, in the event of any attempt by Government to impose cuts in pay, is on everyone’s mind. We know that strike action in the public sector is not a popular idea, and levels of public support for such action to be low.

In fact, research indicates that not alone is there little sympathy for any sanction against people who work to provide public services, there is a measurable degree of hostility directed toward them. News organisations continue to publish polls indicating that a majority would support further cuts in pay and public service numbers.

So, for the time being at least, we’re not going to win any popularity contests. Let that be our starting point.

But who pursues a career in the public service in order to make themselves popular? Well, apart from politicians (who have to try to maintain their popularity) I think it’s fair to say nobody.

Similarly, who pursues a career in the public service in order to make themselves rich? Well, apart from a few politicians (who are on record as having accumulated large fortunes) I think it’s fair to say nobody. Of all of the perceived perks of working in the public sector, popularity and the accumulation of a large personal fortune cannot be included in the list.

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important boost to our efforts to inject some reality into the debate about our public services and the people who provide them.”

In February this year we ran a series of press advertisements highlighting our opposition to the imposition of the pension levy. It gave us an opportunity to make our case beyond the confines of the news coverage that week. The campaign was aimed primarily

We turned to Public Communications Centre (PCC), an awardwinning communications agency which specialises in working with non-profit campaigning. PCC have worked with IMPACT previously on the Quality Public Services campaign and the pension levy press ads in February this year.

Photo: Moya Nolan

So the year begins with a flourish of bad news and grim prospects. Social partnership talks collapse and public servants are hit with a pay cut. The so-called ‘pension levy,’ worth an average of 7.5% of gross income, is imposed by legislation on all public servants in March. It is the first pay cut imposed on public servants in decades. Despite the lobbying efforts and protests by the union and its members, the legislation is passed.

economic crisis. A year ago, all of this was probably quite a bit easier, so don’t let anyone try to tell you that you have been ‘immune’.

“Public servants are under attack from virtually every political party and media commentator. With the best will in the world, it’s been impossible to counter all this propaganda.” at IMPACT members, but also at commentators and the political establishment.

IMPACT members joined the 150,000 strong protest in February calling for a better, fairer way to economic recovery.

Nevertheless, the degree of relentless hostility and the mythical perceptions of overpaid, underworked, cosseted and overpensioned public service workers continue. There is little doubt that these have been fed by a consistently negative media portrayal, which entertains the idea that public servants are immune to the effects of the current economic crisis.

Further contempt is fostered by reports that public sector workers earn considerably more than their private sector colleagues. Only last month, the ESRI published three year old data, using very broad statistical averages, to prove that the public sector premium was worth up to 25%. It did this while, by its own admission, it ‘largely ignored job content’.

So much for an objective analysis then.

The publication of the report, and the comments of senior ministers that followed it, was yet another indication of direction the Government is taking.

So, as you balance the household budget this month, pay another chunk off the mortgage, the car loan, the credit card, the utilities and unforeseen expenses for the new school term, consider your immunity from the current u

It helped to arm our members with the arguments they needed. The response to that campaign from IMPACT members was overwhelmingly positive. Members contacted the union offices to say how important it was to them to see their point of view in full public view. On his radio programme, Gerry Ryan went as far as to read one of the ads live on air, a letter to the Taoiseach from Deirdre, a public service worker. For members, it was a good moment in an otherwise bleak period.

Our ‘brief’ to PCC was to focus public attention on the real story behind public services, to challenge the myths, but crucially, to forge a sense of solidarity by highlighting the risk posed to every citizen if a cuts agenda is allowed to permeate public services. u

Facing into the prospect of industrial action, in a potentially hostile environment fuelled by misperception, it is important for IMPACT to, once again, try and bring a little balance to the argument. And while we have been successful in some instances making our case through the available media channels, the sheer volume of opinion of those opposed to us, from business groups, economists and politicians, to several journalists and broadcasters, requires something more.

IMPACT’s head of communications Bernard Harbor says it is vital to use every possible way of communicating the message that Irish public services are valuable and under threat. “Public servants are under attack from virtually every political party and media commentator, to say nothing of the business lobby and others. With the best will in the world, it’s been impossible to counter all this propaganda.”

This month, IMPACT launches a much broader advertising campaign, which has been designed to engage with the wider public about public services, and the people who work to deliver them. Bernard adds, “This campaign will be an IMPACT’s advertisement in the Star newspaper in February protesting against the pension levy.

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

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Defending public servants

IMPACT General Secretary Peter McLoone was very clear on what the campaign needed to capture about public servants, and that it also offers solutions. “We wanted the campaign to emphasise that public servants earn modest incomes, work hard, have had their pay cut, and face the same challenges as everyone else when it comes to balancing the household budget” he said.

Peter added, “Crucially, we also wanted to spread the word that IMPACT has proposed alternatives to the cuts agenda; alternatives that recognise the challenges of a massive decline in public finances, but which does not require hacking another slice from workers’ incomes. That we are an organisation who can help solve the problems.”

“Crucially, we also wanted to spread the word that IMPACT has proposed alternatives to the cuts agenda.”

PCC Director John Sutton says while developing the campaign has been very challenging, it is also very compelling. “This is a campaign that has to be done now, however difficult the proposition, people do have to stand up and answer back to the very real threats that are coming. The economic challenge is critical, and a meaningful response to it is urgent.”

John believes that if public servants don’t challenge the cuts agenda now, there is worse to come. “I don’t believe that there are any ‘green shoots’, the cycle we are in now is likely to continue for another five or even ten years. That could mean that we are into another vicious cycle of cuts, and I am not convinced it has to be that way. This campaign is a major step, I believe an essential step, and I think other groups will follow where IMPACT have led on this.”

As work got underway, we also began a process of focus group research to gauge the public view on public services and to road test some of the messages that were in development. It was important to learn more about the views of the general public; how they feel about public services and people who deliver them. How they feel about the economy, about what has gone wrong and where the solutions lie.

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We spoke to groups of workers, both part time and full time, from the private sector. There was broad agreement among the groups we spoke to that public services are an essential part of our economy, delivering vital services to the public. There was a strong sense that public services continue to be valued.

However, many were sensitive on the issue of jobs that are perceived to be secure in a stressed employment climate. Our researcher reported this to be a very emotional subject. Others spoke about ‘cushy’ jobs and a mass of institutionalised workers. What was particularly interesting is that those who participated in the research were themselves surprised at their own negative disposition when stimulated to discuss the public sector.

If it tells us anything, it is that the negative propaganda has been very successful, and with sensitivities running so high, that we do need to strike the right chord with the campaign.

need to be part of a true social partnership that is committed to solving the problems we all face,” he said.

The campaign itself will be very visible. We have placed billboard ads throughout the country from October 6th, as well as advertising on Dublin bus and DART services. In addition, we have placed full page ads in all the national newspapers.

Approximately one million households around the country will receive a copy of our leaflet, and the campaign will have an online presence on a dedicated website, the IMPACT Facebook page, and a dedicated YouTube channel. The online elements of the campaign will give IMPACT the scope to conduct additional low cost campaigns as more of our members use

Photo: Conor Healy.

IMPACT A ‘work in progress’- The agency get creative, IMPACT officers sift through the many options for the campaign and, having made their choice, IMPACT’s ad goes to print.

social networking sites and link to us.

It is a massive undertaking, and one which the IMPACT executive doesn’t take lightly. The campaign is costing in the region of €450,000 to produce.

The campaign is designed to get the nation talking. Our hope is that we can get a meaningful conversation going about the kind of public services we want as we head into a very uncertain future. A conversation that does not rely on myth, rumour or scapegoating public servants.

It’s that simple l

The research gave us all reason to stop and consider the direction of the campaign. We had been developing a campaign based on public servants talking about their own situation, from their own point of view. Ultimately, we realised we could end up talking to IMPACT members and no-one else.

Another option was for us to focus on a particular role in the public service, or a number of roles in the public service, and address the effect of cuts on those services. But this narrowed the focus too much, and we risked losing any sense of the range and diversity within the public sector.

As it happened, we were offered a third option, which developed from the research we had conducted; focusing on the customer, looking at the effects of service cuts from their point of view. It was a crucial decision, and one which gave us the campaign we had been looking for.

John Power, President of IMPACT, agreed that the campaign needed to focus on the idea of putting the customer at the heart of the campaign. “As things stand, we cannot afford to be demonising each other or taking divisive positions. The customer, the service user, must be at the heart of this, we u

The IMPACT campaign, launched October 6th 2009.

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

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Battle stations

IMPACT boss is up for the fight THERE HASN’T been a tougher year for IMPACT and its members since the union was formed in 1991. Indeed, you have to go back a lot further – even beyond the savage cuts of the 1980s – to find such a sustained attack on public services and the people who provide them.

Yet there’s a surprising air of confidence in the IMPACT head office where officials, backed by branches, have spent the summer preparing for a strike ballot. It’s a far cry from the depressed atmosphere that followed the last union ballot in March, when we fell agonisingly short of the two-thirds needed to sanction industrial action.

IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone puts this down to the union’s programme of summer workplace meetings, in which its representatives made face-to-face contact with up to 10,000 public servants – almost a fifth of our membership in the sector.

“Two-thirds is a very high standard and, last time round, we lacked the preparedness needed to convince enough members that industrial action – or the threat of it – could make a difference. That’s changed completely this time,” he says.

McLoone also concedes that the union had a confused message in February and March. “Members couldn’t relate that ballot to the specific issue of the pension levy. This time we’ve focussed exclusively on the issues that really matter to members: The spectre of compulsory redundancies and new attacks on pay and the value of pensions. That’s making a big difference at every level of the union.”

Success It’s over 30 years since McLoone became a full-time union official in 1978 and he’s steered many impressive campaigns and successful strikes in that time, including the 1980’s cuts campaign and national strikes involving nurses, health professionals and others.

He’s been predicting for months that the Government would come back to attack public service pay again following the earlier imposition of the pension levy. But he tells members that a resolute strike threat can make the Government think again. ® WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 11

Photo: Conor Healy

As the union’s strike ballot got underway in October, Work & Life spoke to IMPACT general secretary PETER McLOONE about strikes, pay cuts, public services and the pension levy.

Photo: Moya Nolan

Battle stations “We need to mobilise the entire public service membership through this ballot. If we get behind it with resolve, there’s a good prospect that we’ll succeed.” sound extreme, but if you listen carefully to their utterances, the simple fact is that they are fundamentally opposed to the existence of public services or the right of working people to be in unions.”

“Their agenda is to dehumanise public servants so that they’re easier targets for governments to attack. There’s no regard for our skills, the heavy responsibility that we have in delivering services, or the increasing stress under which many public servants are operating. They don’t want to talk about that at all,” he says.

“Statements by the Taoiseach and other ministers make it very clear that further pay cuts are their preferred course of action. We don’t want strikes. The public don’t want strikes.

But public servants’ pay has already been cut and we’re entitled to take measures to protect what we have left,” he says.

“We need to mobilise the entire public service membership through this ballot. You can’t guarantee success in any strike.

But I can guarantee two things. First, if we don’t support this campaign there will be more pay cuts. Second, if we do get behind it with resolve, there’s a good prospect that we’ll succeed.”

Passion The former psychiatric nurse is a passionate defender of public services and says the people who deliver them are fully entitled to be angry at a Government that’s made them the only targets for cuts. “Between last December and February, we sought to negotiate an agreement to manage our way through the economic crisis fairly, with measures that would apply across the economy. That collapsed when it became clear that the Government’s only real intention was to target public services and put the entire burden of the country’s Budget problem on the people who deliver them. That isn’t fair,” he argues.

The Donegal man is often presented in the press as a ‘moderate’. But he’s scathing about the people now heaping unfair criticism on IMPACT members and other public servants. “Society should have no time for those who advocate profit from essential services. I’ve been around a long time and I can tell you that, in these attacks, the same names crop up today as in the 1980s and 1990s. This may 12

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He’s also acutely aware of the real hardship caused by job losses among temporary staff and the imposed pension levy.

“My in-tray is filled with stories from individual members who are struggling to pay bills or the mortgage. I don’t want to mention particular cases but these are real people living in the same economy as the people who constantly criticise them. They know what it means to suffer a pay cut or have a family member on the dole,” he says.

Criticised Earlier this year McLoone spoke at the MacGill summer school, where he said public services defined society and gave it its humanity. “When you strip away all the economics, the number-crunching, and the ‘slash and burn’ opportunism, that remains the fundamental truth,” he said.

His MacGill speech was criticised in some union quarters for saying that public servants were up for big changes in work practices as part of a transformation of public services – so long as pay, pensions and jobs were protected. “Right now the demands on the public services are increasing because of the recession and that will continue. It’s not enough to agree that the public sector has to make a contribution. As champions of public services we have to go further and argue that vibrant public services are fundamental to society and to economic recovery,” he argues.

This view is informed by the diversity of IMPACT’s membership. “Our members are not detached from society and all of them depend on public services too. If I work in the health sector, I’m entitled to top quality education services for my kids and vice versa. Members don’t just understand that – they firmly believe it.”

McLoone has seen IMPACT’s membership more than double, from 29,000 to over 65,000, since he became general secretary in 1996. But these days his decade of nursing in Clonmel might seem a lot simpler than running the country’s leading public service union. “I don’t look back that far. It’s a great privilege to be in this job and to represent people who make such a massive contribution to society,” he says. Right now, he’s totally focussed on the challenges ahead G

Falling incomes Gxxxxx

Living life on less As public servants and others face up to falling incomes, MARTINA O’LEARY investigates what you can do to deal with your changed financial circumstances.

