work &life THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS
Photo: dreamstime.com
ISSUE 8 • SPRING 2010
HEAVY WEATHER How the government undid a deal
PLUS SAVING MILLIONS WHILE BOOSTING SERVICES SAFE AT WORK PLANNING YOUR CAREER IMPACT’S INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY PATRICIA SCANLAN
ALSO INSIDE IMPACT PRESIDENT WRITES. ROBIN HOOD BANKER. FASHION GOES PEAR-SHAPED. MADCHESTER. DIY PAMPERING. FAMILY FOOD. GROW YOUR OWN. DEADLY DUETS. JONATHAN SEXTON. CRITICS V VIEWERS. BOOKS. 2010 GAELTACHT SCHOLARSHIPS. QUIZZES AND COMPS!
www.impact.ie
In this issue
work&life – Spring 2010 COVER FEATURES
REGULARS
MORE REGULARS
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DOUBLE DEALING BERNARD HARBOR reveals how, when and why the Government reneged on a deal that would have preserved public services, saved billions, and prevented another pay cut.
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Union rep Jimmy Barnes shows he’s got balls.
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YOUR LETTERS
YOUR SOLIDARITY
SAVING PUBLIC CASH NIALL SHANAHAN on how one worker’s idea saved the taxpayer €2.3 million while improving services to the public.
SAFE IN THEIR HANDS
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FASHION FRUIT Apple or pear-shaped? When it comes to looking good TRISH O’MAHONY suggests you start by understanding your body.
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BE GOOD TO YOURSELF KAREN WARD explores some cheap and simple DIY spa ideas.
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AT THE MOVIES Sometimes the punters choice trumps the film critics, says film critic MORGAN O’BRIEN.
Including a note from IMPACT president JOHN POWER. IMPACT members have donated over €5 million to trade union development and community programmes across the globe.
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IMPACT PEOPLE
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MUSICAL MAYHEM Jedward has RAYMOND CONNOLLY seeing double over pop’s dreadful duets.
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SPORT Can Jonathan Sexton challenge Ronan O’Gara?
TRAVEL & TRIPS
A new round of bureaucratbashing could put lives at risk, says MARTINA O’LEARY.
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NEWS
NEW YEAR NEW CAREER Work & Life’s new contributor ISOBEL BUTLER says it’s important to take time to plan your career development.
Manchester has it all from fashion to football, from cool music to culture.
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MARGARET HANNIGAN wallows in the joys of home cooking shared with family and friends.
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PATRICIA SCANLAN’S BEST RECESSION Ireland’s favourite writer tells us how the eighties’ recession spurred her literary career.
Win Win Win…
FOOD FEST
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PAY CUT FIGHTBACK PRIVATE SECTOR PAY BRADY RETIRES IMPACT SUBS PENSION THREAT AER LINGUS HAROLD O’SULLIVAN, RIP IMPACT GAELTACHT SCHOLARSHIPS
GREEN FINGERS Get your garden ready to produce delicious greens and fruits with JIMI BLAKE.
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Put pen to paper and win €50.
Win a copy of Patricia Scanlan’s new novel.
Enter our prize quiz and win €50.
Tell us what you think and win €100.
WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 1
THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS
work&life Steel yourself 2009 WAS a mad year and most of us were glad to see the back of it. Not only did the Government cut our pay twice in a year – a cut of between 12% and 15% for most public servants – they also walked away from an alternative deal that held out the prospect of billions of savings and a massive reformation right across the public service. Crazy. But now we have to steel ourselves for another difficult period, when it’s never been more important to have the protection of your union. The Government’s rejection of the unions’ alternative last December – and its arrogant belief that it can now expect public servants to deliver their side of the rejected bargain after ministers walked away – means we begin the year with industrial action. You can read about this on page 37. Check out BERNARD HARBOR’S insight into how the deal was lost too.
Work & Life is produced by IMPACT trade union’s Communications Unit and edited by Bernard Harbor. Front cover: Dingle peninsula. Photo by www.dreamstime.com Contact IMPACT at: Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1. Phone: 01-817-1500. Email: rnolan@impact.ie. Designed by: O’Brien Design & Print Management. Phone: 01 864-1920. Email: nikiobrien@eircom.net. Printed by Boylan Print Group.
NIALL SHANAHAN’S piece on how one occupational therapist saved over €2 million while improving services also demonstrates the kind of transformation that would be possible if we had a Government that put citizens’ needs before those of bankers. And MARTINA O’LEARY’S report on the excellent work of health and safety inspectors reveals how another round of ‘bureaucrat-bashing’ could put lives at risk. This issue sees the first careers advice column from new regular contributor ISOBEL BUTLER. Over the next couple of issues she’ll be taking you through a strategic approach to developing your career. You spend a lot of time at work so you might as well get the best out of it.
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.
Speaking of which, TRISH O’MAHONY gets the best out of Manchester in this issue’s travel feature. No better woman! And we’ve a treat for book worms in our exclusive interview with top novelist PATRICIA SCANLAN. You could win a copy of her new book too. Just in case you though it was safe to go back in the water, RAYMOND CONNOLLY revives Jedward and other awesome and awful duets, while MARGARET HANNIGAN gets back to basics with some home cooking for family and friends.
IMPACT trade union 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
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.
That was then… STRANGE WORLD
LAST YEAR saw billions of taxpayers’ money shovelled into the banks to pay for their recklessness and greed, while social welfare and public service pay was cut. Our Government looks set to rob a lot more money from vital public services to re-bolster bank coffers this year, as top bankers here and abroad bellyache about the need to restore their obscene million-plus bonuses to “get the banks working again.” It’s true that 2009 saw the banks totally rehabilitated by the media less than a year after they wrecked the economy – witness the amount of ‘independent’ analysis delivered on Morning Ireland and other shows by guys on the payroll of banks, stockbrokers and other financial vested interests. Back on planet Earth, most of us have rightly come to think of these pin-striped con men as robbing hoods rather than Robin Hoods. But for once last year, a German court was right to hand out a lenient sentence to a banker convicted of a crime. The head of a local branch was hailed as a hero for siphoning money from her rich clients’ accounts to help her poorer customers. Hailed as “Die Robin Hood Bankerin,” the 62-year-old was given a suspended sentence after shifting more than €7 million from rich to poor between 2003 and 2005, without taking a cent for herself. The judge could have handed down a four-year sentence, but concluded that it was difficult to decide the right penalty. “On the one hand we have big losses. But on the other hand we have this altruistic behaviour,” they said. Mental note to self: Beware the sweeping stereotype, even when it comes to bankers. Louder note to the banks and the Government: How about a bit of redistribution (the other way) in 2010? l
www.dreamstime.com
Robin Hood banker has lesson for Lenihan
25 years ago
Actor Tony Doyle dies on 28th January 2000. Best known for his role as Brian Quigley in Ballykissangel, Doyle won an Irish Film and Television Academy Award for his part in the 1998 BBC mini-series Amongst Women. Tarja Halonen is elected Finland’s first female president on 6th February. A member of the Social Democratic party, she spent almost a decade as a lawyer for the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. The British government briefly suspends the devolved government in Northern Ireland on 11th February as UUP leader David Trimble threatens to resign over IRA decommissioning.
15 years ago
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is established on 1st January 1995 to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Austria, Finland and Sweden join the European Union on the same day. On 15th February, a friendly soccer match between the Republic of Ireland and England ends in chaos as English soccer hooligans riot at Lansdowne Road after Ireland take a 1-0 lead.
100 years ago
Boutros Ghali, the first nativeborn prime minister of Egypt, is assassinated by pharmacology graduate Ibrahim Nassif al-Wardani on 20th February 1910. His grandson Boutros Boutros-Ghali later became Egypt’s deputy prime minister and secretary-general of the United Nations. Sidney Olcott’s film A lad from old Ireland is released in the USA. It tells the story of a young man forced by poverty to leave Ireland for New York, where he makes his mark as a politician in only seven years. Meanwhile, back on the ‘Old Sod’ poverty continues and his childhood sweetheart is about to be thrown out of her house. But O’Connor shows up in the nick of time with the cash to save her and her family.
Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members
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IMPACT people
Jimmy shows “I’m lying on a bed. The room is totally dark except for the light that’s shining on me. There are three female doctors there. I turn to them and say: ‘Jesus, now I know what a porn star feels like’. But they didn’t laugh and I said to myself: ‘Oh S***! I’m in trouble.” Minutes later doctors confirmed to IMPACT rep Jimmy Barnes that he had testicular cancer.
Why did you want to tell your story? The whole thing about testicular cancer is it’s very treatable if it’s caught early. I wanted to warn men to check themselves regularly. It’s literally worth a life time for the sake of a few seconds of discomfort. If you go to Saint Vincent’s hospital you see signs for Breast Check. But you don’t see underneath, ‘Let’s feel your balls.’ There are no warnings for men. I didn’t feel sick before I was diagnosed. There were no outward signs that anything was wrong. It was just one time, for a twohour period, that I was in agonizing pain and couldn’t move. Thank God Lisa forced me to go to the doctor.
time to think. Right up to when I was going under, I didn’t know was I going to lose one, was I going to lose two!
Had it not dawned on you that you were really sick? It did and I knew what was coming. But I said to myself, look you have two ways to deal with this. When you have a 24-hour period to think what is actually wrong with you, I said look it hasn’t stopped you so far. I was determined. I was very lucky because I didn’t know there was such a thing as good cancers and bad cancers, but the one I had was one of the better ones that you can get, if there’s such a thing.
Tell me about yourself I’m 46 and live with my partner Lisa and my two boys aged five and ten. I’ve worked in Dublin Institute of Technology in Rathmines for seven years after retiring from the army. I’m the DIT group IMPACT rep in the Muno branch. Did your world fall apart? It was less than 24 hours from being finally diagnosed to the operation. I was never sick in my life. A cold or flu would never stop me. I never missed work. I felt unwell one morning. The GP did his normal tests and said he thought I might have testicular cancer. He sent me for blood tests and an ultrasound. The blood test results came back within a week, and they were grand. Nothing wrong with me. I had six weeks to wait for the ultrasound and by the time it had come up I was planning a holiday.
How’s your health now? I’m lucky. I’m going from the three to the six months checkup. It’s a milestone, but it’s going to take four or five years. I do everything I used to do. The only big difference is the weight loss. I’ve joined an elite club Celtic’s John Hartson, cyclist Lance Armstrong, can affect anyone. To me,
– the Odd Balls – with comedian Des Bishop, and hurler Joe Deane. It it’s the only way to be.