THE SIMPLISTIC view that public servants should simply tighten their belts and take another hit is frightening for hospital worker Sharon D’Arcy, who’s suffered a 15% fall in her income this year. Like many IMPACT members who’ve been hit by the so-called ‘pension levy’ and other new taxes, she’s found that rapidly falling income means more than just cutting back on a second holiday.

Life is even worse for thousands of others who’ve lost their jobs as state agencies and voluntary organisations cut back, or temporary contracts come to an end.

For the better off, it might mean forgoing the mini-breaks or cutting back on socialising. But for a growing number of public servants, drastically falling income means struggling to pay bills, put food on the table, or clothe the kids. (Don’t believe it? Read Sharon’s story over the page).

The dominant media view that public servants are uniformly overpaid, while all private sector workers are taking wage cuts, literally adds insult to injury.

Photo: www.dreamstime.com

A pay cut is a pay cut, regardless of whether you work in the private sector, the public service, or in a community organisation. But recent research by private sector consultants Mercer shows that less than 10% of private companies have imposed wage

cuts. Meanwhile, and with the exception of judges, 100% of public servants have had pay cuts averaging 7.5% imposed this year.

Below average They weren’t overpaid in the first place. For instance, recent figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that, with average annual earnings of just €34,000 before tax and levies, Ireland’s health workers are paid less than the average worker in the finance sector, business services, transport, or even manufacturing.

Official figures also show that the vast majority of public servants earn less than €60,000 gross a year, while 55,000 of them are paid less than €30,000. The biggest block is paid between €40,000 and €60,000 a year before tax.

Speaking at the MacGill Summer School in July, IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone said he was getting hundreds of emails from desperate members. “These are coming from women in the public service, earning just €30,000 or €40,000 a year. Their husbands may have lost jobs in construction or elsewhere, and their own take-home pay has fallen by €50 or €100 a week because of the so-called pension levy and other new taxes and levies,” he said.

Although the inflation figures are coming down a bit, mortgage repayments, utilities and food bills are relatively unchanged. What’s more, many people have emerged from the so-called boom years with big mortgages and substantial debts, including on credit cards. Add in the threat of further pay cuts or tax increases, and it starts to look pretty frightening. More and more people are asking themselves how they’ll survive with a substantially reduced income.

No doubt there are many public servants among the 10,000 new clients that have contacted the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) since the start of the year. MABS gives help and advice to people who are having difficulties managing their money, and offers individual advice from money advisors.

On average, people who’ve turned to u

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

13

Falling incomes

“ It’s a horrible, horrible feeling.

I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy�

MABS this year owe just over ₏15,000. MABS won’t tell you off or ask you how you got into trouble. But they’ll help you to manage your debts. Among other things, their non-judgemental service could help you deal with banks, mortgage lenders and credit card companies, as well as the ESB and Bord Gåis.

Face it MABS social, policy and communications officer Michael Culloty says you mustn’t ignore the problems that come with a reduced income. “If income is reduced to the extent that you may not be able to meet all your commitments, it’s important to make contact with the people you owe money to at the earliest possible stage and tell them about your changed circumstances. Initially it’s best to write. By writing you are creating a record of your willingness to address your changed situation,� he says.

WELL-PAID politicians, businessmen and analysts want more cuts in public service pay. They reckon you can afford another 10% or 20% - even 50% in one recent newspaper column. But what does that mean for real people struggling to pay their bills?

He also advises that you keep a copy of your letter as you may need it as evidence of your efforts to address your new financial situation.

Drastically falling income means struggling to pay bills, put food on the table, or clothe the kids.

The next step is to look realistically at your situation and make out a budget. There is nothing mysterious about it. “It’s simply a plan for the money you expect to receive and how you intend to spend it. A budget is important because it will show you, in your new changed circumstances, how much money is now coming into your household, how much money is going out, and where it’s going to,� says Michael.

It will also show how much you can realistically afford to offer towards outstanding debts and how you can best plan your spending. “Working out a budget that reflects your new circumstances is essential in managing on a reduced income.

And do include some amount for a social life for you and your family,� he adds.

There is an interactive budget sheet on the MABS website www.mabs.ie.

After you’ve done your budget, MABS advise you to write to your creditors again. Restate your changed circumstances, what caused them, what you can afford to pay in the present circumstances, and when you propose to make payments.

Include a copy of your financial statement to creditors outlining your financial situation.

Sample letters to creditors can be downloaded from the MABS website www.mabs.ie, where you can get more advice about how to deal with creditors l 14 WINTER 2009

Photo: Michael Crean Photography

“Tell your creditors that you are assessing your full financial situation and are working out how much you can pay to each of them, while taking account of all your living expenses and other commitments. If you are already in arrears, ask them to hold any action to recover this debt while you’re doing this. And ask for the suspension of the interest and charges currently being added to your account,� he says.

2008. “I can’t buy myself clothes or go out with my friends at the weekend. I don’t drink much, but I like an odd glass of wine. The Friday night luxury of a DVD, a curry and a bottle of wine – that’s gone. Sometimes I don’t have money for petrol to get into work.

IMPACT member Sharon D’Arcy has recently lost almost 15% of her take-home pay on foot of new taxes and levies, including the so-called pension levy. That means she’s shy ₏300 a month from a modest salary of just over ₏2,000 after deductions.

“It’s dreadful. Even to bring my nephew to the pictures is a struggle. My sister has spent all her money on school books and clothes. Little things like that have become a nightmare,� she says.

She lives with her sister who’s just been made redundant, leaving Sharon’s as the only income in the house. Factor in a young nephew and a mortgage of â‚Ź600 a month, and this Dublin hospital worker of nine years starts to look a lot less ‘bloated’ than the public servants we keep reading about in the press.

Surprisingly, Sharon’s not angry. “I’m gone beyond that to be honest. There was a terrible amount of anger at first, but now it’s turned to fear. I’m worried about the postman coming the next day. I’m worried if I can’t pay a bill. It’s a very frightening thing to be afraid and anxious with a knot in your stomach every morning. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It’s a horrible, horrible feeling.�

“It’s no joke. It’s frightening and quite depressing,� says Sharon, who has fallen back on some of her bills. “I’ve come to an arrangement to pay back as much as I can. I had to get a mortgage break for three months, but the payments will then go up.

The oil heating is leaking, but I’ve no money to get it fixed,� she says.

How things have changed in the short time since

No doubt the well-paid advocates of another pay cut for Sharon would say she’s lucky to have a secure job. “I want people to know that my job is not safe. We’ve been told at a general staff meeting that the hospital is down millions and the HSE could come in and tell people they are not needed.

Please let it be known that jobs in the HSE are not safe,� she says l

Hospital worker Sharon D’Arcy’s income has reduced by almost 15% this year.

Unique educational offering for human services

The Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) has some essential steps in dealing with changed financial circumstances and debt.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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7.

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List and evaluate your debts Make contact with your creditors to outline your changed circumstances. By writing you have recorded your willingness to deal with the situation Ask them not to do anything about your debt until you’ve reassessed your situation, and ask them to suspend any interest or charges being added to the account Prioritise your debts Make a budget Make a written offer of payment to your creditors If accepted, make sure you keep to your commitments If rejected, contact them again and ask them to reconsider

Contact the MABS helpline on 1890-283-438 anytime between 9am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. Or visit www.mabs.ie, where you’ll find lots of information on budgeting and dealing with creditors, including sample letters.

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Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 15

Photo: Moya Nolan.

Public service

Pains, trips and automobile accidents DEEP MASSAGE? I discovered I couldn’t have been more off the mark if I tried when I met IMPACT activist and physiotherapy manager Doreen Bracken.

Speaking to her at the physiotherapy department in Dublin’s Connolly hospital, which she’s managed since 1976, I quickly learned that physiotherapists play a crucial role in getting you out of bed after major surgery, regaining mobility after a stroke, and walking again if injured after a car crash.

And they treat patients for a range of other ailments like sports injuries, falls, back pains, women’s health problems – the list goes on and on. But the main focus is always on patient care and team work, while all the while working with other health care professionals.

Physios use knowledge and experience from their extensive training to assess, diagnose and treat people of all ages and social groups. They help patients avoid injuries in the workplace or on the sports field, and promote healthier lifestyles for all.

Every acute hospital has its physiotherapists. But they also work in community and primary health care settings, visiting people in their homes to give treatment and advice. They help children in special schools achieve their full potential. And some work in private practice dealing with a wide variety of muscle, joint and ligament problems.

Skills Doreen is quick to point out that her job of managing a busy physiotherapy department means ensuring that the skills are in place for all the different areas of physiotherapy. And each of them can run very well without being heavily overseen.

“You know and trust the skills are on board and people are giving their all. I have been really lucky here. We have such a good team and we all support each other. It’s a learning process all the way up and it's a poor day that I don't learn something from the younger people,” she says.

It takes four years to become a qualified physiotherapist. But the training doesn’t stop there. After 44 years as a physio, Doreen puts it like this: “On the job training is very much part and parcel of the job. It’s highly skilled work.”

Connolly hospital has weekly and monthly in-service training covering anything from respiratory, care of the elderly, neurology, orthopaedics, orthopaedics medicine, joint injuries, back care, cardiac care, women's health, and strokes. Many of the team have completed, or are completing, masters degrees in specialist areas of physiotherapy.

16

WINTER 2009

Like most of us, MARTINA O’LEARY gleans a lot of her medical knowledge from Holby City and Private Practice. But she found out that physiotherapy is about more than a quick deep massage.

Intensive care Junior staff are rotated to different areas every four months.

The senior will have a junior working with them for this period, during which they impart their skills. Meanwhile, the juniors learn if they like that particular work area over another and then start looking towards doing post-graduate study.

It’s very serious work. A visit to the intensive care unit reminds you that physiotherapists, along with other medical staff, are working in life and death situations. If you don't get air into the lungs you don't live. “Our job, all of the time, is motivating and educating the patient and getting them up and ready to go home well,” says Doreen.

Take a stroke victim for example. As soon they’re admitted to the hospital, the physio team wants to speak to the medical team to see if it’s safe to start treatment. Once the blood pressure and bleed are stabilized, usually within the first 24 to 48 hours, the physiotherapists assess the patient’s loss of skills and look at their breathing function and balance. They also study their medical history before starting treatment. “You are continually making a plan of treatment for the patient,” says Doreen.

Change Things have changed a lot. In 1976, when Doreen first started managing the Connolly physiotherapy department, there were five or six in the team. Now they have 24 physiotherapists, some working on a part-time basis, and four physiotherapy assistants. Each month the department sees between 600 and 750 new patients, a combination of in-patient and out-patient.

They have 25 students coming through each year.

Doreen Bracken in Connolly Hospital’s physiotherapy department.

“That is stressful for the physiotherapist. Each of them is prioritising on almost an hourly basis. If a patient doesn’t show up for their appointment, time is wasted. We have no clerical support to answer calls. If there’s a cancellation, the physio has to look for the list and try to get a replacement. That’s a waste of a physiotherapist’s time, when an admin worker could co-ordinate it so well – and more cost-effectively,” says Doreen.

Pressure

Like any job in Ireland’s health service there are many pressures and stresses. Take the two physiotherapists working in the in-partient rehabilitation service who have 55-60 patients on their case list in any given day. Inevitably, they have to balance the patients’ needs with what two pairs of hands can realistically provide. That means making priorities.

Staffing cuts are making things even more difficult. Doreen had to terminate the contract of an agency physiotherapist recently. She isn’t sure if another staff member, who’s going back to education, will be replaced. These two physiotherapists dealt with 200 patients a month and Doreen is concerned that the remaining team members will have to take up the slack.

Treating patients early is really vital and means they will be mobile and homeward bound much quicker. A long wait for physiotherapy can lead to treatable conditions becoming chronic. ®

That is on top of the normal outpatients’ service, which could see 300 patients per month. “It's a major balancing act. You have 300 people – who do you take first?”

Treating patients early is really vital and means they will be mobile and homeward bound much quicker. A long wait for treatment can lead to treatable conditions becoming chronic.

But Doreen’s face lights up when she talk about the highs of the job. It’s obvious that she loves the work, even with its pressures. “The real joy is the discharging of a patient – being able to use the skills that you have to the best advantage of the patient. You could work with a patient for weeks in intensive care, so focused on ensuring that they have the very best chance of recovery.”

“I've been really lucky. When I worked in the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast, the management team was very visible and supportive. It was the same when I came to Connolly.

Since then I’ve had a number of managers come through here and there has been a marked change over the years. Management now seems to be supporting the HSE corporate agenda rather than supporting frontline staff,” she says G WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 17

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Your say

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Small world

I had the good fortune to attend the ICTU global solidarity summer school in August. Up to this point, my understanding of the function of trade unions was that their work centred on disputes between staff and management in the workplace. As long as things were running smoothly, the union was dormant in my view.

My mind went back to the time I became a member of ‘the union’ in my first job at the age of 18 in Lusaka, Zambia. I remembered that the meetings, which were mostly punctuated by heated discussions on pay-related issues and conditions of service, presented a scenario which was not very different to the one prevailing in my current job in Ireland.

However, over the two days, I gained a real insight into the global perspective and expansive range of activities undertaken by the trade union movement – from community mobilisation at grass roots level to world networks.