Has it changed your outlook? I would love to be able to say I don’t care about the mortgage, the ESB, but I do. Life takes over. I’m more worried about the guinea pigs giving birth, just get back to reality. When you have two ankle-biters they ground you anyway.
Then what? We went to see the surgeon the day after the ultra-sound. I was finally diagnosed at 12.30pm and at 12.15pm the next day I was going under the knife. We all knock the health service but they didn’t give me the
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How do you feel about people in the health service? The staff in Saint Luke’s? I don’t know what they are paying them, but it’s not enough. You’re not just a number – they treat you like a person. u
he’s got balls!
If you are feeling bad yourself, go up there and look at the people and say: ‘How dare I complain?’ By Jesus, you see some sights. Young children really sick. The staff in the health service can only do the best they can. Harney has a lot to answer for. If me and you did a job like her, we’d be sacked. The Government should be ashamed of themselves.
What kept you going? Lisa and the two ankle-biters. With two kids, you can’t lie down.
What do you do in your spare time? My passions are sport and Irish music. I love Celtic rock. Any form of Irish music. And I love any sport. Like so many I’ve become a sideline participant. I watch matches and I know more than they do – but they don’t listen to me. My local GAA team is Clon na Gael Fontinoi in Ringsend. If you were going to have a pint with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be? Bertie Ahern. I won’t say he was a hook, because that would be wrong. But I think what he did in the peace process was second to none. Paisley, a man I demonised for years, he brought them to the peace table.
Photo: Michael Crean Photography
The peace process is the only legacy of the Celtic Tiger. The only goodness we got out of it. I would love to sit down and talk with Michael Collins. Call him a statesman and soldier, there was a lot behind him l Interviewed by Martina O’Leary..
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Photo: Conor Healy
Pay campaign
STRIKING: IMPACT members picket outside the Department of Education in Dublin on 24th November.
How a Government undid a deal Last December it looked like IMPACT and other public service unions would achieve the near-impossible and do a deal that stopped the Government imposing a second pay cut in less than a year. BERNARD HARBOR was there as the drama and double-dealing unfolded.
IT WAS the biggest strike in the history of the state. Over 250,000 public servants from over a dozen unions took to the picket lines on 24th November to demonstrate their determination to oppose a second cut in public service pay in less than a year. Even the wild rain, sweeping across the country from the west, could not dampen the spirits of the 55,000 IMPACT members who dominated picket lines across the state. Health workers, education employees, local authority staff, civil servants and semi-staters all turned out in their thousands as IMPACT members and official spokespeople dominated the airwaves. 6
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Just 15 days before the budget, union leaders, with IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone at the helm, knew they had to act fast and smart to turn this show of strength into a deal that would prevent the much-mooted cuts. As the foul November evening closed in around the lateafternoon picketers, McLoone and other officers of the ICTU Public Services Committee held a press conference in Dublin’s Buswells hotel, where they announced a second one-day strike for 3rd December – and that they would re-enter negotiations aimed at finding an alternative to pay cuts. u
Summing up the unions’ dual approach, McLoone told the packed room of journalists: “I believe it’s possible to agree an alternative that will achieve the savings the Government requires – in 2010 and beyond – while rapidly agreeing and introducing reforms which will protect public services and the incomes of those who deliver them. However, today’s strike has demonstrated that our members have the resolve and the strength to resist the Government if it pursues an unfair and counter-productive course of further pay cuts.”
redundancies, no pay cuts and no reduction in the value of public service pensions.
IMPACT had been working on an ambitious strategy aimed at avoiding compulsory redundancies and further cuts in pay or pensions, while protecting public services as numbers and budgets declined because of the recession. “Our ambition is to negotiate a deal that motivates public servants to be part of a transformation that allows us to come out of this recession with better and more responsive public services at a lower cost to the taxpayer. This has the potential to really transform our public services in a way that a series of demotivating pay cuts never will,” McLoone told the hacks.
Inside the talks the early signs were less than encouraging. Both the body language and the verbals made it crystal clear that the employers – led by the Department of Finance – had
The deal would have to be based on real public service transformation – enough to protect services as the numbers of public servants declined on foot of the Government’s recruitment embargo. And it would mean coming up with real savings of about €1 billion in 2010 payroll costs because transformation was unlikely to deliver the necessary savings before 2011.
“Union leaders knew they had to act fast and smart to turn this show of strength into a deal that would prevent the much-mooted pay cuts.”
Encouraging
little appetite for alternatives. No doubt directed by their political masters, straight pay cuts across the board looked to them like the quickest and easiest route through Budget 2010.
Most of the journalists were sceptical to say the least. Everyone was sceptical. The top correspondents on every newspaper, TV and radio news show had bought the government line that there was ‘no alternative’ to pay cuts and for months they had been reporting that this would happen in the Budget.
It later became clear that, spurred on by the business lobby, Government determination to cut pay across the whole economy was driving the public service pay cuts agenda. No alternative centred on quality public services was going to budge them – no matter how effectively it came up with savings.
But there were some encouraging straws in the wind as the negotiations got underway. On the second day of talks, the Independent group’s economic editor Brendan Keenan’s opinion piece called – albeit cautiously – on the Government to respond to IMPACT’s approach. Keenan argued for a revolution in public service provision, but said this could only be done through agreement and by changing attitudes about the work public servants do. “The extraordinary sense of victimhood in much of the public sector must be replaced by pride,” he wrote.
At the death, all the media and political attention focussed on the ‘2010 problem’ and its unpaid leave solution. But the union negotiators knew that the toughest – and most valuable – issue was ongoing public service transformation.
This was good stuff coming from a hard-nosed business writer from Ireland’s most union-hostile and public servicephobic newspaper stable.
Talks about public service transformation began at sectoral level coving health, local government, education and the civil service and non-commercial semi-state bodies. By early December they had progressed so far that negotiators on both sides had produced texts, which would have formed agreements in each sector – but only if an overall deal was done
As the Chairman of ICTU’s Public Services Committee (PSC) IMPACT’s Peter McLoone would be chief negotiator in the talks. There had been negotiations in October, which had petered out as unions waited, and waited, for the employers’ side to produce a promised document that would set out their ‘vision’ for future public service staffing and delivery. The document finally arrived the week before the 24-hour November stoppage – too late to call it off, but enough to cue the restart of negotiations after the strike. This effectively left just over a week to turn vague outlines of public service ‘transformation,’ and cagey talk of alternatives to pay cuts, into a workable deal.
Bottom lines To grasp success, McLoone knew nothing could be ruled out apart from the unions’ bottom lines of no compulsory
Again, the employers lacked enthusiasm. The Health Service Executive in particular seemed reluctant to engage and the most senior officials from both the HSE and the Department of Health didn’t even show up until much later in the process.
Transformers
The agreed – and now defunct – transformation statements described what was to happen in each sector. And they were underpinned by a robust agreement on the redeployment of staff and – to the discomfort of senior finance department officials – a provision for the establishment of a commission, with independent leadership, to drive the implementation of reforms. Most of the top people on the employers’ side had now bought in to the value of the unions’ approach. On the afternoon that the Government walked away from the deal, I passed one visibly shaken secretary general outside Government Buildings in disbelief that the Government had turned its back on far reaching and genuine reform of our public services. u Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members
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Photo: Photocall Ireland
Pay campaign
Peter McLoone announced the suspension of the second one-day strike as a deal looked doable. The media went into overdrive the following day.
Outlines of possible temporary measures to achieve 2010 payroll savings had been floated from the outset. But negotiations started in earnest once the longer-term transformation measures came within our grasp. In late October, the lead negotiator for the employers’ side had accepted that unions could only agree temporary payroll measures for 2010. From 2011 onwards, savings from the transformation agreement would replace – and, indeed, increase – the payroll savings. And the unions had suggested that the situation should be monitored and addressed in the middle of this year if there was any sign that the necessary savings were not being achieved. The idea of unpaid leave – effectively a managed, temporary lay-off of public servants – quickly emerged as the favoured approach, not least because unions believed it could be constructed in a way that fell fairly on all public servants. As early as 25th November, the media was reporting that the introduction of unpaid leave of “perhaps as much as 12 days” could be among the exceptional measures agreed. Three days later an Irish Times front page article reported that “the introduction of compulsory unpaid leave…is emerging as the central feature of any alternative deal between unions and the Government.” Poor Government communications and deliberate misinformation later whipped up a political and media frenzy of opposition to the unions’ alternative. But the idea was repeatedly reported in the press and broadcast media – without any adverse media or political comment – until the evening of Tuesday 1st December, when it emerged that both parties believed it could form the basis of a deal.
Cabinet concurs McLoone and a small group of top ICTU officials had met the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance to present and flesh out the idea in the context of the overall transformation agreement that was being developed. Cowen then took it to cabinet on Tuesday 1st December.
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Both sides were attracted to the idea, but knew more work was needed to ensure that it would generate sufficient payroll savings or be supplemented by other measures that would bring the total savings to the required level. They also accepted that it would have to be implemented in ways that avoided any adverse impact on services – especially in education and health – and that this might require different approaches in different sectors. Following the cabinet meeting, the employers’ side confirmed to the unions that, although an overall agreement had not yet been reached, the Government accepted that the unpaid leave proposal could form the basis of a deal so long as these two issues were resolved. Both sides agreed to continue negotiations to resolve these matters which, compared to the transformation agenda, were relatively simple challenges. With agreement now apparently in sight, and a second strike looming in two day’s time, the unions unanimously agreed to suspend the 3rd December stoppage. At that point it looked likely that an agreement would have been finalised by the time the proposed strike happened. Late that afternoon, McLoone went out to the gates of Government Buildings to talk to a large gathering of journalists. For the last week media attention had been stifling, with some journalists phoning two or three times an hour looking for developments. No sooner was one fact established than the pack moved on in pursuit of the next.