Input from the Lesotho delegates, who are in the forefront of union capacitybuilding in their country, included a message of solidarity to their Irish counterparts. Other delegates, local and international, highlighted the need for raising awareness on the effects of climate change, forced labour, human trafficking, global recession and the interconnectedness of world financial systems.

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With the experience of Ireland and the collapse of the economy, this brought home the fact that the message should be communicated within our union that what we do locally affects the rest of the world. We can all contribute to make a difference.

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NAMA and cuts

Union subs

Unemployment has increased from 4% to 13% in the last 18 months. With this disastrous change in fortunes, one might draw solace that the change would lead to an influx of skilled and motivated volunteers to enhance the work done by community and voluntary organisations.

Our IMPACT contribution is a percentage of our gross wage and, although our net wage has decreased due to the levy, our IMPACT contribution has not decreased at all. I think IMPACT should show solidarity with members by reducing the percentage of the contribution.

However, as people might seek to contribute their time to organisations they support and value, they will be disheartened that the very organisations that people turn to in time of need are at the sharp end of the cuts with drug treatment, disability, community development, older and youth services affected.

Angela Gunning Kildare branch

The implementation of NAMA means we are expected to swallow a concept of 'long term economic value' which, in plain language, is nothing more than an aspiration by the Government and their builder, banker and speculator friends of a return of the property bubble in the not too distant future.

SASH days In the financial climate we all find ourselves in today, I think it would be lovely if we could make every day a ‘SASH’ day – Smile And Say Hello! Yes, we are all under financial strain, extra pressure everywhere we look, and the stress of having to deal with all these changes. So next time you’re out and about, smile and say hello to everyone you meet.

We’re all in the same boat together.

Rose Bradley Molloy Meath

IMPACT members need to get organised to fight the cuts in community services, because there is more to come if the Government tries to implement Bord Snip. IMPACT can play a crucial role in asserting the impor tance of the voluntary sector. The ager enda of this government t lett e bes the rest. h t seems only to offer desr o 0 for €50 f pays ue and €3 out the pair and hopelessness to e f i L ab & iss think Work ed each communities, and comu o y e h t v s publi know wha ssues we’ fort for bankers and execi t s i e u of , r th g Let utives. ine o e to think n anythin z a g o m r ma o s e C pap view ed. cover now your r pen and ep it Garrett Mullan k u e let us Get out yo orget to k Boards & Voluntary f ! t l ’ l n a do at Agencies’ branch . And , today d shor t. & Life an Work in 1. , n nice a l l o b t, Du isin N to Ro ey’s Cour t.ie. e t i r n c W er impa CT N d IMPA il rnolan@ signe a blish y u a p Or em m y l e We on Work & Lif size. r s. ter fo letter ur let o y t i ed

write, hone... r e v e You n ou never p y

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Work & Life Work & Life is the magazine for members of IMPACT trade union. IMPACT members can have it mailed to them by contacting Work & Life at IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1 or by emailing rnolan@impact.ie. Or call Roisin Nolan on 01-817-1544.

IMPACT also produces a monthly e-bulletin with more detailed information about the union’s activities and campaigns, and developments in your workplace. Sign up via the website on www.impact.ie.

IMPACT is Ireland’s largest public sector union with members in health, local government, the civil service, education, the community sector, semi-state organisations, aviation and telecommunications.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 19

Your rights at work Photos/Images: Dreamstime

www.welfare.ie/EN/Pages/jajbfaq.aspx, www.inou.ie, or www.citizeninformationboard.ie.

Jobseeker's benefit is a social insurance payment. It’s not means tested and you can qualify for up to 12 months of payments if you are made unemployed, meet the general qualification criteria and have enough PRSI contributions or 'stamps' to qualify for a social insurance payment. You may be disqualified from jobseeker’s benefit for up to nine weeks if you are under 55 and received a redundancy payment of over €50,000.

Job seekers allowance is a means tested social assistance payment. If you don’t qualify for job seekers’ benefit, you could be entitled to job seekers allowance if you are unemployed and meet the general qualification criteria. To qualify, you must prove that your means are below the maximum rate of job seeker's allowance for your family size. Your spouse’s or partner’s income is also assessed.

You can do some casual or part-time work and still qualify for jobseeker’s allowance, but your allowance will be reduced to take account of some of your earnings. The full details are available on www.inou.ie, www.welfare.ie or www.citizeninformationboard.ie.

To qualify for either benefit or allowance you must be under 66, resident in Ireland, unemployed for at least three days in any period of six consecutive days, and capable, available and genuinely seeking work. You have to sign on once a month, but collect weekly payments from a designated post office. After six months you can apply to be paid directly into your bank.

CHECKLIST

Becoming unemployed

Register with FÁS. Claim benefit or allowance Ask about signing for credits if you’re not entitled to payments

Claiming

Bring your passport, driver’s license or birth certificate Bring a household bill, bank statement or tax document with your name and address on it.

Bring your P45 or a letter from your employer saying when you finished work

An employers’ letter explaining why your job finished

Act fast if you lose your job SIGNING ON the dole is no joke. It’s traumatic, worrying and unfamiliar territory for people who’ve been used to being in paid employment.

The social welfare system can be confusing, but Brid O'Brien of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) says there’s lots of good advice and information available.

And, if you find yourself out of work, it’s important to interact with social welfare quickly and sign on as soon as you can.

“Some people delay. They may hope to get another job quickly and find this doesn’t work out. Or they are discouraged from signing on because they’ve never been unemployed before and hate the thought of dealing with the social welfare system,” says Brid.

20

WINTER 2009

To avoid delays in social welfare payments, it’s really important to get the necessary documents quickly, especially those you need to get from your employer. It’s equally important to sign on fast because social welfare payments aren’t backdated. If you’re entitled to a payment, you will only get it once you sign on.

Bear in mind that average waiting times for job seekers’ benefit and allowance payments is 3.3 weeks and 5.9 weeks, respectively. But the figures vary widely and are currently up to 22 weeks in some areas. That’s a long time to be without income, so don’t delay.

If you’re not entitled to job seeker benefit or allowance, you may be entitled to a supplementary welfare allowance from the community welfare officer in your local health centre. They may also be able to help if you have a financial emergency.

Entitlements There are two main payments that you may be entitled to: job seekers benefit and job seekers allowance. Your entitlements depend on how long you have been paying PRSI and the PRSI rate you have been paying. The full details are available on

®

A growing number of IMPACT members are finding themselves out of work as temporary contracts end and organisations cut back. MARTINA O’LEARY looks at how you should approach the social welfare system if you lose your job.

Full and modified PRSI Virtually all private sector employees, and public servants who started work after April 1995, pay class A PRSI. That means they will be entitled to job seekers benefit if they’ve paid enough contributions. The same goes for all ‘non-officer’ public servants, most community sector workers and, until recently, most temporary public servants.

But most public servants who started work before April 1995 pay a modified PRSI rate - either class B, C or D – which means they don’t qualify for jobseeker’s benefit. However, they may qualify for the means-tested jobseeker’s allowance.

The maximum payments for both job seekers’ benefit and job seekers’ allowance is currently €204.30 a week, plus €135.60 for a qualified adult dependent, €26 for each dependent child and €13 for other dependent children – although most new claimants under 20 years of age are only entitled to weekly payments of €100. A qualified child increase may be payable for a child who lives with you and is maintained by you (up to age 18 and in some cases 22). The child need not be your child. You may also be entitled to various supplementary benefits, like medical cards or the national fuel scheme. The full details are available on www.inou.ie, www.welfare.ie or www.citizeninformationboard.ie G

may speed up your claim

Bring recent P60 forms if you’re applying for job seeker’s benefit

Appealing

Appeal the decision as soon as possible if you’re refused jobseekers benefit or allowance, or a social welfare payment. Contact the INOU for advice.

More info G The INOU publication Working for Work will help you on the welfare system, getting back to work, and education and training options. Get it from www.inou.ie or phone 01-856-0088. The INOU’s welfare rights section will help you with individual queries. They also do workplace meetings in organisations where redundancies are looming.

G Get details of your PRSI contributions from your local social welfare office or the Department of Social and Family Affairs at 1890-662244.

G Try these websites – www.welfare.ie – www.losingyourjob.ie – www.fas.ie – www.socialwelfareappeals.ie – www.inou.ie – www.redundancy.ie – www.citizensinformationboard.ie This article is for information only and is not a legal interpretation.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 21

Your career MARTINA O’LEARY says you can increase your future prospects by improving so-called soft skills.

YOU MIGHT be out of work or worried about your job security. Either way you can do something about it, by improving your skills.

Even if you have no plans to move job, there may be skills you can develop or improve which would be useful within your current organisation or on a personal level. It doesn’t necessarily mean going back to the classroom.

Start with the ‘soft’ or transferable skills that keep reappearing in job descriptions and recruitment ads.

Soft skills relate to personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterise relationships with other people. They complement the hard professional and technical skills you need to do your job.

They include interpersonal skills, organisational skills, team worker, managing and motivating people, attention to detail, working on your own initiative, flexibility and communications skills.

Excellent interpersonal skills, an excellent phone manner and customer relations skills are all shorthand for good communications. Think about it, no matter what your job is, particularly working in the public service, you will be dealing with people throughout your working life. To provide a good service you need to communicate effectively with them.

Photos/Images: Dreamstime

Communications is one of the most vital soft skills. Everyone has them, but may not use them effectively. According to training consultant Fabia Gavin: “People could be stilted in an organisation. You don’t have to be over confident, but by communicating effectively you can build relationships and make yourself an integral part of the team.”

Time to firm up those soft skills 22

WINTER 2009

Fabia says this involves some soul searching, like looking at how you communicate, and confronting the barriers that stop you communicating effectively. “These could be physical barriers, like where you’re located in the building, system faults or attitudinal barriers. They could be simple assumptions people make that stop them communicating.” Workplace personality issues can also be barriers. You might feel that people don’t listen to you, so this stops you from giving your ideas and participating fully. That could stop you from getting your best side across. Take a more proactive approach. For instance, you should try to present your manager

with a solution to a work problem rather than simply focussing on the negative,” says Fabia.

You may feel you are stuck in a role and it’s not always possible to move upwards in your organisation. But it may be possible to move sideways and get involved in parts of the organisation you hadn’t in the past.

“Get involved in other aspects or areas of the organisation,” says Fabia. This could be as simple as getting involved in a project or social event where you will meet different people.

No doubt you already possess some soft skills but you probably haven’t thought about it in that way. You may well be involved in an activity outside of work where you are developing skills that can be used in every walk of life, including the workplace.

Perhaps you’ve developed a project with the residents’ association or worked to raise funds for the local school – while all the time improving your team working, motivation and leadership skills.

then at interview. The main advice here is to tailor your CV to the specific job description, giving enough to tempt prospective employers into calling you for an interview.

At the interview you should try to highlight your skills and experience with strong examples, tailoring your CV to the job profile.

You might find that firming up those soft skills can deliver hard cash and a personal boost G

Communications is one of the most vital soft skills. Everyone has them, but may not use them effectively.

If you have decided to try and improve some of those soft skills, there are a huge number of useful evening courses being run by public and private colleges throughout the country. You should investigate what the local community colleges, schools, libraries and VECs have on offer as most of these run evening courses, and some do morning classes.

When the training is done, you must try to showcase these new found skills. The key places for this is in your everyday work and if the opportunity arises in your curriculum vitae and WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 23

Looking good

T H G I N S A follows day

1 2

Lavish layering 3

Remember it’s Ireland’s winter we’re bracing ourselves for, so you need to layer up. Especially if it’s going to be a late night. Trying to make this look glamorous involves chunky scarves, leather cuff gloves, hand warmers and woolly berets. Warehouse have a good selection, with bling included from around €16.

Glam up your work wear for the perfect evening outfit. TRISH O’MAHONY reveals how.

I’VE BEEN a fan of ‘very versatile clothes’ for a good many years now. Sometimes, admittedly, I get a bit carried away by the whole thing. If I can’t wear it as I’m haring off to catch the train to work, and the Ball tonight (you know what I mean), and everything in between, then it’s failed the versatility test.

black embellished dress at €76 or a burnt orange beaded shift for €91.

Summer dresses can be ‘re-seasoned’ by wearing with coloured tights and chunky cardigans

Until recently I’ve felt quite alone in this quest. But it now seems to be becoming a fashion in itself. The financial spin off is obvious – you spend less.

Made for walking

Now that we’re coming into the work parties and functions time of year, or maybe just heading out with your workmates to catch an early bird and a couple of drinks, the conundrum of not having anything to wear can be enough to make you cry off. But it doesn’t have to be like this. Adopt an eclectic approach to fashion. Mix the best of what suits your personality, body shape, colouring, lifestyle, and your pocket with the latest trends.

Man about town A suit with a hint of sheen works well both day and night. Emphasis on ‘hint’ or you risk looking like Jake Stevens in Naked Camera.

Wear with open necked shirt for après work times. French Connection (pictured left) always has a good range to choose from.

Wear jeans and t-shirt with your suit jacket for a relaxed, casual effect. Break the rules and wear black, or grey, with navy.

The 24 hour shift

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5

Boyfriend jackets are so everywhere and are a key staple, looking good with your dress, Capri pants or skinny jeans and a t-shirt. Take a fresh look at last year’s suit.

Failing that, borrow from the boyfriend’s wardrobe. Roll up the sleeves and you’re good to go. I’m putting my money on a River Island long style, and by the time I’ve worn it everywhere it will owe me nothing G

6

Billowing blouses Blouses look good, both day and night and they’re an inexpensive, feminine, way to update your look.

Choose sheer and satin fabrics, with ruffles for a glamorous feel.

Wallis have plenty to tempt you.

The high street is full of the one shoulder style. Penneys will have a good range of satin blouses from October, catering for day and night. If you want something a little more daring corsets are de rigueur for evening wear with fitted skirt or trousers.®

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Main pic: Collection from Warehouse. Coat €63. Dress €60. Hat €18. Gloves €16. Scarf €29. 1.

Purple moc-croc tote bag, House of Fraser, €109. 2. Brown resin bangle, Brown snakeskin bangle, House of Fraser €15 each. 3. Top right pic: Collection from New Look. Dress €24. Shoes €80. 4.

Purple shiffon embellished blouse, Wallis €53. 5. Jasper Conran Felt Bow Trilby €28.00. 6.

Red leather gloves, Accessorize €34. 7. Boyfriend jacket, River Island €50. 8. Silver ribbon top, Next €41. 9. Metallic skinny zip trousers, Next €49.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 25

Photos: prshots.com

There’s nothing quite like the shift dress to take you from day to evening with ease. Wear with a long cardi, wool tights and brogues for a relaxed look; sheer tights and heels when you mean business. Switch from sheer to fishnet, oversized jewellery and boyfriend blazer, and you’re ready to go anywhere you like after six. New Look have one priced at €24. Or try Wallis who have a purple and

Ask yourself how versatile are those over-the-knee boots? Can you really wear them everywhere? Ankle boots, with not too high a heel, will take you from a day at the desk to a night at the disco without too much hardship on those heels. Schuh Calvin 2 buckle shoe boot, come in purple suede, grey leather and black patent priced at €85. Wallis also have black or purple suede ankle boots (above), trimmed in patent, priced €68.

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7

Boyfriend jackets

wer nks lo . erry li land F to the island Is n te Sta ttan Manha

Travel and trips New York may not sound like a typical family holiday destination.

But TRISH O’MAHONY says it’s one sure place to entice three busy teenagers on what could be the last family holiday for a while.

t up a nds e wi tadium. k o C Phil ankee S Y

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WINTER 2009

Centra

l Park.

Our base was the Beacon hotel on Broadway at 75th Street. The self-described ‘jewel of the Upper West Side,’ with views of Central Park and the Hudson River, is very well appointed. It has a neighbourhood feel, in a residential area with a great selection of nice restaurants, bars and boutiques close by.

With a subway stop across the road, it’s very central with a pleasant 25-minute walk to Times Square. Managed by Irishman Tom Travers, the Beacon ticked all the boxes for our group. No doubt heavily influenced by Sex and the City, one daughter took to joining the early morning joggers in nearby Central Park.

If you want to get to the heart of the action, try the very central four-star Helmsley hotel for special deals, some of them offered in conjunction with the Irish Times travel department.

Food first A lot of the restaurants around Times Square are overpriced and aimed at tourists. Head uptown or downtown for better quality and value.

Isabellas is a very good Italian restaurant if you’re near Columbus Avenue and 79th Street. Even if you’re not staying in the area it’s worth a taxi ride. It has great food, atmosphere, decor and prices, and you can have the pleasure of eating alfresco. While you’re in the area you’ll notice a selection of other fine restaurants and bars.

The Blue Smoke on 116 East 27th Street has it all: Great food, steaks and ribs the speciality, along with other regional barbeque styles in a relaxed atmosphere. Head downstairs to the Jazz Standard to be entertained by world class artists. If that puts you in the mood for more try Dizzy’s Club, Jazz at the Lincoln Centre, where you will get

downtown to Greenwich Village and SoHo, where everything moves at a more relaxed pace and you can mix with the bohemian arty types.

great music and magnificent views over Central Park.

See the city The View at the Marriott Hotel on Times Square is the perfect place to spend an hour or so, especially on your first, jetlagged, day. It’s New York’s only revolving roof-top restaurant, with great views over the Hudson, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, Carnegie Tower and lots more. Call in for a drink and, literally, sit back and watch the world go by!

We also had a great day at the Yankee Stadium, where the New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays. We felt part of a truly national pastime. I don’t know much about the game, but the experience was as much about the crowd, the lively music, and the dancing.

Try the world-class Museum of Modern Art, which is free between 4pm and 8pm on Fridays. But be warned, it’s very crowded. I must confess my motivation had more to do with impressing the editor than marvelling at the Picassos and Van Goghs. Nonetheless I did enjoy – until my enthusiasm to touch an exhibit earned me a stern reprimand.

I’ve never been disappointed with a Broadway show and ‘In the Heights’ was no exception. Full price tickets can cost $100-plus, but special offers available at the booth in Times Square might set you back half that.

Make for Canal Street for some of the most interesting, quirky shops in Manhattan. There are some great cafes and restaurants, made for relaxing and some serious people-watching.

I must confess this was when I was at my happiest.

As soon as you enter it you’re likely to feel a familiarity with Central Park because of its exposure on TV. Nothing prepares you for how well that familiarity sits, though.

Joggers, cyclists, roller-bladers, dogwalkers and sunbathers make use of this 843-acre public playground right in the heart of Manhattan. Approximately 25 million people visit it each year. It’s a hive of activity, yet an easy escapism from skyscrapers and traffic.

Hire a boat on the lower lake if you’re feeling energetic, then relax over a long, lingering lunch in the boathouse restaurant, which overlooks the lake. It’s very popular so you might need to prebook.

Retail therapy It’s almost impossible to avoid shopping in New York. A pre-recession 2007 survey found the average New York spend of Irish shoppers ranged between €1,500 and €5,000. For serious discount shopping, take the hour-long bus trip from Grand Central Station to Woodbury Common. Jersey Gardens was voted the best shopping by the younger ones and SoHo would have to be my preferred choice.

And, of course, Fifth Avenue is great if you’re content with looking or you’re planning a lotto win! G

Don’t miss the Staten Island ferry, which links lower Manhattan to the island. This fantastic public service in the heart of American capitalism is free and runs every half hour. It’s well worth building a day around. The financial district, Wall Street, World Trade Centre, and Trinity Church and graveyard, can all be taken in en route.

Enjoy panoramic views of Manhattan’s skyline on board the ferry. And the best bit is how close it sails to the Statue of Liberty. We didn’t spend time on the island, opting to get the next ferry back.

But there’s plenty to do there, including a zoo, a variety of museums, parks or just strolling around.

You might find the Big Apple a bit overwhelming if it’s your first time.

Escape the high rise and head WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 27

Photos: Dreamstime

Bow B ridge,

So good they named it twice

IF YOU’VE got teenagers, you know it gets harder and harder to convince them to join the family holiday. I tempted my three with a midJuly trip to New York. And it worked.

Be good to yourself Gxxxxx

Gxxxxx

It’s not too late to sign up for an evening class, which can be a cheap and enjoyable way to feel better and get fitter as the darker evenings approach. KAREN WARD advises on some of the options.

Have fun and tone up for a few euro a week IT’S THAT time of year again when we start thinking about evening classes. The trouble is that many of us do just that.

We think about them, but never actually get around to doing anything about it.

Well, how about combining the idea of an evening class with some healthy living? Here are some descriptions of interesting classes you might consider to put a pep in your step while losing a few inches as well.

Yoga Yoga offers a classic way to relax and unwind while becoming more flexible and energetic. The classes involve physical postures or asanas, a special type of breathing with a relaxation meditation at the end.

There are three main types of courses available in Ireland: Hatha, Iyengar and Ashtanga. The easiest way to describe the difference is a simple analogy to ball games.

Hatha, the most popular type, is a bit like playing tennis. It’s easy to learn with a qualified teacher. Most people who have done no exercise in a while, but are otherwise healthy, find this a terrific way to combine gentle stretching and relaxation.

Iyengar, which focuses on detailed alignment, is like badminton as it requires more flexibility and therefore a degree of fitness to start.

Ashtanga, which is

xx 2009 28 WINTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2009

quite rigorous, is like squash.

So you would need a good level of flexibility and knowledge of yoga to start. (The format of a classic Ashtanga class is set in the same advanced postures for a two-hour practise period as devised by Pattabhi Jois, the Indian founder of the method. But many teachers break down the postures and focus on different ones each week to provide variety.)

So, in other words Hatha is perfect for yoga beginners.

Iyengar is ideal for those who are slightly more flexible. And Ashtanga is great for those who are sporty and very flexible.

Many people start with Hatha and move up to either Iyengar or Ashtanga. Some flexible people start with beginner’s Iyengar or Ashtanga.

Many are very happy to stay with Hatha because of its relaxation and stress management benefits.

Hot yoga There is now an increasing number of ‘hot’ yoga or Bikram yoga classes around the country. This is a Hatha yoga class level in a very hot room. The idea is that in the heat your muscles and ligaments loosen to allow you to stretch more. There’s also a natural detox which happens because of the high temperature. Anyone who loves exercising in heat will love this.

Some teachers now combine Ashtanga yoga in a Hatha style of class, which involves the flow u

of movement with the breath in a less formalised routine called Viniyasa. Again if we use the ball analogy this would be at the badminton level.

Tone up with pilates If you want to tone your abdomen and improve your posture then pilates is definitely for you. If you can imagine the relaxed pace of yoga using simple floor exercises then you have an idea of what it offers.

All the exercises focus on the core of the body – the abdomen and the low back. It’s amazing how much strength you can gain in this area over a short period of time. Some classes use ‘fit ball’ or ‘fit circle’ in the exercises to target different muscle groups in the body.

Yogilates: the best of both Yogilates is an amalgam of yoga and pilates, which is fairly new to Ireland. It’s a very natural progression to link the two as Joseph Pilates, the guy who designed the exercise system, took much of his inspiration from ancient yoga techniques.

Basically the yogilates teacher uses yoga stretches to warm everyone up then combines yoga and pilates moves throughout the class before ending with a yoga relaxation.

Sculpt that body

Finding your course To find the right class for you, go along to your nearest health food shop as most teachers advertise there. The Golden Pages and the internet are also good sources of information. Classes usually involve an hour a week for six to eight weeks and are likely to cost between €85.00 and €100.00.

Time for change

OUR REGULAR health writer Karen Ward has just published her new book, Change a little to change a lot.

It’s a tried and tested guide on how to cope with life’s ups and downs in a holistic way. The book offers simple, practical advice on living naturally in our busy, modern world while enjoying life to the full.

Change a little to change a lot looks at issues like dealing with change and doing your personal NCT. It also gives holistic tips and tells you how to keep your personal health file.

Here is a way to literally sculpt each part of your body in a fun and easy method. Everyone uses light hand weights and the pace is relaxed.

The music has a good beat but is not loud and pulsating, so it suits those who like to keep in shape but don’t like the classic gym music loudness.

Importantly it teaches you how to identify your own – and your families’ – health red flags. For instance, there may be a history of heart disease or back problems, so you have to learn to read and act on the warning signs.

Some classes specify that weights are provided; others ask you to bring your own l

Change a little to change a lot is available at all good book stores priced €10 l

Keep it simple is the book’s message. You try to change everything at once at your peril. The message is to take one manageable step at a time, stick to it and, once it’s part of your life, take the next logical step.

Karen Ward is a holistic therapist based in her Rhiannon Clinic, Smithfield, Dublin www.karenwardholistictherapist.com

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 29

From the kitchen

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Photos: Dreamstime

Top 10 tips for making super soup!

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2 3.

3 4 5 6 7 8 4.

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Lighter soups like those made from tomatoes, mushrooms or vegetables generally are a snack, or starter, or maybe a light lunch when served with bread and cheese, while a bowl of minestrone, or Spanish chorizo and chickpea soup, could see you through the day on its own. There are as many recipes and variations as you could ever hope for, but in my experience, the golden rules are fresh ingredients, follow the recipe, and gentle cooking.

Cook what’s in season, it should be plentiful, and therefore cheaper, and you can make soup out of almost everything.

Whizzing in a blender will achieve a velvety smoothness, which can improve the flavours.

Soup is an excellent way of increasing the vegetable intake of adults and kids alike, and fits so handily into a flask.

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Wide shallow soup plates are generally better for serving and eating soup, than round deep bowls.

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Leave the tin opener and the scissors in the drawer – forget Andy Warhol and his Campbell’s soup tins – just don’t go there!

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French onion soup

So it’s slow-cooking food, but in most cases only for around 20-30 minutes, then you can turn it off. The flavours of most soups intensify overnight, but remember to put them in the fridge or somewhere cool, as they will go off if left out in the heat of the kitchen. Most soup freezes very well, so once made, it can be defrosted and heated up very quickly, and will take the chill out of the worst rainy night.

A word on stock. I don’t make homemade stock, as I never quite got the hang of it, and I think there are some great alternatives in the supermarkets. I always look for an organic brand, one low in salt – as I want to decide the seasoning myself, thank you – and without any mysterious additives and chemicals.

Ingredients: (For 6)

I’ve included a classic recipe, if you can master this recipe, you can cook any soup with confidence. The French onion soup is an exercise in restraint, you just can’t rush it, but looks and tastes so impressive when it’s done, and you can serve it without the croutes, if that suits you better G

• 2 pints/1.2ltrs good beef stock

Stock up on wine

Always check the seasoning last, it‘s easy to add more, but impossible to take some out.