The real “cave in” Throughout Monday and Tuesday, the only issue on the media mind had been whether the strike would be suspended. Once this decision was announced, they immediately turned their attention to unpaid leave. Despite McLoone’s careful delivery of the message – emphasising that more work had to be done both on generating payroll savings and ensuring unpaid leave did not adversely affect services – journalists quickly began to unpick the incomplete deal. If this had been a private company announcing a two-week u
“The employers acknowledged that the unpaid leave mechanism could have yielded €986 million, which would have enabled the Government to comfortably reach its stated target for payroll savings in 2010 once other planned measures were taken into account.” layoff, there might have been radio vox-pops about how workers would struggle to pay their mortgages and newspaper editorials calling for Government action in the worst-hit areas. Instead, Wednesday’s headlines screamed about Cowen’s “cave in” as many ill-informed journalists wrongly speculated about schools and hospital wards closing for two weeks in 2010 as public servants “enjoyed two extra weeks’ holiday.” The business lobby sprang into action too, as it dawned on them that an alternative to pay cuts was now on the cards. Desperate for a public service pay cut that could pave the way for wage reductions in the private sector, IBEC chief Danny McCoy went on RTE’s Morning Ireland to savage the potential deal. Meanwhile, Government backbenchers were contacted by businesses from their constituencies and urged to destroy any prospect of agreement. Some journalists were also reported to be stirring up backbenchers in the lobbies.
push, talking up the deal’s potential for savings and better public services, and explaining that the unpaid leave would not disrupt services – especially schools. But by the time I got back to Government Buildings from RTÉ at lunchtime, McLoone told me privately that it was over. The final meeting between Government representatives and senior ICTU negotiators took place that afternoon. The employers said they had fully briefed the Government that morning, and the Government had decided not to proceed to conclude an agreement. They also acknowledged that the unpaid leave mechanism could have yielded €986 million, which would have enabled the Government to comfortably reach its stated target for payroll savings in 2010 once other planned measures were taken into account. Ironically, Brian Lenihan announced just €1 billion in payroll savings in his Budget – less than would have been achieved through the alternative.
Instead of coming out to explain and defend the potential deal, to the public and their own backbenchers, the Government reacted by retreating on its earlier decision to move towards an agreement. That was the real cave in.
Photo: Photocall Ireland
Meanwhile back in the talks, agreement was easily reached on ensuring that the unpaid leave would be implemented in ways that ensured no adverse impact on services. For example, there would be no change to the school year or the amount of classroom contact between teachers and students. Managers would have had control over the timing of the leave and, in cases where it might otherwise have been disruptive, could have spread it over six years while accruing all the savings in 2010. But it was too late. On Thursday 3rd December, the unions had charged Peter McLoone with bringing the final element of the deal – ensuring that the 2010 measures generated the necessary savings – to conclusion. The unions had hired forensic accountants from top firm Mazars to independently check the value of the measures under discussion. With their help, a progressive valuation of the temporary unpaid leave – from 4.6% to just over 7% – was developed, which would have delivered the savings with higher paid staff making a bigger contribution. But by late that evening news was emerging that the Taoiseach was wobbling. McLoone’s intervention prevented him walking away from the deal that night and it was agreed that he would sleep on it.
Final push That night, IMPACT official Kevin Callinan and other health service union reps hunkered down for the final push on the health transformation work. They worked through the night to conclude the final part of the transformation jigsaw. On Friday, senior union reps hit the airwaves for one last media
Cowen wobbles as pay-cutting Lenihan looks on.
The employers’ side also accepted that the Government’s transformation objective would have been achieved through the sectoral documents that had been produced. In the end, the Government’s decision to reject the deal on offer revealed that its determination to drive down wages – for all of us in the public and private sector – is the unshakeable cornerstone of its economic and social policy. For all its fine talk about public service ‘transformation,’ it is now clear that depressing incomes is far more important to this administration than protecting and developing public services as staffing and resources inevitably fall. After ten days of intensive effort – including more than a couple of all-night negotiations – McLoone told a Friday evening press conference that social partnership with this administration was over. It had chosen conflict over co-operation l
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Developing world fund Chad
Just some of the projects you’ve helped
Helping refugees who fled fighting in the Central African Republic to build livelihoods for themselves.
Ireland A global project on women and migration in the health sector and helping to support an international AIDS/HIV programme.
Caribbean Setting up union youth structures and training in collective bargaining.
Columbia
Turkey Supporting Turkish trade unions fight for their rights.
Support for miners’ union’s human rights work.
Cameroon Union management and software support to health workers’ federation.
South/Central America (Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela) Promoting equal pay for women and leadership training for women trade unionists. And training for leaders and young workers.
Republic of Congo Helping trade unions organise.
Uganda
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay Building public support for public services and working for pay equity for women. Supporting a social housing project.
South America’s Southern Cone Promoting workers’ rights.
It’s a small world
Helping trade unions raise AIDS awareness. Helping vulnerable children and families through the Kasengejje community centre project.
South Africa Cash for the Niall Mellon Township Challenge.
IMPACT members have donated over €5 million to trade union education and relief projects in the developing world since the union’s developing world fund was established almost 30 years ago. Over €500,000 was donated in 2009 alone. 10
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Training midwives in the Bethlehem maternity hospital and funding IT equipment for a school.
South Eastern Europe
Czech Republic
Assisting trade unions develop their organising capabilities.
Supporting trade unions who are working against privatisation and the legacy of the former communist regimes.
Graphic: dreamstime.com
Palestine
Romania Helping Romanian trade unions organise.
Nepal Contributing to education costs for an occupational therapist.
Kazakhstan Support to Chernobyl children’s project.
Pakistan
Iraq
Supporting non-formal education for working children in Quetta.
Supporting the ICTUR centre which gives legal advice on cases of infringement of trade union rights.
Burma Kenya
Supporting the trade union movement.
Supporting an orphanage.
Malawi Water irrigation and environmental programmes.
Middle East Promoting workers’ rights.
Indonesia Supporting the ICTUR centre which gives legal advice on cases of infringement of trade union rights.
EVERY IMPACT member is part of this constant and lifechanging show of solidarity because three per cent of everyone’s union subscription goes into the developing world fund. Most of the money goes to medium and long term projects aimed at supporting trade unions and ordinary people in the developing world. The projects are quite diverse from gender campaigns in the South America’s southern cone, pay equity campaigns in Brazil, workers’ rights initiatives in the Middle East and trade union rights in Turkey. Most large projects supported by IMPACT’s fund are managed and developed by the international trade union federation
East Timor Support for livelihoods and stronger civil society organisations.
Public Service International (PSI), which IMPACT is affiliated to. Support for PSI projects amounted to €280,000 in 2009. They included supporting health sector reform in Africa, quality public services in Paraguay, union development in Cameroon and Congo, and a global project on women and migration in the health sector. Union members have also supported a race and gender training project in Brazil. It is aimed at building racial and gender equality within unions and society, and preserving the historic and cultural memory of coloured workers and women. continued on page 12 ➤ WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 11
Developing world fund The fund is also supporting Cameroon’s National Health Worker’s Federation in a project designed to reinforce its autonomy and ability to represent its members and defend their living and working conditions.
Young lives saved
PSI General Secretary, Peter Waldorff said international solidarity is central to all parts of PSI’s work. The generous support PSI receives from IMPACT demonstrates the real meaning of solidarity as members of public service unions collectively raise funds for sister unions across the world. “This support amounts to 9.16% of the external funds we receive for union development work and is the largest amount of funds we receive from a single union. It means that public sector unions in Arab Countries, Turkey, the Andean sub region, the Democratic Republic of Congo and East Africa can continue their struggle for the issues that are important for all public sector workers and unions. Issues such as gender equality, trade union rights, occupational health and safety, a recognised place in social dialogue, quality public services and the right to decent work are union priorities all over the world, as we face working environments that are increasingly hostile to trade union and worker rights. I would like to thank IMPACT on behalf of our affiliates for your support and solidarity that is so much appreciated and valued by us all,” he said.
AS YOU read this up to six million kids are working as bonded labourers around the world. The International Labour Organisation reckons the evil trade is worth a massive €44 billion a year. That’s why IMPACT members supported the Balika Ashram girls’ collective in Delhi, India, which provides training and education to young girls rescued from bonded labour. Instead of slaving in stone quarries, brick works, domestic homes or farms, the girls get counselling and training in literacy, vocational and life skills. IMPACT’s developing world fund has helped turn their young lives around.
IMPACT members also donated €10,000 to support a Concern initiative in Southern Chad. The Irish charity’s project deals with livelihoods, water and sanitation. As well as the people of Chad, it’s also helping refugees who have fled fighting in the Central African Republic. Concern aims to develop the refugees’ capacity to earn a livelihood and provide for their own needs over time. Last year the fund also gave €10,000 to support an ICTU campaign with the Burmese trade union movement, and a twoyear training programme for health and safety – including AIDS awareness – for the Uganda Miners, Metal and Allied Workers Union.
School daze
AIDS and HIV is huge issue for African unions. Many workers and their communities have been devastated by the disease, and unions want to ensure that health workers and other frontline experts are part of the solution to this continent-wide problem. More generally, international trade union federations are concerned that unions and their members are being written out of the picture in massive international AIDS programmes.
OVER 350 CHILDREN in war-torn Liberia got vital educational opportunities because of the generosity of IMPACT members. The union’s developing world fund donated over €18,000 to rebuild Sugar Hill school in the country’s second biggest town, Gbarnga, after it was destroyed by rebel army attacks in 2003. It was the second time the school had fallen victim to the West African state’s civil war – and the second time IMPACT members had shown their solidarity with the project, which provides education and skills training to kids hit by the conflict. In 2002 the union’s fund gave nearly €10,000 to help buy equipment and pay wages. Then, in 2003, a second grant was approved to help the school repair war damage, which virtually destroyed the school buildings and staff living quarters. Miriam O’Brien of the Liberian Development Education Network thanked IMPACT members for their help. “The centre is now fully operational. It’s like a dream come true that a group in faraway Ireland was willing to help repair the houses and get families together again,” she said. 12
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That’s why IMPACT has backed a new international trade union AIDS and HIV programme to the tune of €20,000 over two years. It aims to strengthen and coordinate long-term support to unions at regional and country levels, and to ensure the voice of labour is heard in the planning and funding of local initiatives. The union’s Central Executive Committee has established a developing world subcommittee, which examines and assesses funding applications. The sub-committee includes representatives from each of the union’s five divisions along with IMPACT deputy general secretary Shay Cody and the union’s honorary treasurer. The criteria used to assess applications favour trade union education and development projects. But they are flexible enough to allow donations for emergency relief and projects supported by IMPACT branches and activists. All grants are given at the discretion of the CEC on the recommendation of the developing world sub-committee and recipients must give the union audited accounts or verification that the funds have been spent as agreed ●
Saving public Gxxxxx money
€2.3 million in savings or your money back A simple idea. A massive saving. NIALL SHANAHAN finds out how one public servant transformed his local service. AS THE decade ended, so did social partnership. But this is not a story about how it ended, nor is it a story of what might have ailed social partnership. This is, in every sense, a good news story, in which partnership plays a supporting role. This is a story about how one public servant had an idea and saved the state a fortune. Not by cutting pay or imposing a levy on anybody. Not by cutting hours or cutting services. Just by changing and improving the way the work was done. In October 2007, the community occupational therapy service for Kildare and West Wicklow got the go-ahead to commence a scheme to reclaim and recycle unused occupational therapy equipment (wheelchairs, hoists, seating etc.), and to develop capacity for in-house delivery, servicing and repairs.
Enter Stella Griffin, chair of the local branch of IMPACT. Together, Stella and Damien put a proposal to locate, recover, re-use and recycle HSE occupational therapy equipment. They did this through the Kildare and West Wicklow health partnership, which Stella co-chaired. The HSE must have been thrilled, no? “Well no. Not exactly” explains Stella. “There was a sense of: ‘if this works, everyone else will want to do it,’ and the management culture is stuck in its ways. They were reluctant to let it happen,” she said. IMPACT official for the region Brian Gorman described the initiative as driven from the shop floor. “Health workers
Prior to the development of this scheme, if equipment was no longer needed it was usually left to rust in somebody’s garden or gather dust in the attic. The service spent in excess of €1million per year on brand new equipment. Services and repairs were contracted out to several different companies, incurring individual call out and labour charges, as all of the work was carried out at clients’ homes. This also meant that the work could not be monitored by the therapy staff. For one occupational therapist none of this made any sense. IMPACT member and activist Damien Kidd had worked in the area as an OT for almost seven years. He knew how much money the replacement equipment was costing and felt that there must be some way of reducing the cost without compromising services to the community. Leaving unused equipment to rot didn’t make any sense. “The old system required us to place orders through the purchasing system and private companies would supply and deliver the equipment. The invoices were always very high and I felt strongly that we needed to change how we did things. In the boom years companies would take weeks to come back to you, and that added to the waiting time for clients. It was wasteful and inefficient,” he says. Putting it bluntly, suppliers could charge whatever they liked for delivery, repairs or replacements. Damien had heard of a more self contained system in Mountmellick, where they bought their own equipment and handled distribution with their own vehicle and their own staff. After checking it out he knew he had to develop the idea in his own area.
IMPACT activist Stella Griffin says that local HSE management seemed embarrassed by the immediate success of the scheme. “I suppose it demonstrated the waste in the system that had gone on for years before Damien proposed the changes,” she says.
throughout the country know the story only too well. They work in an environment where using initiative, much less driving initiatives to reduce costs, is actively discouraged. u
Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members
13
Better services Yet these are the same workers who are characterised as resistant to change. Damien and his colleagues met with a lot of resistance to their proposal, but with quiet determination, patience, and an ability to deliver on the idea, they pulled it off. It’s a remarkable achievement,” he says. In its first year, Damien’s recovery scheme achieved a net saving to the local HSE of €1.3 million. In the following year the scheme saved a further €1 million. Money that would have been otherwise used to purchase brand new equipment. Almost immediately the waiting lists dropped as the service was able to respond more immediately to clients. The time between assessment and delivery of equipment was slashed. An average waiting list of 600 for the area was reduced to almost zero. Recently, the list has edged back up to around 250. “The employment moratorium has brought the waiting list back but nowhere near what it used to be,” says Damien. At its height, the monthly operational budget hit €177,000. It has gone through some fluctuations (at one point it reached zero) and currently stands at around €50,000 a month. “But we are delivering and sustaining an improved service with that budget,” Damien explains.
The initiative to recycle the equipment has netted €2.3 million in just two years. Think of how much could be saved nationally if this was rolled out across the country. Again, I put the question to Stella. By the end of the first year the HSE management must have been thrilled by the scale of the savings. “Well no. Not exactly,” she laughs. “There was a degree of embarrassment in the response from management. I suppose it demonstrated the waste in the system that had gone on for years before Damien proposed the changes.” Brian is quick to point out, however, that many of the professional grades in the area are jumping in now to take the credit. Ever the eloquent philosopher, he tells me, “Failure is an orphan, but success has many fathers.” Meanwhile, the local occupational therapy service is housed in St Mary’s in Naas, County Kildare, in premises adjacent to Naas Hospital. Here, in one area, the day-to-day OT work is carried out, alongside the service, repair, storage, cleaning and disinfection of equipment. In addition, the staff conduct assessment, demonstration and trialing of the equipment with clients and their families. This means that mileage costs have reduced without the need for constant journeys to and from clients’ homes. Damien gives me a recent example of just how much the service has changed. “A man in Kilkea contacted us this week to say that the control unit of his wheelchair had broken down. On the same day we were able to collect his wheelchair, bring it back to St Mary’s and replace the unit with one we took from an older chair we had in stock. We sent it back that evening. Three years ago that man would have been four weeks without a wheelchair, but now it’s just a matter of a few hours.” u
14 SPRING 2010
Damien: Looks like chaos, but it works.
The premises are crowded, but the staff are hopeful of a move to a new place in an industrial estate off the Naas to Newbridge road. The new premises will separate the activities into dedicated rooms. This will mean, for instance, that clients coming in for assessment or fitting of equipment won’t have to cope with the sights and smells of the vital disinfection work. It will also mean that they can barcode all of the equipment to keep track of each item. “There is uncertainty about the move,” Damian explains. “The move itself will be cost neutral, but management has dragged their heels on it. We aren’t too sure why.” Everyone in St Mary’s is hands-on with the service. Stella explains: “Clerical officers and other admin staff snap on the rubber gloves and get stuck in. Nobody considers themselves too precious to get involved.” The service has an open repair clinic every Thursday, where a technician can repair or service several pieces of equipment in one day. This reduces call out charges and clients welcome the opportunity to come to the clinic and talk about their equipment, allowing the therapists to monitor how they are doing. Damien uses local contract cleaners for some of the more specialised cleaning, such as the dry cleaning of hoist slings and pressure cushions to hospital standard. This is all at a fraction of what it once cost. The initiative to recycle the equipment has netted €2.3 million in just two years. “Think of how much could be saved nationally if this was rolled out across the country,” says Damien. The team in St Mary’s have lots of other ideas about how to make savings in local running costs, particularly transport. But there remain a few mountains to climb. Damien explains: “We were given a budget to purchase a vehicle to recover the equipment, in order to make our own deliveries. I was quite keen to purchase something second hand. We needed a truck with a hydraulic platform at the back to lift the heavier equipment.” Management insisted on purchasing a new vehicle for €40,000. “I could have bought two older vehicles for the same price, and we would have used both regularly. It’s a bit mad isn’t it?” A bit mad indeed.
Photo: Conor Healy
Unfortunately, because the Government burned its bridges to social partnership last December, there is little scope left now for a partnership model that can accommodate cost saving initiatives locally or indeed nationally. Ideas like the Kildare and West Wicklow scheme only became reality because of the partnership model of problem solving. And even this story demonstrates that resistance to change in the world of public service management can stop a good idea from bearing Do you have a story about a fruit. It is a credit to inspired public service ‘champion’ public servants like Damien, in your area? Tell us all and branch activists like Stella, that such a scheme about it. Send a message ever saw the light of day. In a post-social partnership world, it is a measure of how much we have really lost l
to info@impact.ie with the words ‘public service champion’ in the subject heading.
Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 15
Public service
Safe in their hands Health and safety inspections may conjure up images of excessive red tape in the small minds of the small business lobby. But the relatives of the 57 people who died in workplace accidents in 2008 would take a different view. MARTINA O’LEARY meets the inspectors.
BRITISH POLITICIANS are increasingly criticising the “overthe-top” health and safety culture. David Cameron was the latest to give out about the “blanket of bureaucracy, suspicion and fear” surrounding health and safety legislation. The Eton-educated Tory leader cites myths about schools making kids wear goggles while playing conkers in the school yard, and trainee hairdressers not allowed scissors in the classroom, to support his attack on workplace protections. IMPACT member John Colreavy, who was a health and safety inspector for many years before taking up his current role as Health and Safety Authority (HSA) senior inspector, has little time for this attitude. “The reason we have legislation in the first place is because human experience indicates that people are going to get killed and hurt if you don’t regulate,” he says. John says that light regulation and poor enforcement will leave workers exposed to all sorts of hazards and risks because, while many employers comply with the law, you can’t simply assume they all will.
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“For every fatal accident at work there are hundreds of near misses,” says health and safety inspector Ronan Kilgallon.
“If you don’t have enforcement, you don’t have a level playing field for all. Compliant employers will be undercut by those who take short cuts. Regulation sets out standards that have to be met,” he says. And good health and safety makes good business sense too. Recent figures suggest poor health and safety performance costs Ireland Inc up to €36 billion a year. Even so, there have been calls for lighter legislation in Ireland too. Last November, Labour TD Sean Sherlock told an Oireachtas committee that excessive health and safety regulation now places an undue burden on companies. u
“The big incentive is being caught and prosecuted. If that risk is perceived not to be there, people will become careless.” premises, examine records and equipment, and talk to management, safety representatives and staff. They can also issue improvement directions or notices, as well as prohibition notices on equipment, people or areas of a plant. And they wield on-thespot fines of €1,000 per offence. Serious breaches of health and safety laws can result in maximum penalties of €3 million and a two-year prison term. Fines totalling over €2.5 million were issued in 2008.
Photo: Conor Healy
I asked health and safety inspector Ronan Kilgallon to describe a routine inspection. “We enter the premises, identify ourselves and talk to the manager. If there is a safety representative we ask them to accompany us. Health and safety is based on risk assessment and the safety statement, so we check the paper work. Next you go around a see the premises, check if there are any health and safety issues, and see that they are certified and complying with regulations. We often talk to people working there.” It’s not always a pretty sight. “I’ve gone into places which have been very bad. Even recently. Guards covering danger points for entrapment being removed from equipment while maintenance work is carried out. I can prohibit the use of this machine. It’s amazing the difference when you call back a week later. They see that they are liable for prosecution if they don’t comply with the notice and recommendation. It’s a total different place,” he says.
The HSA undertakes about 16,000 inspections a year. The aim is to enforce the law, address significant risks, highlight good and poor practice, raise the profile of health and safety, and educate both employers and workers to help bring about safety improvements. Workers should be wary of such calls, which are gathering pace in European as well as Ireland and our closest neighbours. The Stoiber group, an EU committee examining ways to reduce administrative burdens on business, has recommended exempting small companies from the current obligation to carry out risk assessments. It also wants construction sites to get derogations from the requirement to prepare health and safety files.