7.

any liquid. This has to be done slowly, over a gentle heat to allow the flavours to emerge and intensify. If the heat is too strong and they stick to the bottom of the pan, this will taint the flavour of the soup.

When the liquid has been added, keep the heat low – simmer – means that an occasional bubble of air lazily breaks across the surface of the soup, anything more energetic is probably too hot.

• 1.5lbs/700g thinly sliced onions • 2 cloves garlic, crushed • 2oz butter • 2 tbsps olive oil • Half tsp sugar • 10 fl oz/275ml dry white wine • Salt and black pepper • 1-2 tbsps brandy (optional) For the cheesy croutes: • 2-3 1cm slices baguette per person • I clove garlic, cut in half

Always have tins of tomatoes, onions, garlic, and some decent stock cubes or powder to hand.

Soups love herbs.

8.

This last bit, what the Italians call “soffritto” slowly, slowly, is quite important. A lot of recipes require that you sweat onions/garlic/carrots/potatoes etc, in olive oil or butter for a while before adding

Use a heavy bottomed saucepan, which should give a more even heat.

6.

In fairness, a lot depends on the soup.

When it’s properly made, from fresh ingredients, and served in a proper bowl, with good bread, or a dusting of parmesan, maybe a swirl of cream, soup is the medicine to cure all ills.

If on the other hand, you regard soup as something that comes in a packet, to which you add boiling water and a couple of vigorous stirs, then you are on the wrong track entirely. Similarly, sludge that is poured from a tin, then thinned with water to form a reconstituted liquid is not what we are discussing here. These are not soup. No, we are talking about soup made from fresh ingredients, cooked with consideration and care.

Always use fresh ingredients, the best quality you can get.

Wilted leaves, rubbery carrots, slimy mushrooms, they don’t taste any better when you put them in liquid, they just compromise the whole thing.

1

liquid super-food that will make even a very bad situation better?

Soupedup MARGARET HANNIGAN is preparing to eat well this winter, with good old reliable soup.

MY OXFORD Dictionary, to which I turn in search of clarity and focus, advises me that soup is “liquid food made of stock from stewed meat etc and other ingredients”. It also helpfully suggests that to “soup up” is to “increase power of (engine), supercharge”, while a soup kitchen is “a public establishment for supplying soup free to the poor or in times of distress”. So from this, can we deduce that soup is some kind of ®

MARGARET HANNIGAN has been checking out the special offers, as one of the few advantages of the recession is keener prices in the supermarkets. Keep an eye on those promotions, as wine bought now will happily keep until Christmas and beyond.

Red Veja Roja – Rioja: Gentle red berry aromas, elegant fruity flavours and a smooth finish. Glowing ruby red colour, and no harsh tannins. Well priced for this varietal €8.99, Tesco.

Andes Peaks - Carmenere 2007 Reserva, from the Genesis Vineyards in the Colchuaga Valley, Chile. An interesting new varietal, much smoother than the ro-

bust Cabernet, tasting of plum, blackcurrant, chocolate and a hint of coffee. Handharvested, and aged in oak barrels, one for a good lamb roast. €11.99, O’Briens.

White Palo Alto Sauvignon Blanc : Chilean white from the Maule Valley - sharp, clean flavours, zingy tastes. €8.49 from Dunnes Stores, usually €16.99. Check out the Palo Alto Shiraz Rose while you’re at it - beautiful fuschia colour, redcurrants and cherry flavours, with a zing of summer days. Also on special at €8.49.

Wolf Blass Eaglehawk Semillon Chardonnay 2007. The Eaglehawk range seems to be a type of diffusion line from the main Wolf Blass wines. This blend of varietals offers a compromise between the oakey buttery flavours of chardonnay, and the crisp dry Semillon. More mellow than Sauvignon Blanc, but not as heavy as chardonnay. €8.99, Supervalu.

• 1oz/25g butter, melted • 5oz/25g gruyere cheese, grated To make the soup: In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil and butter together. Add the onions, garlic and sugar, and cook slowly over a low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the bottom of the pan is covered in a nutty brown caramelised film. Add the stock and wine, and simmer gently, covered, over a low heat for about an hour. Season to taste, and if you need something extra specially warming, add 1-2 tablespoons of brandy.

While the soup is cooking, preheat the grill to high, and arrange the slices of baguette in a single layer on a baking tray. Rub each slice with the cut garlic, and brush with melted butter. Grill until golden, then turn and cover with melted cheese, grill until the cheese is melted.

When ready to serve, ladle the soup into warm deep bowls, and float 2-3 croutes on top, or serve on the side.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 31

Green fingers

Your vegetable garden

Inspiring ideas

LAST SPRING I started renting out allotments at Hunting Brook. It was fascinating watching each allotmentor getting stuck into growing their own food.

At this time of year I am trying to encourage them not to let their allotment turn into a jungle of weeds over the winter months. Because weeds don’t stop growing like most other plants!

Now is a good time to prepare for next spring by covering areas of your vegetable garden with well rotted farm yard manure and a sheet of mypex or black plastic until next spring. By February or March, when you uncover this area, the worms will have done the digging for you and the soil will be lovely and clean and beautifully enriched.

JIMI BLAKE advises on how to prepare your garden for the long winter months.

If you did not get around to sowing winter salad crops it might be worth having a look in the garden centres for some plants. If you can find some I would suggest planting them in containers with organic compost and hopefully give you delicious salads through the winter. I remember when I lived in Dublin my rocket would grow and crop abundantly through the winter but since moving to the Wicklow hills it’s just too wet and cold.

A FEW weeks ago I brought Carol Klein, the presenter of the BBC’s Gardeners World programme, over to Hunting Brook to teach a day course with me. Carol was the most inspirational gardener I ever met and she inspired me to keep gardening at this time of year, and to walk around my garden and pick out my favourite plants and propagate them.

Autumn planting

This is the perfect time to collect seeds from your favourite plants for sowing now or in the spring. Try to collect seeds on a dry day into paper envelopes, then clean the seed as soon as possible and sow.

My favourite six Hydrangeas are back in fashion, and rightly so. They flower late in the season when most shrubs have finished flowering. My favourite types are the paniculatas, so-called because the flower heads are not rounded but in a broad cone. Thanks to the wonderful plant man Jan Ravenberg from Clara, who sourced a large selection of them in Holland for me early in the year, I have now become slightly obsessed with them!

Hydrangea paniculata cultivars make mediumsized shrubs. They are deciduous, with green,

Broad beans are hardy and can be sown in late autumn. This will produce the earliest crops for picking in late spring next year. If you’re in a very cold area it can be a bit of a gamble, but, sure, why not give it a go anyway. Sow a variety called ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ which is available in most garden centres.

Cortaderia richardii.

deeply veined leaves. The panicles of most cultivars appear in late summer but last into autumn and are at least 20cm (eight inches) long.

The flowering times vary somewhat depending on the cultivar grown. Early Sensation starts flowering at the end of July and changes from beautiful shades of cream to reds into the autumn. Lime Light opens a clean, bright acid green, with a brilliant architectural chiselled flower form unfurling to greenwashed cream. They then turn pure ivory, before being washed Hydrangea paniculata with rich pink, the last stage ‘Lime Light’ before they gracefully brown and dry on the stem. It’s an amazing succession that lasts from August until January, or sometimes longer.

Fussy

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Early Sensation’.

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Other excellent cultivars that are thriving in my garden are Chantilly Lace, Pinky Winky, Pink Diamond and Last Post. These shrubs are not as fussy about soil pH as some hydrangeas. But it must be fertile, well-fed, and slow to dry out in dappled shade. Give them a good mulch of manure and garden compost in spring. u

Panicle hydrangeas can be kept compact by pruning. This will also produce larger, if fewer, flowers. Pruning is easy: simply cut back last year’s side shoots to within five centimetres (two inches) of the older wood in early spring.

Sow plants into module trays or small pots and plant out when one-inch high before the onset of real winter. Or for the cold areas, keep them in pots for spring planting. They can be protected with clothes or fleece through the winter. Keep an eye out for Mr Mouse as broad beans are his favourite! He devoured tray after tray on me this year!

Cortaderia Richardii is native to moist areas of New Zealand and can grow up to ten feet with its off-white inflorescences reaching up to 100 stems on mature clump. It blooms from mid-summer until autumn. In Airfield I planted a large bed of them with Silver Birch dotted amongst them which look delightful all year. I do suggest you give them plenty of room to show their graceful elegance.

Plant spring cabbage early in October in soil that does not become waterlogged in the winter, and give them as much sun as possible. I was shocked the first winter in Hunting Brook, how little light my vegetable garden got compared to the summer. So make note this winter how much sunshine your veggie patch is getting l

Cardiocrinum Giganteum (The giant Himalayan lily) has fragrant trumpets on stems up to ten feet tall in summer.

They have the most spectacular seed head in the autumn and winter. I will talk about these again in the spring when I will be encouraging planting the bulbs in your garden.

Acer Japonica ‘Aconitifolium’ is a small tree or shrub with wonderful cut leaves producing a fern like texture, turning from green to orange to the most stunning rich ruby-crimson in autumn. It will grow best in moist, well drained soil, sheltered from cold winds. Suitable for a larger garden rather than a small one.

Jobs to do Don’t bin the leaves that are falling. Collect them up into black bin bags with some air holes punched into it to make compost. You can speed up the process by mowing the leaves first when the bag is full, tie it up and put it out of the way

until next autumn, by which time the leaves will have rotted down into a rich compost to add to the soil.

Adopt a lax attitude to cutting back your perennials, leaving food for the birds and insects to feed on over the winter. Keep planting spring flowering bulbs. Tulip bulbs can be planted into December deeper then than other bulbs. This year I am buying all my bulbs from Heritage bulbs. Check them out at www.heritagegardening.com.

• • • •

Bring tender plants under cover in early October before first frosts.

Take hardwood cuttings in October.

Dry off tuberous begonias and Dahlias. Cut away the old stems and store in a dry shed until spring.

In late October, sow sweet pea seeds in pots for early flowering next year l Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

33

At the movies MORGAN O’BRIEN wonders if Guy Ritchie’s latest offering on Sherlock Holmes will do justice to film’s most portrayed fictional character.

ARTHUR CONAN Doyle’s iconic and enduring literary creation returns to the big screen this December with the release of Sherlock Holmes. Directed by former ‘Mr Madonna’ Guy Ritchie, the film stars Hollywood’s favourite reformed character Robert Downey Jr as the titular detective with Jude Law as his associate Dr Watson.

Such adaptations are always fraught with peril, with fans interrogating every perceived or potential departure from the source. Witness, for example, the handwringing and gnashing of teeth amongst comic book guys (and girls) at the recent news that Disney has acquired the rights to a slew of Marvel Comics characters, and all before any camera has rolled.

Following trends set by the newly toughened-up Bond franchise and Christopher Nolan’s crepuscular Batman series, Sherlock Holmes is a reinvention of the character in action-adventure mode. Early trailers suggest an image of the great detective as a wisecracking pugilist, who’s given to beating the deuce out of ne’er do wells as he is to applying his famous powers of deduction.

Elementary my dear Watson 34

WINTER 2009

It is of little surprise that the film has been subject of plenty of green inked invective, with the films action-packed style and supernatural plot irking purists. Certainly, scenes of Downey Jr. brawling bare-chested and cavorting with Rachel McAdams’ femme fatale seem inconsistent with the more cerebral Holmes archetype.

However, no less an authority than the Guinness Book of World Records proclaims Sherlock Holmes to be ‘the most portrayed fictional character in film’, and within this expanse of work the character has been subject to a diverse range of interpretations. Indeed, the most recognisable attributes of Holmes – deerstalker and ‘Elementary, my dear Watson’ – are not mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original stories. ®

AS THE long winter evenings approach, MORGAN O’BRIEN gives you a sample of the interesting titles on the horizon.

The Invention of Lying Television has traditionally been more attentive than cinema to Doyle’s work. In particular, Granada’s long-running series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett remains a fan favourite for its fidelity to the Holmes canon.

By contrast, my own favourites, the Rathbone-Bruce series of films from the 1930s and 1940s, play fast and loose with both characterisation and historical accuracy, with propaganda motivated deviations including Holmes pitting his wits against the Nazis.

More recently, the BBC has faithfully produced an adaptation of the Hound of the Baskervilles and an original story, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking, but has also announced a new series Sherlock, which updates the character to the present day.

Contrary to the more dramatic tenor of this work, a number of films have tended toward parody, including Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), and also The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975) and Without A Clue (1988). In this same vein, a Holmes comedy starring Sacha Baron-Cohen and Will Ferrell is currently in the works.

While Sherlock Holmes has been criticised for its take on Doyle’s characters, the filmmakers can, and do, claim a provenance for their conceit in the author’s work, with the original stories referring to the detective’s skill as a fighter, swordsman, and marksman – if not necessarily as a ladies’ man.

A greater concern than any of the film’s perceived creative liberties is its director.

While the film boasts, in Downey Jr, an actor, who seems equipped to capture Holmes’ more idiosyncratic quirks and tics, the impoverished quality of Guy Ritchie’s work and its characteristic ‘cor blimeycrash, bang, wallop’ style seems ill-suited to capturing even the remotest of cinematic subtleties.

The director’s past record of asinine ‘mockney’ gangster stories and the legendarily awful Swept Away do little to inspire confidence. Of course, I may be wrong and the film may succeed brilliantly, in which case I’ll eat my deerstalker G

(2nd October)

A high-concept comedy starring Ricky Gervais, who also writes and directs, as the first man to discover lying.