Extensive IMPACT insists that the extensive powers of health and safety inspectors should be maintained. Inspectors can inspect
Inspectors issued over 8,500 written advices to employers in 2008. “People may have been working a certain way for 20 years, not realising it’s unsafe. After the HSA visit they know what needs to be done and most are happy to co-operate,” says Ronan.
Tough The HSA is notified immediately if a workplace death occurs, sometimes by the Gardai and sometimes by the employer. The authority also has to be notified if a worker is out for more than three days as a result of an accident. “We visit as soon as we can if it’s a fatal or serious accident. The scene will be preserved by the Gardai who can run an u
Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 17
Public service investigation based on reckless endangerment. Sometimes these are joint HSA-Gardai investigations,” John says.
may be killed or they may break their arm. It’s the same accident,” he said.
It can be a tough job. Ronan describes what it’s like the first time an inspector deals with a fatal workplace accident. “It is really difficult. The first time you go to something like that it’s going to be shocking, particularly if the body is still there and especially if a child has been killed. But you have to remember why you’re there.
John says there is some evidence that employers may be cutting corners as the recession takes hold, with safety officers among the first to be let go when money is tight. Ronan agrees. “I haven’t been to any place that hasn’t had cutbacks. On the flip side of that, many people who were trained in best practice used to leave – now they are staying. Any investment an employer puts into health and safety training will stay with them,” he says.
“You’ve got to do the job, get the information and get witnesses statements. It’s all about focusing on the job and not missing anything. You have to do justice to the person who has died. You don’t really get time to think about it,” he says.
Experts Experts warn against using fatal accidents alone as a barometer of health and safety performance. John told me about the ‘accident triangle theory,’ which argues that for every fatal accident there are hundreds of near misses and minor incidents. “Any type of accident is dreadful, whether it’s a fatality or a serious injury. But the rate of the fatal accidents is not necessarily a great indicator of safety performance because the same type of accident could easily have either been a fatality or a serious injury. If someone falls two metres, they
“People may have been working a certain way for 20 years, not realising it’s unsafe. After the HSA visit they know what needs to be done and most are happy to co-operate.” There have been cuts in the HSA too. “So far the impact is primarily in health and safety promotion. But we have lost contract staff – IT, finance – people who held the whole thing together. Down the road the affect of these cutbacks will become apparent,” says John l
Exceptionally average
Photo: Conor Healy
IN THE late 1980s and early 1990s many Dublin venues hosted original soul-reggae-ska legends Mr Average. Its guitarist Eamonn Donnelly has been an IMPACT official since 1999. To mark the 21st anniversary of the formation of the band, Mr Average has reformed to rehearse for a gig in aid of the Children’s University Hospital in Dublin’s Temple Street.
18
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This gig takes place at the Living Room, Cathal Brugha Street (opposite DIT College of Catering) on Friday 22nd January 2010. It will be the band’s first performance for 15 years and they will combine original and cover version material. The event will also reveal the considerable talents of new singer and IMPACT member Jane Egan. Get along for a great cause and a great night out.
Your say We’ve given up the Work & Life letters page to the union’s president JOHN POWER, who has a message for every IMPACT member. Dear Member WHEN I was elected IMPACT president in May 2008 nobody was predicting that we would soon face the economic upheavals visited upon us last year. Indeed, all the economists and politicians said we had ‘sound fundamentals’ and could expect a ‘soft landing.’ Now the revisionists say they were predicting the economic disaster all along. I also recall how difficult it was to fill public service positions in the so-called boom years. Why restrict yourself to poor career prospects when the private sector offered greater opportunities, better pay and big bonuses for many? Last year saw a sustained – and in some ways successful – campaign to direct attention away from those who recklessly ruined our economy and international reputation. The top bankers and their institutions have been protected while public servants and those on social welfare have had their incomes slashed. No top banker or speculator has been called to account – neither have the politicians whose disastrous policies saw our economy destroyed. Yet tens of thousands have lost their jobs in the private and community sectors. The Government’s response? Cut their incomes whether they are in work or on benefits, and pour more taxpayers’ money into the banks. These policies wouldn’t be possible without the sustained campaign to vilify Irish public services and the people who deliver them – mostly on low or modest incomes. We don’t accept – and never will – that public servants caused the problems this country now faces. But we have responsibly recognised that we are in a
crisis, and we’ve been prepared to contribute equitable solutions to the problems our society faces. By mobilising its members in 2009, IMPACT pulled out all the stops to resist the Government’s policy of cutting pay and services in the public and community sectors. We’ve also had a number of fights on our hands to protect jobs and incomes in the private sector and commercial semi-states. We have worked closely with other ICTU unions and between us we came up with a viable alternative to pay cuts and reduced services, which the Government rejected in favour of its pay cuts policy. We will continue to work with the other unions in 2010.
You’ve backed your union at a difficult time – and we will continue to defend you. I also want to thank all the union’s local reps who act in a voluntary capacity, giving up their time and energy to support their colleagues and their union. I believe you will continue to support IMPACT’s struggle for an equitable and fair response to the current economic crisis. Because we all appreciate that we live in a society – not just an economy – and that our society is humanised by the provision of decent and equitable public services. John Power IMPACT president
I don’t think the radical transformation of public services – and the loss of 12 day’s pay in 2010 – would have been an easy sell if we’d had the chance to put it to a vote of IMPACT members. But I do believe it would have been accepted as an appropriate and imaginative alternative to the er Government’s stale appt lett e bes the rest. h roach of continually t r o 0 for €50 f taking from those who pays ue and €3 out the e f i L ab & iss are suffering from an think Work ed each u o y e h t v s economic crisis they publi know wha ssues we’ i t s i e didn’t create. u of , r th g Let ine o e to think n anythin z a g a o m r m o s e C 2010 will not be an easy pap view ed. cover now your r pen and ep it year. But I believe that, if k u e let us Get out yo orget to k we stick together with the f ! t l ’ l n a do at determination and skill we . And , today d shor t. & Life showed last year, we can Work in 1. e an , c i n n a l l o achieve our objective of b t, Du isin N to Ro ey’s Cour t.ie. restoring the pay cuts and e t i r n c W er impa defending our public services CT N d IMPA il rnolan@ signe a during the recession and blish y u a p Or em m y l e beyond. We on Work & Lif size. r s. ter fo letter I want to say a big ‘thank you’ ur let o y t i ed to every IMPACT member.
write, hone... r e v e You n ou never p y
PS
Work & Life Work & Life is the magazine for members of IMPACT trade union. It is posted on our website and 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 career
Photos: dreamstime.com
Organisational psychologist ISOBEL BUTLER asks if you ever stop and take time out from day to day life to reflect on what’s important to you and to plan for your future? Do you try to take charge of your own future?
Planning for your own future Photos: Dreamstime
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Planning (PDP) is planning for yourself and your future. It means thinking through questions such as: “What do I really want from life? What kind of person do I want to be? Am I clear about my personal goals and ambitions? Am I making the right decisions to get me where I really want to be? Am I in charge of my life, or am I just hoping it all will work out somehow?”
➤
The exact content of what you think about depends on you and how much time you want to devote to planning your future but it is best done regularly throughout our lives and it can help us gain a greater sense of control. 20
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The benefits of a Personal Development Plan include: • Getting a better understanding of yourself and what makes you ‘tick’, and the kind of life you want, your needs and how to meet them. • Being better placed to make choices and being more confident in those choices. • Developing a positive, forward-looking approach and a feeling of greater control. • Being in a better position to compete for jobs. Getting started is easy all you need is some time and some paper.
Step 1. Reflect Jot down your thoughts and remember, the only person reading this is you so honesty is more important than writing style. Reflect on your work life to date What pleases or satisfies you? What disappoints you or dissatisfies you? What would you like to achieve in your work life? Reflect on your life outside work What is important to you? What motivates you? What do you like spending your time doing? What would you like to achieve in your life outside work? Reflect on your priorities We all have competing priorities in our lives and at different times in our lives we may have different priorities. These can include getting on to the career ladder and/or progressing up that ladder; spending more time with family; earning more to ensure greater security; achieving a good work life balance. What are your current priorities? Recognise that these priorities may change with time or changed circumstances so revisit this plan and adjust it as priorities change.
Step 2. Look forward Take into account priorities and what you want to achieve in both your work and personal life and jot down your goals for the future. Where would you like to be in ten years time? In five years? Next year? Next month? Do you want to move up your ca-
reer ladder? Stay where you are? Move into another role entirely? Change jobs? Change careers? Work less hours? Work more hours? Learn new skills? Start your own business? Spend more time with your family? Develop a better work-life balance? Spend more time on your own personal interests or hobbies? Be honest, be realistic and recognise your needs and priorities. Try and identify which are short term, medium term and long term goals.
Step 3. What personal development opportunities exist to help you to reach your goals? Are their job opportunities coming up in your workplace? Are their training opportunities that will help you to reach your goals? Would it be useful to talk to someone who is in that role, job or career? Would it be useful to get a mentor? Could you shadow someone to see what the job involves and develop new skills?
Step 4. Develop an action plan
Your personal development plan 10 Do’s ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Start now Be honest with yourself Be realistic Set small achievable steps Write down your plan or you will forget it Be open to change – seek out the opportunity Take responsibility for yourself Learn from others Challenge yourself Regularly review your plan
10 Don’t ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗ ✗
Put it off for another day Be put off by pervious experiences of developing a PDP Have unrealistic expectations Try to achieve everything all in one go Don’t become disheartened if you find that you are a long way from the goals that you wish to achieve
Writing down the steps you in✗ Think I could never achieve that tend to take to move you closer to your goal. Set goals, ✗ Be too hard on yourself targets and deadlines for your✗ Think I only have a job I couldn’t have a career self. Goals can be as simple as, “I want to be in a position ✗ Think this is a waste of time to apply for a promotion by ✗ Give up the end of 2010 so next week I will take out my CV and update it. I will arrange a meeting with my manager before the beginning of next month to look for opportunities date regularly not a one off event. Set to take on extra responsibilities that will aside a regular period of time (this help me to develop new skills. I will sign might be just 15 minutes by yourself a up to that interview skills course that is few times a year over a cup of coffee) running in the local VEC after Easter.” when you sit down and reflect on whether or not you have done what you set out to do. If you have not, then ask Step 5. Monitor and review your yourself why not. Are your priorities still performance the same of have they changed? If they have changed because your circumIf your plan is to be useful and help you stances have changed then you will need achieve the future you want it has to be to update your plan ● a live document that you consult and up-
Isobel Butler is an independent organisational psychologist who works with people in the workplace on a wide range of workplace issues ranging from conflict management, dealing with change to solving problems. Over the next few issues Isobel will write about a range of topics that can arise out of an individual’s reflection and planning process. If there are any specific issues that you would like her to address in these articles please send them to her via The Editor, IMPACT, Work & Life Magazine, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1 or info@impact.ie.
WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 21
Looking good
Embrace your pear-fect shape When it comes to looking good TRISH O’MAHONY says understanding your body shape is the first step to maximising your assets. IN THEORY, looking our best has never been easier. With top designers in high street stores, an endless variety of boutiques in every town and city, online shopping and never-ending sales, we should be at the top of our style game right now. So why do we spend money on clothes we never wear? Why are we overwhelmed in the department store? Prompted by feedback from a regular Work & Life reader, I wanted to know more about dealing with different body shapes, and how to dress each to best advantage. Googling ‘body shapes of women’ results in 888,000 listings. For men it was a whopping 960,000. People want to know. But where do we start? In their book The Body Shape Bible Trinny and Susannah refer to 12 different female body types. They maintain that knowing which one you are is the key to highlighting your assets and minimising your flaws. It could help eliminate expensive mistakes in the future too. But trying to figure where you fit in is easier said than done, especially with names like ‘skittle’ ‘vase’ ‘cello’ and ‘goblet’ to contend with.
Photos: dreamstime.com/getty images
The chicfashionista.com is a straightforward website, simplifying it into five main body types – pear, inverted triangle, apple, hourglass and rectangle.
Perfect They use examples of celebrities so you can take inspiration from Elizabeth Hurley’s dress style if you’re an apple shape (yippee), Halle Berry and Kate Winslet if you’re the ‘ideal’ hourglass, Coleen McLoughlin and Jennifer Lopez if you’re a pear, and Cameron Diaz and Rachel Hunter if you’re a rectangle. ➤ 22
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Elizab
eth Hu rley
Camer on Dia z
erry Halle B
And how could I leave out Naomi Campbell, who is a perfect example of an inverted triangle, with strong shoulders and narrow hips? The site gives practical tips on what to wear and how best to wear it, depending on the group you fall in to. Obviously there will be thin and not so thin, tall and small, and other variations within each group. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and take an overall view of your torso. Avoid just zoning in on your ‘problem’ areas and blank out your legs. Once you’ve figured out which body type you are closest to, they then recommend clothing styles best for your shape. Simple, after all!
Draft in the help of a very trusted friend if you still can’t decide – one who will boost your ego no matter what awfulness you see in the mirror. Resort to a measuring tape if needs be. If your hips and thighs are wider than your shoulders then chances are you’re a ‘pear’. To get the right balance play up your upper body, with shoulder pads, wide necklines and blouses with puffed or ruched sleeves, while downplaying your bottom half. z r Lope
e Jennif
Desirable The ‘hour glass,’ with a defined waist and the perfect balance between shoulders and hips, is considered the most ‘desirable’ shape. Fitted clothes are your best look, zoning in on your waistline. Pencil skirts, which skim and elongate the body – in fact almost all skirts – v-neck tops, and everything with a belt. The boyish shape of the ‘inverted triangle’ or ‘cornet’ usually has wider shoulders than hips. Curves are not your strong suit, but you are considered a great clothes hanger on the catwalk. The trick is to create the illusion of curves, especially around your hips.
Draft in the help of a very trusted friend if you still can’t decide. One who will boost your ego no matter what awfulness you see in the mirror.
Wide pants, with flat fronts, look really great, as do bootleg. Avoid side pockets. Cropped jackets and jackets that land just above your hips are your best style. Belted coats highlight your waist. Wear jeans with higher waists and keep leg length as long as possible. ‘Apple’ shapes are, naturally, round with no waist definition and skinny legs. With inspiration from Elizabeth Hurley and Catherine ZetaJones it’s just a matter of choosing the right clothes and you’ll be delicious enough to eat!
Wrap dresses, skirts and tops are a must, showing off your curves, but not adding bulk. Wear single breasted jackets and coats. Avoid ‘boxy’ styles. Play up your legs and lower half – wear mild boot cut trousers and jeans. If you’ve got skinny legs, wear skinny jeans. Balance it by building ‘movement’ on top – wear tiered or puffball tops.
Wear skirts and jackets with added peplums (not together though), tops with large straps and halternecks, balloon or tulip shape skirts and voluminous pants – maybe harem styles. Skinny jeans look good because of your narrow hips.
Maybe, after all that, your shape is more ‘Rectangle’ like. Your hips and shoulders are roughly the same width, with very little waist definition. One positive of this shape – but not the only one – is that weight gain is evenly distributed. Creating a waistline is your objective. Do this by wearing wide belts. Pleated skirts and A-line styles are flattering, as are empire lines. Practically every style of trouser looks good on this shape. If you find empire lines and A lines, peplums and tulips all a bit mind-boggling, the style guru Gok Wan’s latest book Work your Wardrobe could be helpful. It’s colNaomi Cambe ourful, has lots of pictures, tips and advice ll on the latest trends ●
Trying to figure where you fit in is easier said than done. WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 23
Be good to yourself Gxxxxx There is a wide range of wonderfully simple holistic ways to help de-stress, relax, revitalise and rejuvenate you at this time of year. And it doesn’t have to cost the earth. KAREN WARD investigates.
DIY spa ideas for holis In these difficult economic times we often feel that we need to let go of our stress relief treats for budget reasons. Here we gift you a myriad of fantastically simple ways to pamper yourself inexpensively.
Create a spa at home So what are the features of a Spa? Hmm, let’s see! Relaxing calm environment, blissful music, enticing smells, fluffy hot towels, lashings of hot water and time to chill. You need to be organised to make sure you have the house to yourself without being disturbed for the required number of hours you want. You may decide to be alone as special timeout or make it a girly or lads night. Indeed a romantic Spa night with your partner is a terrific idea too. I know lots of men who love these pampering treats so it is no longer the domain of womenfolk. After all the Greek, Turkish and Roman men had therapeutic Spa time down to a fine art in historical times! Choose from the list of tempting treats below which suit you and your pamper pals and make sure you have all the requirements in beforehand ready to go. You can theme your Spa night depending on your mood or who is there: prepare you for a night out or a wind down after a hectic week, or a New Year, new you detox.
The ingredients Set the scene You can never underestimate the effect on body, mind and soul of serene surroundings. Light aromatherapy candles, dim the lights, burn some essential oils, play chill out music and light the fire.
Food and drink You can go all healthy with homemade smoothies or herbal teas (pick some nettles from the garden with gloves on of course to make a very refreshing vitamin packed detox drink). You might prefer organic wine as well. If you are providing the venue then the others should bring the goodies. Again the food can be healthy dips or comfort treats. You’ll know best what you need.
Holistic delights Most of us have manicures or pedicure sets plus face packs and hot oil hair soaks lurking in some bathroom drawer. Now is the time to pull them out and perhaps pool your treasures with those of your friends. These are great pampering techniques that allow lots of good ol’ gossipy chats at the same time.
Face pack fun If you don’t have any shop bought face packs then make your own with a handful of oats stirred into good organic natural yoghurt. Paste on your face for five minutes as an easy to do gentle scrub to remove any dead skin and add lustre to your complexion. For the finishing flourish add two slices of cooling cucumber or two cold soothing camomile teas bags which work wonders for tired eyes. This can be a hilarious photo opportunity if you are in a group. u
xx 24 SPRING SPRING 2010 2009
Gxxxxx
stic pampering Hollywood heaven A good centrepiece for the night can be a favourite film. Get a weepy or action or comedy DVD to cry, holler or laugh away any stress or tension. Let the people on the screen do all the work as you loll about on the sofa under the duvet.
Blissful bath or power shower The benefits of a hot steamy bath are legendary. Sea salt and Epsom Salts (these are the basis of many bath salts and are available from the chemist for a few euro) are terrific ways to release toxins from the body easily. Of course you can also use your favourite gels, soaps and bubble baths. Essential oils purchased from a health food shop, pharmacy or body shop type shops cost from €4 to €14 depending on the type. These are added to your bath in tiny quantities, three drops per bath so they last for ages and are therefore very good value. Rose is the most expensive because it is one of the most difficult to make using many, many petals in the process. But remember you are worth it! You might also decide to light candles or play relaxing music from the next room. Afterwards lather yourself with naturally scented body balm to moisturise as well as self-massage your body.
Hair and make-up Why not take a look at your overall image assessing your skin care, hair and make up. The type of make up you use can date you hugely. Changing even the colour of a lipstick can revitalise your look. Perhaps keep your daytime make up natural and add something different to your evening make up to bring that touch of sparkle. Skincare is so important and you can stay natural by using products with essential oils, which enhance your skin and keep that youthful glow. Remember that as you grow older you will need to change your skin care to match your change in skin texture. If in doubt, seek advice, and try to remember to wear some type of sun protection factor during the day. Factor 15 is a good start. Then there’s your hairstyle, which can put years on you. Do you ever notice how a new look can increase your self-confidence? Getting your hair looked after regularly is a great investment in your self esteem as well as your physical self care. Have fun on your DIY Spa evening by experimenting on different looks – up or down, tied back or blow dried differently l
Useful tips
If your birthday, anniversary or ‘any excuse for a gift day’ is approaching, maybe hint for a voucher for your favourite treatments. The effects of a good holistic session can counter the stresses and strains of everyday life. What is your favourite holistic treatment? Massage relaxes aching muscles and gives valuable talk-free time out. Reflexology suits people who love their feet being touched but might not be comfortable with a whole massage. Acupuncture is wonderfully therapeutic and deeply relaxing, but only if you are happy with the thoughts of fine needles being inserted in various points in the body depending on your consultation.
Blissful sleep A full night’s sleep is imperative. Do remember that the older you get, the less sleep you need. Routine is really important to ensure a good night. To help you sleep, place a drop of lavender (or crush some) on your pillow. Camomile or ‘sleepy time’ tea from the health food shop is another good way to coax your busy mind into a good night’s sleep.