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (16th October) Terry Gilliam’s Faustian fable came unstuck with the untimely death of its star Heath Ledger. The director, however, was able to call on Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law to help complete this long-awaited film.

The Fantastic Mr Fox

(23rd October)

Rendered in curious-looking stop-motion animation, director Wes Anderson lends his lightness of touch to a loose adaptation of Roald Dahl’s story.

Jennifer’s Body

(6th November)

A high school horror film scripted by Diablo Cody (Juno) and starring Megan Fox as a possessed killer.

A Serious Man

(20th November)

The Coen Brothers assemble a largely unknown cast for a blackly comic tale of a Jewish academic undergoing a series of personal crises.

Twilight: New Moon

(20th November)

The second film based on author Stephanie Myers’ teen-vampire series – this time with added werewolves!

Bunny and the Bull (27th November) Described as a road trip set entirely in a flat, with The Mighty Boosh collaborators Paul King, Julian Barrett and Noel Fielding on board, this is sure to be a surreal comic caper.

The Box

(4th December)

Based on Richard Matheson’s short story ‘Button, Button’, previously a Twilight Zone episode, Richard Kelly directs Cameron Diaz and James Marsden in this suspenseful thriller.

Where the Wild Things Are

(11th December)

Spike Jonze directs this adaptation of Maurice Sedak’s children’s book about a young boy who embarks on an adventure of imagination.

Avatar (18th December) Already over-hyped by its director James Cameron, who claims his film is a revolutionary leap in 3-D cinema, those who have seen the trailer may already be underwhelmed.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 35

From the author

Book reviews Writing was always her passion, but she had to gain a bit of confidence to pursue it. “When I was younger, I looked at these literary figures and they just seemed so far removed from what I thought was possible for me. I thought I’m never going to be one of the Bronte sisters,” she says.

What I found incredible about Anna was her modesty in dealing with her dyslexia, which she mentioned as a passing comment at the end of our meeting. “I was caught very early, which was brilliant in the 1970s. I was given coping skills very early. That was one of the reasons I was so afraid to tell the stories.”

Twisted plot POWER PLAY by Gavin Esler (Harper Collins, £12.99 in the UK).

Anna’s latest offering So What If I’m Broken is based around Jane and Elle Moore, who find themselves stuck in a lift with two strangers, Tom Kavanagh and Leslie Sheehan at a Jack L gig in London. After less than an hour together these four people’s lives become irrevocably intertwined. Four broken people come together accidently and in one another they find strength, friendship and hope that was all but lost.

A musical encounter A woman writes a book featuring the music of Jack L, who then writes a song about the book. MARTINA O’LEARY investigates.

ANNA McPARTLIN has had a varied career. Actress, stand-up comedian, claims examiner, novelist and screenplay writer, she’s not one to sit on her laurels. Even though she’s just launched her fourth novel, she’s keeping busy writing her next book and a film script.

®

You may know her from her debut television drama School Run, which was nominated for several Irish TV awards, or her other books Pack up the Moon, Apart from the Crowd and The Truth Will Out.

36 WINTER 2009

Anna has an unusual way of writing. “With the other books, I would think of the story then create a sound track. There could be 100 songs on the computer, varied music, and I would listen to this for the duration of writing the book. It inspires me; it helps me to write my story. It was one of those tricks I used,” she says.

With So What If I’m Broken Anna spent four or five months listening to Jack L’s music, then told the story. “These people came from the music,” says Anna. “Jack got really excited about this. He was really supportive.” So much so that he has written a song about the book.

What’s next? “I'm actually writing a film at the moment and I have another book to write.” Anna has definitely found her niche.

“Writing, once it’s storytelling.

That’s really what I do whether it is in the form of a novel or a television series or a film.

My interest is telling stories.”

So What If I’m Broken is published by Poolbeg, priced €12.99 G

Neither will you find lyrical prose. But you will find intrigue and layered plot twists with an insider’s knowledge of the wheels of power. Well-paced with plenty of surprises, this book should keep you interested to the end.

Kathryn Smith

Magnifico!

GALILEO’S DREAM by Kim Stanley Robinson (Harper Voyager, £18.99 in the UK).

“You look at these literary figures and they just seem so far removed.

I thought I’m never going to be one of the Bronte sisters.”

The inspiration for the book was musical. “I was at one of Jack’s concert a good few years ago. He started to sing a cappella and the whole room fell into a dead silence. Looking down on this was fascinating. It was like the church of Jack, like he was the evangelist at that moment. The cornel of an idea came.

Who are these people who come to see Jack?

What are their lives? They are all engaged in one thing, but they will all go away and live their separate lives. Yet they share that moment.”

are largely defined by their high-powered careers. So not a lot of space is given to finer feelings.

BEFORE I read this book I knew very little about Galileo and even less about Jupiter and its four moons. Now I’m reasonably well-informed about the former and only slightly less ignorant about the latter.

ALEX PRICE is the British ambassador in Washington where the war-mongering vice-president Bobby Black is the dominant force in a US administration constantly poised for war. The British prime minister, Fraser Davis, disagrees strongly with the vice president and relations between the two countries are cool.

In an attempt to forge a bond between Black and the UK, Alex sets up a shooting trip in the Scottish highlands, with the Queen herself and important members of the British Government present.

Initially all seems to be going well but suddenly the mountains are enveloped in mist and Bobby Black disappears.

A major international incident is now under way with Alex at the centre of it.

This political thriller will appeal to anyone who has an interest in the backroom dealings of the world stage. Although there is a love interest, the characters

The story focuses on Galileo, the renowned astronomer, mathematician, inventor and philosopher, who lived in Italy in the 1600s. Regarded as the first true scientist, he discovered the four moons of Jupiter with a singularly powerful telescope he designed and built himself.

Jupiter’s moons feature here because Galileo visits them, accompanied by an alien native of the planet, via a quick tumble into his suddenly enlarged telescope. Apparently, they’ve been having a huge problem with another highly intelligent lifeforce on one of the moons and want Galileo’s help to sort it out.

Galileo’s findings challenged the Vatican and the Roman Inquisition’s assertion that the earth is the centre of the universe, round which everything else revolves. This almost costs him his life, just as it did in reality. He escaped death, but was found guilty of heresy and placed under house arrest for the last years of his life. All his scientific writings were banned.

Irish publishers Poolbeg Press are known for giving Irish writers a break. They’ve given Work & Life five copies of Anna McPartlin’s new novel So What If I’m Broken to give away.

To be in with a chance of winning, answer the question below and send your entry to Roisin Nolan, Work & Life Poolbeg Competition, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

Entries must reach us by Friday 4th December 2009.

Who is the musician featured in So What If I’m Broken?

This is an entertaining, vivid read with the character of Galileo beautifully drawn as a grumpy genius struggling to shape his theories to suit lesser minds.

The historical parts of the book were a treat to read. The trips to Jupiter less so, despite their being well-imagined and realised.

But the truth of Galileo’s discoveries is still more impressive than anything science fiction can invent. Somewhat less impressive is the fact that it took the Vatican 350 years to shuffle to the podium and admit Galileo was right. For science fans everywhere.

Margaret Hannigan

Missed you THE WHOLE DAY THROUGH by Patrick Gale (4th Estate, £7.99 in the UK).

THE OPPORTUNITY missed, the road not taken, is as sad a thing in literature as in life. This book tells the story of a love affair, not valued enough at the time, which years later seems to have been the perfect match.

Laura has been living in Paris when her elderly mother takes a fall and loses her mobility. Laura goes home to Winchester to care for her. A self-employed accountant, she returns with a certain Parisian stylishness to a life of dull domesticity.

Ben is a doctor living in London with his beautiful wife. When his mother dies, leaving his younger brother alone and continued on page 38 ®

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 37

More book reviews depressed, Ben temporarily moves back to Winchester to care for him and takes a job in a local hospital.

Laura and Ben had been a couple back in their student days but, with the superficiality of youth, had allowed their relationship to be torn apart. Now they inadvertently meet 20 years later. Their love reignites immediately and passionately as they both realise the mistake they have made. Now though, they have commitments and being together would mean destroying the life of at least one person, Ben’s wife Chloe.

Written almost as a short story, the action takes place over the course of a day with the sights, smells and conversations of a life depicted in loving detail.

Ben and Laura’s life stories weave in

and out of this introducing such varied themes as difference, ageing and duty. It is a thoughtful and engaging book, which could be read in one long, comfortable sitting.

Kathryn Smith

Retail hostilities AMBITION by A O’Connor (Poolbeg, €8.99).

THIS BOOK involves an attempted buyout of Franklyns “the most glamorous store in Knightsbridge” and the removal of its sinister Scandinavian owner Karl Furstin. Leading the takeover team we have Stephanie Holden, a rags-to-riches single mum, assisted by her financial director David Stewart.

They go head-to-head against well-connected, ice-cool blonde HR director Nicola Newman, and general manager/chief womaniser Paul Stewart.

Added to the mix are ambitious good girl Rachel Healy from Dublin, Stephanie’s bad boy son Leo, and Nicola’s husband Commissioner Oliver New-

man of Scotland Yard. Oliver, sadly, is one of those characters who just doesn’t ring true. For someone with such a high profile job, he has an awful lot of time on his hands and is remarkably dim when it comes to his wife’s adultery. That’s where the story starts, then it wanders round in circles for a bit, runs into a cul de sac, dashes across a motorway, and finally arrives breathlessly back where it started.

Unfortunately, it all falls flatter than an RTÉ New Year’s Eve special. It’s a bythe-numbers affair, with no surprises and no flashes of humour or insight.

This is the kind of book that allows others to sneer at the chick-lit genre, which seems to be fending off a takeover of it’s own from brand-name celebrities like Amy Huberman and Katie Price.

It’s the fast-emerging, my-publicistsaid-I-should-write-one-of-those-bookthingies-after-all-Amanda Brunker-got-away-with-it genre.

But back to Ambition. Actually, let’s not go back. In fact let’s not go there in the first place. Just keep on moving to the next pile of books.

Margaret Hannigan

GAELTACHT Scholarship Awards 2009

OVER 100 IMPACT members applied for a grant towards their child’s trip to the Gaeltacht this summer. A draw was held by IMPACT’s membership services committee. These are the lucky members who have each received of a scholarship award of €150.

Honor Benson (Mayo), Michael Brennan (Aviation Safety), Rose Buckley (Cork), Aileen Byrne (Westmeath), Margaret Byrne (Special Needs Assistants), Thomas Byrne (Agriculture No.1), Mena Caldwell (Sligo), Fiona Campbell (Mayo), Aine Caulfield (Ballinasloe), Annemarie Coleman (Dublin Care Services), Adrienne Collins (Boards & Voluntary Agencies), Michael Collins (Cork), Mary Connell (Westmeath), Helen Conroy-Hill (North Tipperary), Mary Conway (Agriculture No.1), Olive Corrigan (Louth), Caroline Creane (Wexford), Mairead Cullivan (South Dublin), Catherine Dalton (Longford), Patricia Davis (South Dublin), Declan Donnelly (Probation), Michael Donovan (State Enterprise No. 1),Tim Drea (PAOB), Pamela Farrell (South Dublin), Agnes Feerick (Fingal), Jonathan Finegan (Municipal Employees), Patrick Foley (Limerick Health), Helen Frayne (Wexford), Caroline Gallagher (Westmeath), Bridie Gallagher (Mayo), Paul Harrington (Donegal), Philip Harrington (Ordnance Survey), Maeve Hartmann (VEC), Evelyn Keenan (Longford), Maria Kelly (Cork), Briege Kelly (Teagasc), Mary Kennedy (IOT), Georgina Kiely Power (Waterford), Mary Kierans (Limerick), John Lahert (Dublin North HSE), Barbara Lawless (Hospitals), Sandra Lawton (Cork), Nora Lee (Forensic Science), Christina Lynch (Mayo), Monica Mahon (Leitrim), Paula 38

WINTER 2009

Mahon (Kilkenny), Cora Marchetti (Special Needs Assistants), Feargal McGirl (Donegal), Michele McGirl (Donegal), Paul McGuinness (Longford), Oliver Mc Kevitt (Municipal Employees), John McCullough (Forensic Science), Carol McDonnell (South Dublin), Mary McGrath (North Tipperary), Maureen McHugh (Leitrim), Eilish McKenna (Monaghan), Breeda Melvin (Dublin City), John Melvin (Dublin City), Collette Molloy (Wicklow HSE), Louise Mullen (HSE Dublin South), Martina Mulligan (Mayo), Noeline Mulligan (Roscommon), Gabrielle Murphy (Wexford), Claire O’Brien (Louth), Deirdre O’Donnell (Donegal), Liz O’Donoghue (Probation), Philip O’Dwyer (Limerick), Corinne O’Hare (HSE Dublin South), Catherine O’Reilly (Boards & Agencies), Angela O’Shea (Waterford), Bernadette O’Shea (Teagasc General), Raymond Parkinson (Meath), Anne Prendergast (Kildare VEC), Bernadette Rock (Leitrim), Elaine Scanlon (HSE South Dublin), Joseph Shannon (Dublin Hospitals), Claire Smith (Donegal), Noel Smith (Coillte), Ann Spain (Offaly), Mary Tracey (State Enterprises No.1), David Twomey (Mayo), Caitriona Whelan (NEPS), Paula Whyte (Roscommon).

Union business PAY

Impact strike ballot now underway IMPACT HAS started its ballot for industrial action in the public service amid growing evidence that the Government is planning further cuts in public service pay.