Scent your home Natural room fragrances are becoming increasingly popular as a way of freshening the air in your home available from your local health food shop. Aromatherapy candles are such a wonderful way to evoke a soothing atmosphere as well as scent a room. (Aromatherapy is the art of healing through essential oils.) When out on a walk collect pinecones, save orange and lemon peels to throw on your fire to add a beautiful aroma to that room. Some essential oil on your light bulbs and radiators is another good way to do this l Karen Ward, Holistic Therapist from RTE’s ‘Health Squad’, BBC’s ‘The Last Resort’ and TV3’s ‘Healers is the author of best selling book ‘Change a Little to Change a Lot’ available now in all good books. www.karenwardholistictherapist.com
Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 25
Travel and trips
Reds under the threads
Photos: dreamstime.com
Manchester doesn’t feature in the top 10 European city destinations. It doesn’t feature in the top 10 underrated European cities either. But, from football to fashion, TRISH O’MAHONY rates it among Europe’s best kept secrets.
MANCHESTER WAS voted the ‘second capital of England’ in a 2007 BBC poll. Meanwhile, the Lonely Planet describes it as “the uncrowned capital of the north” and “a city embracing change like few others in Europe.” From an Irish point of view; it’s close, it’s cheap, it’s modern and it’s lively. Manchester people are pleasant and, with careful regeneration over the last 10 years, this north-western English gem has become a very attractive place to visit. Maybe it’s just Europe’s best kept secret. 26
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Go by ferry and it’s a scenic two-hourplus drive through North Wales, with mountain and coastal views and pretty towns and villages along the way. Irish Ferries sail from Dublin to Holyhead. And it’s easy to navigate the city by car. Meanwhile, Aer Lingus fly every day from Dublin and Cork and the city centre is a 15-minute train journey from the airport. Manchester is synonymous with sport, boasting two premiership clubs which, realistically, provide the main draw for Irish people visiting the city. Not wanting to be the odd one out in the family,
I happily tagged along for the spin but, while I enjoyed the match, a big part of me was wondering what I was missing in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. But, back to the football. Manchester United has the largest club football ground in the UK, with a capacity of 76,000, and City’s ground accommodates almost 48,000 fans. If you are going to a game build in a tour of the stadium and visit the museum. If all that football fails to float your boat, the City has much more to offer. Trust me! ➤
Its serious popular music pedigree is a big feature. Liverpool may have the Beatles, but the Mancs gave us Joy Division, the Smiths, Oasis and, more recently, Elbow. With over 70,000 students in the city’s two universities, it’s no wonder the night life is hectic. After dark Manchester turns into a serious partying town, fondly known as MADchester. The Printworks is a stateof-the-art entertainment venue in the heart of the city. It consists of a great selection of restaurants, bars and clubs plus cinema and gym. The Arena’s 21,000 seats make it the largest music venue in Europe. If all that nightlife sounds a little too exerting, there’s no shortage of cultural fixes. You can select from over 90 museums and art galleries. The municipally-owned Manchester Art Gallery houses a permanent collection of European works and features one of Britain’s most significant groupings of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Meanwhile, the Lowry in Salford Quays devotes a large, permanent exhibition to the works of L S Lowry, best known for his
“matchstick” paintings of industrial Manchester. The Royal Exchange Theatre in Saint Ann’s Square is a treasure trove in the heart of the city. Wander in for a good coffee, or a glass of wine (£3) and you’ll find a modern glass capsule theatre plus art exhibitions and stalls selling handmade jewellery, crochet pieces, art and glass. It’s a great place to pick up presents, especially for yourself! Although the entertainment varies, it’s free and the vibe is relaxed and interesting. It also has a restaurant and bar called The Round. This is a great city for shopping, and not just because of the favourable exchange rate. Manchester Arndale, is the UK’s largest shopping mall and incorporates Market Street, home to all your high street favourites. Trafford Centre boasts 230 stores, 47 restaurants and bars and 20 cinema screens.
bars and boutiques. Up and coming designers sell their wares at Saturday’s Tib Street fashion market, where you can pick up one-off pieces at affordable prices. Open from 10am to 5pm, beside Debenhams. High end boutiques such as Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Emporio Armani, Chanel and other big fashion names are located in Exchange Square and New Cathedral Street. If you’ve any money left on the return leg, Cheshire Oaks designer outlet centre – just off Junction 10 of the M53 motorway in Chester – is the UK’s largest with 145 shops. Well worth a small detour. And I didn’t even get around to Coronation Street! ●
Head for the northern quarter to explore Manchester’s creative, bohemian heart with vintage shops, cafes, trendy
Where to eat
Where to stay
Getting around
You’ll be spoilt for choice with over 300 restaurants to choose from – and roughly one a month opening its doors. It’s all here from cheap and cheerful burger joints to Michelin style gourmet restaurants. Head for the Triangle and Exchange Square, home to the Manchester Eye, where you’ll find pubs serving traditional English fare, Italian food and gourmet restaurants. And there’s Chinatown too.
There’s any amount of hotels in the city, ranging from budget to five-star. We stayed in an apartment within the Palace Hotel, which is very central. With supermarkets on your doorstep you can stock up on breakfast supplies while enjoying full hotel facilities.
There’s a very good public transport system and a ‘day saver’ ticket allows you to travel all day on any bus, train or tram in Greater Manchester. Get details from systemonetravelcards.co.uk. The city also operates a zero-fare bus service called Metroshuttle, serving Manchester’s business areas ●
The Blue Rainbow apartments in Deansgate are contemporary in design and have lovely finishing touches. The fridge was stocked too, which was a helpful touch.
WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 27
Photos: dreamstime.com
From the kitchen
Bringing it all back home WHILE I was sitting here, staring at a blank computer screen, beads of blood gathering on my sweating forehead, desperate for a sentence, the phone rang. It was a friend, with an invitation to Sunday lunch. Would we like to come? Would we what! Oh yes please! What a lovely treat! Somebody offering a home-cooked meal is simply one of the nicest things that can happen, because it’s not only lovely food, it’s a gift of time. Here you are, it says, we’re going to sit down together for a couple of hours, at a table where everyone has a place set for them. And while we eat, the world slows down to a person-sized pace. Really, we think, we should all do this more often. So why don’t we? And I don’t just mean having friends round for lunch. I mean actually sitting down together so that every28
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one in the family is in the same place at the same time and gets a chance to catch up. Well, sometimes that’s just really hard! When X has to eat at 5pm, to make aikido class at 6pm, but Y won’t be home till 5.30 and only eats chicken, what do you do? In fairness, even Harry Potter couldn’t solve that one. But not every day is like that, (or if it is, then you really need to think about it!) So stop looking for a magic wand and look at what is possible in your actual, real, honest-to-God life. Firstly, be realistic. Tension of any kind is lethal for the taste buds, and if someone has only a 20-minute turnaround, a bowl of stew is what they need, not a lobster still in its shell. And if, like in our house, someone is addicted to The Simpsons at 6pm, just accept it, and eat earlier or later. Try a bit of lateral thinking. If you can’t be together for your main meal, maybe you could sit down for dessert? Or a supper with the kids, a bowl of cereal for them, a cup of tea for you? If weekdays are hectic, can you manage an evening meal on Saturday? Or a lazy brunch on Sunday? The food, funnily enough, is secondary to sharing one of the fundamental experiences of home. Who doesn’t remember coming through the door to the smells of your favourite dinner being cooked by your Mam? Or the thrill of seeing a couple of apple tarts cooling on the window-sill, and figuring out
➤
MARGARET HANNIGAN remembers some good home cooking and time spent together with family.
how many slices you could scoff before anyone else got home? Trust me, no one will get misty-eyed about the way you used to microwave a pizza, but immortality is yours if you can rise to a decent Victoria sponge. Secondly, home cooking is a lifestyle choice, offering you control over what, when, and how you eat, and quickly becomes a very rewarding (and very popular!) way of life. There are a few rules. No electronic devices of any kind at the table, all phones should be switched off, and TV or radio banned. No books, magazines or newspapers, may
be read, and toys or games are forbidden. After that it’s up to you! There is an abundance of books out there to help you, in fact, there’s something of a stampede to the kitchen table! I’m leaning towards Rachel Allen’s new book Home Cooking but more adventurous cooks might like to try Zest! Which features recipes from 62 top Irish restaurants, and is sold in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation. This recipe should see you through a gettogether or two, reheats well, and can be frozen for another, busier day ●
For the Vino... Here’s another great time saving tip – check out the wine online! You can of course order it all and have it delivered, but even for the purposes of research and planning your shopping list, it’s invaluable, and eliminates all that squinting at labels and price tags, while three other people get in your way! Try O’Brien’s Wines, or Tesco, or Dunnes. Just google away and see what comes up. Wines that I’ll be buying are:
Red
Familigia Terracia Chianti Reserva, Tesco, €5.99. This has been on special offer for a while, but all attempts to stock up have failed dismally, as we just keep drinking it! Fruity, sunny, cherry flavours from Tuscany. Castillo San Lorenzo Rioja Reserva 2004, Tesco, 7.99 Again, this was on special offer at half it’s usual price. A stronger, more robust wine than the Chianti, with plum and dry fruit flavours, and some spice.
White Lehmann Reisling, O’Briens, €9.99. Pure flavours of apple, lime and honey make this a classic white. Cleaner than Chardonnay, and a nice alternative to Sauvignon Blanc. Domaine Doufour Blanc, O’Briens, €8.99 Made from old varietals in the Gascony region of France, this wine is a fruity, lemony, easy-drinking light wine that is a bargain at this price. Perfect for seafood and lighter dishes.
Top 10 tips for home cooking 1.
Plan ahead, or as Mrs Beeton said in her recipe for jugged hare “First, catch your hare”.
2.
Keep your kitchen stocked – milk, eggs, tomatoes, onions, salt, butter, cheese – all are without substitutes.
1 2 3 4 3.
4.
Lakeshore Pork
Keep an eagle-eye out for food that re-heats, freezes, or combines well. For example, today’s Bolognaise, could be frozen and turned into chilli con carne – just add spices, chillies, beans and rice. Keep the kitchen clean and tidy. You can’t cook in a mess.
THIS DISH is named after Lakeshore mustard, a popular Irish product from County Tipperary, though any wholegrain mustard can be used. It’s from the first Avoca Café Cookbook. The mustard makes it tasty, rather than hot, so have no fear! Ingredients: Serves 4-6 • 1.3kg/3lb diced leg or fillet of pork, well-trimmed of all fat. • Seasoned flour: (Flour, salt, pepper, mustard powder, brown sugar) • Olive oil • 600ml/1 pint apple juice • 300ml/half pint chicken stock • 2 tbsps wholegrain mustard • 300ml/half pint cream Toss the pork in the seasoned flour, then brown in olive oil in small batches. Place in a flameproof casserole, then cover with the juice and stock. (you may not need it all). Add mustard and bring to the boil, then transfer to an oven preheated to 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in the cream, and return to oven for another 10 minutes. If the sauce is thin, remove the meat and keep warm, and simmer the sauce over a moderate heat until reduced and thickened.