Photo: Conor Healy.

The union spent the summer preparing for the ballot and possible industrial action after the Government failed to give guarantees over jobs, pay and pensions in negotiations earlier this year. But the Government turned up the heat in September when the Taoiseach publically refused to rule out further pay cuts.

After reports back from scores of workplace meetings attended by some 10,000 IMPACT members in July and August, the union officers decided to commence the ballot, which will close on 19th October.

Peter McLoone: Leading fightback.

The union requires a two-thirds majority to sanction industrial action, which would only be triggered if the Government or individual public service employers moved to impose compulsory redundancies, unilateral changes in working hours, or cuts in pay or the value of pensions.

it also emerged that the Department of Finance had argued strongly in favour of pay cuts in its submission to the Review Body on Higher Remuneration because, it said, they would have significant “demonstration effects” and “downstream effects” on people at lower pay levels.

IMPACT has been warning members that the Government was considering further public service pay cuts, compulsory redundancies or pension changes. This was confirmed with the Taoiseach’s admission, at a September Institute of Public Administration (IPA) conference, that public service pay cuts are among the options being considered by the Government in the run-up to the budget.

Earlier, in July, the Colm McCarthy report recommended 17,300 public service job cuts and radical changes to public service pension benefits. The report also said that the Government “will have to consider further cuts in pay and allowances.”

This followed earlier comments by the Minister for Health that pay cuts were an option in the health sector. Over the summer

IMPACT backs community sector IMPACT MEMBERS marched in Dublin as part of a joint campaign against cuts to community and voluntary organisations that provide vital services in communities across the country. Hundreds of vital jobs have gone or are under threat because of Government cuts, and the McCarthy report proposals would see another 6,500 community jobs lost. The campaign is backed by the Community Sector Employers’ Forum as well as IMPACT and Siptu.

IMPACT’s elected executive now believes that the threat of industrial action is the only way to deflect the Government from this course. It is strongly urging members to support strike action in the ballot.

The union is balloting members directly employed in the public service. Ballot papers have been distributed to branches, who will be organising the ballots locally.

Meanwhile, the union has launched a national publicity campaign involving newspaper and billboard ads and a leaflet drop to over a million households in Ireland (see main feature article in this issue).

IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone said there were no grounds for optimism that the Government position will change. “The most effective way to stop these serious threats to pay, pensions and jobs is to send a clear and resolute message to the Government that we are not a soft option.

That means we need a very strong ‘yes’ vote in the ballot,” he said.

IMPACT members get news faster IMPACT members can sign up for full access to our website plus a monthly emailed news bulletin via www.impact.ie.

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members

39

Union business Briefly...

CAMPAIGN

Short time rumours persist

Union launches €450k campaign IMPACT HAS launched a €450,000 advertising campaign to bolster its defence of public services and the people who provide them.

Full-page newspaper ads appeared in the first week of October and a massive billboard advertising campaign is also underway in major cities and towns across the country.

This is to be followed up with ‘commuter’ advertising inside buses and DART trains, and a leaflet drop to over a million households.

threat. “Public servants are under attack from virtually every political party and media commentator, to say nothing of the business lobby and others. With the best will in the world, it’s been impossible to counter all this propaganda.

This campaign will be an important boost to our efforts to inject some reality into the debate about our public services and the people who provide them,” he said.

As part of the campaign, members can also expect to see some imaginative ‘viral’ communications, via the internet, over the coming weeks.

The campaign adds to the union’s public relations work which, over the summer, achieved substantial press and broadcast coverage mainly focussed on defending public service pay and warning that the union would react strongly to any further attempts to impose compulsory redundancies or pay and pensions cuts.

The theme of the campaign – ‘Support IMPACT’s campaign to save your vital public services’ – highlights the vital work that public servants do and the dangers of cutting services and pay.

The campaign package also includes focus group research and opinion polling, which both helped shape the campaign messages and ensured that the impact of the campaign can be measured later in the year.

Although the union took out full-page newspaper ads earlier this year, as part of the campaign against the so-called pension levy, this is easily the largest public service union campaign ever seen in Ireland.

The union hired top consultants the Public Communications Centre (PCC) to help develop the campaign. As well as working with IMPACT on earlier public service campaigns, PCC have run successful campaigns for Trócaire, Save the Children, Older & Bolder, Citizen Traveller and Dial to Stop Drug Dealing.

IMPACT’s head of communications Bernard Harbor said it was vital to use every possible way of communicating the message that Irish public services were valuable and under

Read more about the campaign on pages 6-9.

EUROPE

IMPACT backed Lisbon ‘yes’ IMPACT’S ELECTED Central Executive Committee backed a ‘yes’ vote in the Lisbon referendum. The union said it was supporting the treaty because it would give legal effect to the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, which includes a range of enhanced rights to union representation and workplace protection.

The treaty was also backed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Siptu and most other unions.

General secretary Peter McLoone said: “Although the Lisbon Treaty is not a panacea for improved workers’ rights, it would oblige both the European Court of Justice and the Irish Supreme Court to take account of the very positive European Charter of Fundamental Rights when ruling on collective bargaining rights and a range of other workplace issues.”

40

WINTER 2009

DUBLIN CITY Council’s city manager told IMPACT he was not planning a three-day week for the council’s staff, following the union’s demands for clarifications of press reports over the summer. The union’s Local Government and Municipal Employees divisions both contacted management after a report in the Irish Times said the state’s largest council was considering a three-day week.

McLoone said the union disagreed with Irish Government policy on employment rights and other issues, but the Lisbon Treaty itself would not erode workers’ rights. “Most trade unions, here and across Europe, believe it has the potential to significantly enhance employment rights, and other civil rights, by establishing the European Charter of Fundamental Rights as primary EU law for the first time,” he said.

PUBLIC SERVICE BASHING

Public pay defended IMPACT has rejected the findings of a September ESRI report, which said public servants were earning up to 25% more than private sector workers. The union said the ESRI paper, which is a re-hash of a report published last year, itself admits that its research “largely ignores job content.” In other words, it made no comparison of real jobs in the public or private sectors.

The union also said that the report uses 2006 figures, which take no account of the current public service pay freeze or the 7.5% average cut in gross pay suffered by all public servants under the so-called ‘pension levy’. Nor does it include incomes for self-employed professionals, who are the obvious private sector ‘comparators’ for thousands of public service professional staff.

IMPACT official Bernard Harbor said: “The ESRI is on record as saying that pay should be cut in the private sector as well as the public service. The re-issue of this report clearly suggests that it’s part of the softening up exercise for public service pay cuts in the forthcoming Budget. But the pay of private sector workers is firmly in the ESRI’s sights as well.”

IMPACT says the ESRI figures are not a true comparison of pay rates in the public and private sector because they are based solely on statistical averages, which take no account of the actual jobs undertaken by people in the various sectors.

Fantasy Earlier this summer the union dismissed as “fantasy figures” claims by the Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA) that private sector workers were paying €8 billion a year to pay for public service pensions.

The union backed the production and launch of a ‘charter group’ document on Lisbon and workplace rights. Lisbon and your Rights at Work argued that working people should back the Lisbon Treaty because it would help trade unions to win improved workplace rights and employment protections.

The union said that PIBA’s own statement conceded that half of its €8 billion figure referred to ordinary social welfare pensions. According to PIBA’s statement, another €1.7 billion of the alleged €8 billion went to the National Pension Reserve Fund, which did not represent any payment to public or private sector pensioners.

Described by European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary John Monks as “a compelling case for all Irish trade unionists to vote yes,” the publication said that, by strengthening the legal status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Lisbon ratification could also help unions in cases concerning collective bargaining rights in Ireland. And it refuted claims that Lisbon would damage any existing workplace rights and protections.

IMPACT national secretary Paddy Keating said the PIBA press release was littered with other inaccuracies, including the ridiculous assumption that only private sector workers paid tax. “These are fantasy figures, which take no account of the 6.5% of gross salary that most public servants pay towards their pensions or the 7.5% pension levy imposed in March. This interest group, whose objective is to drum up business for companies selling private pensions, also fails to mention that the headline figures paid to public service pensioners include their social welfare entitlements, paid for out of their PRSI payments,” he said.

On foot of this, the city manager confirmed “that there is no proposal for a three-day week.” He also confirmed that all issues relating to the latest financial situation, and the potential implications for staff and services, would continue to be discussed with IMPACT and other unions.

But most local authorities are facing massive budget problems as central funds are squeezed and income from rates, planning and other sources dry up because of the recession. IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan has written to the chief of the Local Government Management Services Board (LGMSB), which represents all councils in the State, to express the union’s concern at the increasing number of media reports about potential plans for forced reductions in working time.

Aer Lingus cuts INTENSE SPECULATION about further cuts in Aer Lingus pay and staffing followed news of heavy losses in the airline. New chief executive Christophe Mueller has told workers to brace for “amputation” rather than “cosmetic surgery.” Early signs of the airline’s intention to cut deep came to light in September when over 60 cabin crew on temporary contracts were told they would be let go.

Lucky number ONE LUCKY IMPACT member, Mary Boyle of Donegal county council, has won a competition run by Cornmarket for IMPACT members. Mary was presented with a cheque for €8,000, which will cover her bills for this year.

Congratulations and well done.

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 41

Play it loud And yet, back in the free and swinging sixties, the Rolling Stones were forced by broadcasters to change the title of Let’s Spend the Night Together to Let’s Spend Some Time Together as the original, apparently, made a compelling case in favour of promiscuity.

H T L I F S

I H T AN

B

RAYMOND CONNOLLY muses on the changing sensibilities of pop’s censors.

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WINTER 2009

BASIL FAWLTY was a genius comic creation, way ahead of his time. Talk about seeing the future. The stiff upper-lipped anti-hero, of the dysfunctional guesthouse on the delightful English Riviera resort of Torquay, took the absolute Micháel out of political correctness in an era where there was none.

In a recent outburst of generosity and creativity, Mrs C was kind enough to buy me a t-shirt off t’internet. The

The target of the joke wasn’t the Germans of course. It was Fawlty himself, the archetypal ‘little Englander’, as John Cleese lampooned some of the prevailing attitudes of 1970s Britain. Delighted as I was at a t-shirt paying homage to such comic genius, I was reluctant to wear it out in public for fear that some people might not get the joke and, worse still, take umbrage.

Sensitive We live in an era where, in my book, political correctness has significantly over-achieved. And music is no different. If you consider the songs that have been banned on radio and television down through the years, you’ll notice several shifts of emphasis as to what is considered politically sensitive at any given time.

For example, in this enlightened age girl bands and female pop stars, who enjoy iconic status among teenagers and younger kids, can belt out material which is high on sexual innuendo.

Indeed, some are so overtly sexual that you might need Regan and Carter from The Sweeney to send the boys ’round before it all gets out of hand. ®

Stop But how about this for some Field Marshall Haig inspired madness? Jona Lewie’s brilliant Christmas ditty Stop the Cavalry was gagged during the same period. Could it really be that

Would you believe that Richie Kavanagh’s flawed masterpiece Aon Focal Eile was banned in Britain for use of the F-word?

But then they also banned the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest winner A Little Peace. The logic of that one escapes me. The best I could come up with was that perhaps the An Bord Snip of radio remembered Mel Brooks’ take on the phrase ‘a little peace’ in his comedy classic To Be or Not To Be, which featured Brooks as Mr Bronski, director of a Jewish theatre in Poland. The theatre runs a play which sends up the Nazis and Bronski himself plays the part of Hitler. In one memorable scene Bronski’s Hitler breaks into song proclaiming: “I’m not such a bad guy after all; all I want is a little peace; a little piece of Poland and little piece of France.”

Ridiculous A cursory glance back at banned playlists throughout the years really does throw up some ridiculous scenarios. Would you believe that Richie Kavanagh’s flawed, ahem, masterpiece Aon Focal Eile was banned in Britain for use of the F-word? I mean for focals sake! This song should have been banned for the damage it inflicted on thousands of audio systems, not to mention our collective psyche and, erm, Irish grammar.

In 1984, former DJ Mike Read (one of BBC Radio One’s ‘Smashy and Nicey’ generation of syrupy jocks) made chart history by imposing his own ban on Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax.

The BBC quickly followed his lead with an outright ban catapulting the song,

Winter 2009 Soduko Solutions (From page 48.)

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Lewie’s sentimental anti-war gem offended the sensibilities of those waging war in the Middle East? I doubt it.

what they say on the tin. There is no way on earth that a song of similar sentiment would escape censorship, banning, moral panic – or all three – in this suicide-sensitive day and age.

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RAYMOND CONNOLLY remembers five songs that narrowly escaped a ban.

During the Gulf War in 1990, there was a massive blacklisting of songs containing war references. The Bristol quartet of ‘trip hop’ architects Massive Attack were simply called Massive for the duration, while Bomb the Bass became the far less memorable Tim Simenon.

In the late 1970s The Only Ones released Why Don’t You Kill Yourself, which passed without remark. Both the title and the lyrics (“you ain’t no good to no one else…”) do exactly

Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s song Relax was banned in 1984.

shirt is emblazoned with the immortal words: “So, that’s two egg mayonnaises, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering and four Colditz salads.” It recalls one of the greatest sitcom moments of all time as Fawlty, dazed and confused from a head injury, attempted to read back a lunch order to a group of faultlessly polite German guests who became understandably distressed.

which had made modest progress in the charts, to the number one spot for five weeks. Talk about backfiring. I wonder how Read feels now that thanks to his ban, the Liverpudlian gang’s naughty dance floor favourite has returned to celebrate 25 years of Richard Branson’s airline?

So that’s two egg mayonnaises, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering, and four Colditz salads please. And whatever you do, don’t mention the war! G 5 4 7 2 9 1 3 8 6

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Dana – All Kinds of Everything: The usually pious Rosemary Brown finally admits she’s into all kinds of everything. Saucy.

Little Jimmy Osmond – Long Haired Lover from Liverpool: Liverpudlians revolt as a boy from Ogden, Utah attempts to muscle in on their turf and pass himself off as a local.

Oasis – She’s Electric: Gas users all over Britain feel they are being excluded. Liam Gallagher asks older brother Noel if he’s electric. A fight breaks out, you know the rest.

Westlife – Uptown Girl: Outrage as the Sligo warblers release a song that doesn’t require them to sit on stools and stand up for the change of key.

The entire U2 back catalogue: Well it’s banned in my house anyway.

Autumn 2009 Crossword Solutions

See page 48 for the competition winners from Issue 6.

Across: 1. Kenmare 5. Byrne 8. Nally 9. Donegal 10. Avignon 11. Adler 12. Keyman 14. Decree 17. Plant 19. Abandon 22. Indoors 23. Trent 24. Gorey 25. Encased.

Down: 1. Kenya 2. Nullity 3. Aryan 4. Ending 5. Bandage 6. Regal 7. Enlarge 12. Kipling 13. Anthony 15. Redress 16. Hassle 18. Adder 20. Aztec 21. Noted.

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 43

Sport

Lots done, more to do. That could be the catchphrase for an end-of-season report card for Anthony Daly’s Dublin hurlers, says KEVIN NOLAN.

DURING 2009, Daly’s first year at the helm, the Dubs achieved a great deal. And yet, the man himself and his players will have been left with a few nagging regrets.

On the upside, they defeated Wexford for the first time in the championship since 1990, and won themselves a place in their first Leinster senior hurling championship final in 18 years. In that game they successfully subdued Kilkenny – a team on their way to winning four All-Ireland finals in a row – but went under to two Martin Comerford goals (2-18 to 018) in the nail-biting closing stages of the game. So close and yet so far.

seemed crippled by nerves and were physically dominated by their more experienced rivals in many key clashes.

As a result, Dublin’s best chance of playing in an all-Ireland final for the first time in six decades vanished. Who knows for sure when such an opportunity will come knocking again?

Limerick’s subsequent semi-final annihilation at the hands of Munster rivals Tipperary will have done little to lighten the darkness around Daly’s recollection of their championship exit to the Shannonsiders. u

Anthony Daly, drove the Dubs.

This followed an encouraging national hurling league division one campaign where they took the scalps of Galway, Waterford and Cork (who were effectively operating with a second string team because of the bitter dispute between the players and then-manager Gerald McCarthy). They drew with Clare and lost narrowly to Kilkenny, Tipperary (both eventual all-Ireland finalists) and Limerick.

The conveyor belt of young talent in the capital has been working well this decade, but sometimes commentators tend to over-talk this, giving the impression that Dublin is the only county building their strength in the game. The same level of work, at least, continues to be done by the likes of the more established forces such as Tipperary, Cork and Waterford, while in Leinster there are signs that Wexford have their act together once again.

Nerves Dublin looked the better hurling team in the early stages and got off to a terrific start. But as the game progressed they

Photo: sportsfile.com

London calling

“The challenge is to keep the machine well oiled; to maintain and surpass the higher standards that have been set”.

Then there is Clare’s superb all-Ireland under-21 success this year when they defeated Kilkenny in a cracking decider in Croke Park. This team from the Banner, who claimed the county’s first ever under-21 crown, looks set to form the nucleus of a formidable unit in the very near future.

But Dublin will draw strength from the recent Leinster minor championship glories of 2005 and 2007 and the provincial under-21 success in 2007. Dublin club sides have also acquitted themselves admirably in the national Féile na nÓg division one final tournaments over the last few years.

Quality But the challenge is to keep the machine well oiled; to maintain and surpass the higher standards that have been set. The quality of hurling displayed at senior club level in Dublin has also improved, yet you have to go back to the 1979 Crumlin team for the last occasion a Dublin club side won the Leinster club championship.

Lots done, more to do? The first thing the Dublin county board should do is secure the services of Anthony Daly for two years longer than his original agreement.

Daly drove his team through the psychological barrier of beating Wexford in the championship and, with the squad set to be strengthened for 2010 – including the possibility of a few lads defecting from the football squad – the Dubs can continue to climb the hurling rankings l

But it was Dublin’s loss to Limerick at the end of last July that underlined the road Dublin hurling has to travel before it can reach the top table. It was the performance that Daly will analyse most as the winter approaches and he starts plotting and planning for 2010.

44 WINTER 2009

Talent

Photo: sportsfile.com

The Boomtown Clash

Next year’s league promises to be a far trickier assignment as the days of taking Dublin for granted are gone. Their strong performance this year has made sure of that.

PAT O’CALLAGHAN (twice), Bob Tisdall, Ronnie Delany, Michael Carruth, Michelle Smith, and Katie Taylor. It’s a line-up, no doubt, already being recited

by Irish boxing commentators.

Why? Well, apart from Taylor, the others have already realised their Olympic golden dream. London 2012 can’t come quickly enough for the girl from Bray, County Wicklow, who we profiled in the Spring edition of Work & Life.

Since it became official that women’s boxing will make its competitive debut at the next Olympic games, Katie has been burdened with the potential millstone of massive expectation. It could prove to be her greatest opponent as she strives to become Ireland’s golden girl.

Bookies here have installed her at odds of 1-8 to land gold and odds of 4-7 to be Ireland’s sole gold medallist in London. To put this in perspective, Beijing silver medallist Kenny Egan is 20-1 to capture gold l

Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 45

S UD OKU

Win Win Win

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Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9. There is no maths involved. You solve it with reasoning and logic.

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4 2 3

Prize quiz

1 IMPACT’s new public services campaign will cost: A An arm and a leg B peanuts C €440,000 2 MABS gives advice on: A Financial difficulties B Marriage C Cooking 3 IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone became a full-time union official in: A 1878 B 1978 C 1918 4 According to Trish O’Mahony’s travel piece, the Beacon hotel can be found in: A Timbuktu B New York C Knock 5 Guy Richie’s latest film portrays: A Sherlock Holmes B Eamon Holmes C Katie Holmes The small print* You must be a paid-up IMPACT member to win.

Only one entry per person (multiple entries will not be considered). Entries must reach us by Friday 4th December 2009. The editor’s decision is final.

That’s it!

46

WINTER 2009

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How do you like Work & Life?

WE HOPE you enjoyed this issue of Work & Life, the magazine for IMPACT members. We want to hear your views, and we’re offering a €100 prize to one lucky winner who completes this questionnaire.

Simply complete this short survey and send it to Roisin Nolan, Work & Life survey, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1. You can also send your views by email to rnolan@impact.ie.

We’ll send €100 to the first completed entry pulled from a hat.*

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And don’t forget, we’re also giving prizes for letters published in the next issue.

See page 19.

Difficult

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Just answer five easy questions and you could win €50.

YOU COULD add €50 to your Christmas budget by answering five easy questions and sending your entry, name and address to Roisin Nolan, Work & Life prize quiz, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1.

Send your entry by Friday 4th December 2009. We’ll send €50 to the first completed entry pulled from the hat.* You’ll find the answers in this issue of Work & Life.

1

Your view

HOW TO PLAY:

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7 9

Across 1. Profanity in incur sense (5) 1 5. NO RAD will decorate (5) 8. Centre us with uncle (7) 9. Grins round the circles (5) 9 10. UN ass will name her (5) 11. A rud Peg will promote (5) 14. Decline and incline (5) 14 17. Yummy (5) 20. Love Affair (7) 21. Muscle and meat (4) 22. Ancient tribe displayed in main cart (4) 21 23. Potion ear changes performance in hospital (9) 24. Tense play (5) 28. Obtain (3) 24 30. Singing in the rain is a good example (7) 32. Animal for all ma (5) 32 33. Too heavy by far (5) 34. Ardent (7) 35. Vies will point to strain (5) 35 36. Bring to bear old flame with Bert losing his head (5) Down 1. Ringlets (5) 2. John, Paul, George, and _____ (5) 3. Follow (5) 4. To cloud the pop band (4) 5. Strength/Virtue (5) 6. Haven for another pop band (5) 7. Can the Big Apple name her? (5) 12. An apple Fete? (4) 13. As extreme (2,5) 15. Par amour (5)

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win 50

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PRIZE CROSSWORD 2

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Crossword composed by Maureen Harkin, Sligo

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Doctors will do this to 23A (7) Bless (6) Drop by drop slowly (7) Guys and ____ musical (5) Beat a Storm (5) The astonish (5) Shut down and be near (5) Soil (5) ET ART is a pleasure (5) W.B’s Lake ____ Innisfree (4)

The winners from competitions in the Autumn issue were:

1

Survey winner: Zita Russell, Oberstown House

2

Crossword winner: Christina Murray, Westport Town Council

3

Poolbeg competition: Lorna Fahey, Coillte, Cranmore, Sligo

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Prize quiz: Nial O’Connor, Monaghan

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

31

Win €50 by completing the crossword and sending your entry, name and address to Roisin Nolan, Work & Life crossword, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1, by Friday 4th December 2009.

We’ll send €50 to the first correct entry pulled from a hat.

Winners!

1. What did you think of the articles in the winter 2009 issue of Work & Life ?

Comments ________________________________________

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4. What were your least favourite articles?

1 __________________________________________________ 2 __________________________________________________

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The survey

Lots more competitions to enter in this issue!

2. What did you think of the layout, style and pictures in the winter 2009 issue of Work & Life?

3 __________________________________________________ 5. What subjects would you like to see in future issues of Work & Life ?

1 __________________________________________________ 2 __________________________________________________ 3 __________________________________________________ 6. What did you think of the balance between union news and other articles?

The balance is about right

J

I want more union news

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I want less union news

J

Excellent

J

7. Any other comments? ______________________________

Good

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Okay

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Comments ________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ 3. What were your favourite three articles?

Name ________________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

1 __________________________________________________

Email ________________________________________________

2 __________________________________________________

Phone ________________________________________________

3 __________________________________________________

IMPACT branch ______________________________________

The small print* You must be a paid-up IMPACT member to win. Only one entry per person (multiple entries will not be considered).

Entries must reach us by Friday 4th December 2009. The editor’s decision is final. That’s it!

WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 47

Commercial membership services

I

MPACT has facilitated the provision of a number of national membership services and discount schemes on behalf of its members. These include Additional Voluntary Contribution Schemes (Pensions), Life Assurance, Salary Protection in the case of illness and Car, House and Travel Insurance Schemes. A number of local discount schemes are also negotiated by local branches.

The Union uses the size and composition of its membership base and, where possible, competition between the various service providers, to seek the best possible deals for the widest possible sections of our membership. It is probable that the majority of members will get better value from these schemes than if they sought the same service individually. However, this will not be true in all cases and there will be occasions where individual members may, because of their specific circumstances, be able to get better value elsewhere. It is not possible always to ensure that all schemes will be accessible equally to all members and the scheme underwriters will not depart totally from their normal actuarial or risk assessment procedures and rules.

IMPACT does not make any claims as to the quality or reliability of any of these products/services and while advising members of the availability of the National Membership Services and Discount Schemes does not endorse or recommend any particular product or service. IMPACT's role is that of facilitator to ensure that such schemes are available to its members. All contracts are directly between the product/service provider and the individual member. IMPACT is not in any way a party to these contracts and will not accept any responsibility or liability arising from any act or omission on the part of the product or service provider. Neither IMPACT nor any member of its staff receives any fees or commissions or other rewards from these product or service providers arising from such schemes.

While IMPACT does occasionally provide such product/service providers with limited information regarding IMPACT branch and/or workplace representatives for the purpose of advertising such schemes, the Union does not make any personal data relating to individual Union members available to them for any purpose.

The Union requires that product/service providers agree to ensure that all such schemes comply with all lawful requirements including the Equal Status Act 2000.

Advertisements for agreed membership services will have an

FACILITATED

logo on them.

Some of the companies providing agreed membership services may offer other products or services (that are not as a result of any agreement or arrangement with IMPACT) directly to IMPACT members.

The Union has no role whatsoever in relation to such products or services. Likewise, other product or service providers may make offers directly to IMPACT members through advertisements in the Union newspaper or otherwise. These do not arise as a result of agreements or arrangements with IMPACT and the Union does not ask members to consider availing of such products/services and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any such offers.

The product/service providers with which IMPACT has agreed the provision of membership services and/or discount schemes are as follows: Brassington & Co. Ltd.

Cornmarket Group Financial Services Ltd.

Travel Insurance – all Divisions.

Car Insurance – all Divisions.

Salary Protection and Life Assurance –

Local Government and Health Divisions only.

Group Insurance Services (GIS)

Marsh Financial Services Ltd.

Car Insurance – all Divisions.

AVC Schemes – all Divisions excluding Municipal Employees.

House Insurance – all Divisions.

Salary Protection and Life Assurance – Civil Service and Services & Enterprises Divisions only.

December 2004

DISCLAIMER (Approved by CEC 10th December 2004) 48

WINTER 2009