5.
Use your freezer, slow-cooker, oven-timer, and microwave to minimise your work load.
6.
Think twice before throwing out food - leftover veg can be used in soup or casseroles, bread can make breadcrumbs or a pudding, meat can be frozen, or reheated in gravy - which you saved and froze from the last roast you cooked.- right?
7.
Wine can be frozen, and used in sauces.
8.
Nuts freeze well, as do fresh herbs, chillies, and root ginger, which can be grated when frozen.
9.
Let others help, in fact the more you can delegate the better. Non-cooks can peel, dice, tidy up, or set the table.
10.
Don’t be discouraged by disappointments, that’s how you learn.
5 6 7 8 9 10
WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 29
Green fingers
How green is your Prepare your vegetable garden early for an abundance of delicious greens and fruit advises our garden expert JIMI BLAKE. JANUARY AND February are often the coldest winter months of the year although spring is just around the corner. I find that I really have to push myself to get out into the garden, but if you get one of those sunny bright early spring days, there is nothing better for you and it beats taking vitamin D supplements! In an ideal world, you will have finished digging and adding manure to your vegetable garden by now. But if you are like me and you’re always behind, try to catch up! Dig over beds now if you get a fine day and add in well rotted manure. I like to keep beds covered with black plastic to prevent weed growth and also to let soil dry out and heat up for spring planting and sowing.
Planting garlic cloves There is no need to buy garlic imported from China when it is actually one of the toughest, and easiest vegetables to grow. I like to plant my garlic cloves in February. I find if I plant them in autumn they tend to rot in my wet soil. Buy the garlic cloves in the garden centre and gently break them up into
individual cloves. Just before planting, thoroughly rake the top few centimetres of soil and incorporate good garden compost. Use a trowel or dibber to plant each clove with the pointed end up and space 10cm (4”) apart with 23-30 cm (9”–12”) between rows. Cover the cloves with soil and firm gently. The tips of the cloves should be hidden just below the soil surface. Keep an eye out for birds robbing the newly planted cloves. If they do, cover the bed with garden netting. Keep them well weeded until harvest during the summer Onions from seed should be started indoors in February in a room heated to 15°C to get them germinating. Personally, I think it’s just as handy to buy onion sets from the garden centre. This is a good time to plant fruit bushes. English Fruit Nursery in Wexford has great value in bare rooted fruit. Broad beans are one of my favourite vegetables, which I sow in individual small pots in February and usually plant out at the end of March. They are one of the hardiest vegetable plants, standing up to the toughest weather and produce delicious beans in the summer. This year I have finally managed to grow celeriac and am now digging it to make the best winter soup. It needs a long growing season and you need to start the work now if you want to be enjoying celeriac soup next spring! I sow the seeds in March in a seed try and then prick them out into modular trays as soon as they are large enough to handle. Then grow them on for planting out the middle to the end of June. Tomatoes plants are easy to buy in a garden centre but how about growing your own this year? By growing them from seed you will find some fascinating varieties. They will germinate quickly when sown in heat in late January or February in a warm kitchen u
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Narcissus ‘Jetfire’
garden Flower power
JIMI BLAKE outlines some of his favourite spring flowering shrubs with wonderful scent. Daphnae laureola ‘Phillipe’ windowsill or propagator. Prick them out into their own pots of organic potting compost and grow them on until large enough to plant out in a glasshouse or sunny window. Don’t be tempted to plant out to early as they hate the cold. There is more on tomatoes in next the issue.
Seed time If the weather might be keeping you indoors, now is a good opportunity to sit down with the seed catalogues or browse the seed companies’ websites and decide what vegetables to try this year. Get some of the catalogue I’ve listed below and make a list of everything that catches your eye. Then decide how much seed you will actually use. I tend to order enough seed for Ireland! l
This is one of the less common daphnae species from the Pyrenees and eastern Mediterranean, and is dwarf in habit, only growing to 2-3’. I grow it in semi-shade, and it flowers in clusters under the leaves all winter with yellow tubular flowers which pulse with an intoxicating fragrance at dusk. They grow in sun or shade but like a cool moist root run and need perfect drainage. Another fascinating Daphnae is D. jezoensis which is a real odd ball in the plant community as it loses its leaves for the summer and puts on leaves for the winter! This one has bright yellow flowers with a fantastic scent. Both are perfect for a small garden.
Corylopsis pauciflora A relative of the witch hazels from the forests of Japan and Taiwan, this beautiful early flowering shrub thrives in light shade or full sun. Most Corylopsis need acid soil except for this one which will survive indefinitely on limey soil. It has gorgeous, buttery yellow catkins with a cowslip scent in early spring and good autumn yellow colour on the leaves. This is perfect for a small garden.
Some of the best catalogues for seeds Thompson & Morgan www.mrmiddleton.com Brown Envelope Seeds Ardagh, Church Cross, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, Tel:028 38184, Email:madsmckeever@eircom.net Short seed list of varieties grown in exposed but mild location in West Cork. All germination tested. The Organic Centre Rossinver, County Leitrim, Tel: 071 9854338, Email:organiccentre@eircom.net Vegs, flowers, plants, tubers and fruit. Some UK mail seed suppliers with wide range Chiltern Seeds www.chilternseeds.co.uk www.mr-fothergills.co.uk www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk Organic Gardening Catalogue www.organicCatalogue.com Suffolk Herbs: www.suffolkherbs.com. Tuckers Seeds: www.edwintucker.com
Stachyrus chinensis This is a beautiful shrub requiring a soil, preferably lime-free. But they will succeed on limey (but not pure chalk) soils if sufficient humus is available. Smooth, purplish twigs are a good contrast to the creamy yellow racemes of bell-shaped flowers dangling from arching stems, rather like a string of white currents.
Cheery daffodil Narcissus Jet Fire is a daffodil not for the faint hearted. It has strong yellow petals with extremely bright orange trumpets. In my garden it is the cheeriest plant for brightening up the garden in early spring. Jet Fire is a small daffodil, growing to 8” tall, and looks incredibly effective when planted in large groups, in containers outside or on a bright windowsill and as a cut flower. Plant these bulbs in October about twice their own depth in full sun or part shade. Divide up the clumps if flower production or size has dwindled. It is essential to allow their foliage to die down naturally before removing it in June or July, thereby helping to feed the bulbs and ensure another cheery display next spring l Are you interested in doing a gardening class or taking an allotment? Check out Jimi‘s web site www.huntingbrook.com Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members
31
At the movies
MORGAN O’BRIEN ponders the fact that the films ridiculed by the professional film critic are often the very ones that are major hits at the box office.
Professional film critics - v the paying audience IN AN era of blogs and tweets, the old familiar maxim that ‘everyone’s a critic’ is potentially fulfilled. We all now have the chance to submit our opinion on whatever subject we like. While this, in principle, democratises public discourse, in the realities of the 24-hour news cycle the focus is on surface and tapping the latest ‘trending topic’. This emphasis more usually replaces intelligent discussion with sweeping monosyllabic pronouncements. 32
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Such reductions are a characteristic of our time. We inhabit an accelerated age, where fast-food culture dominates all aspects of everyday life. In the context of film criticism, considered reflections are traded in for star ratings, vacuous soundbites and marketing hyperbole. This is evident in the popular fascination with ‘lists’. At the close of 2009 we are treated to not just the customary ‘best of year’ lists but full-to-burst-
ing ‘best of decade’ lists. But we’ll be having none of that round here. Partly because I have trouble recalling what I’ve watched in the last ten days never mind the past ten years, but more as I find list-making a fairly pointless endeavour. While lists are feted as debate fuelling compilations of personal preferences, they often serve to compress what should be more complex aesthetic judgements into bite-sized portions. ➤
These information snacks might appear pleasing, but they ultimately leave one feeling somewhat empty and unsatisfied. It’s an effort to quantify what should be a qualitative assessment. To say this is the third best film I saw this year does little to impart what its intrinsic worth or significance might be. We should, therefore, remain wary that the mere statement one liked a film does not necessarily constitute useful or worthwhile criticism. As The New Yorker’s film critic, Anthony Lane, observes: “Of all the duties required of the professional critic, perhaps the least important... is the delivery of a verdict.” Instead, he suggests that the main task of criticism is “the recreation of texture,” which is a somewhat ornate way of stating that the professional critic shouldn’t merely give an opinion about whether a film is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but should imbue the reader with a sense of what sort of experience the film provides. One can add that criticism should locate a film in its wider social and cinematic context. All this is well and good, of course, but there very often remains a marked gulf between the preferences and desires of a film’s paying audience and those charged with reviewing it. Critics may well assess a film on a different set of criteria than a regular punter looking to relax on a Saturday night. Subjective film criticism should then be leavened with some consideration of the film’s intended audience. For example, for those of us who are not 15 year old girls, sparkly vampire saga Twilight may well appear risible rubbish. But it needs to be considered in terms of its significance for particular audiences. Without this, criticism can be easily dismissed as being out of touch and or an act of self-aggrandising intellectualism. Given the disconnection between critics and audiences, it is little surprise that genuine critical voices appear increasingly to either fall on deaf ears or be drowned out by incessant and unrestrained proclamations of PR and advertising. This is evidenced by the box-office success of even the most universally derided of films, Transformers 2 for instance. Ultimately, what is required is a popular form of criticism that captures the wider value and context of a film without losing sight of more populist considerations of entertainment value. This involves reclaiming the cinema experience from the hollow claims of marketing departments and seeing it as more than something to do while eating an oversized box of popcorn ●
s t a e r 2010 movie t MORGAN O’BRIEN looks at some possible highlights on the horizon for the New Year. Nine (January 1st) Daniel day-Lewis is the unlikely star of this adaptation of the broadway musical about an Italian director and the various women with whom he is involved – the titular ‘nine’.
The Road (January 8th) Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron head the cast in John Hillcoat’s big-screen treatment of Cormac McCarthy’s dystopian novel about a father and son travelling through postapocalyptic United States.
Up in the Air (January 15th) George Clooney stars in this existential comedy drama about a company downsizer, who is forced to face up to the shortcomings in his life.
Brothers (January 22nd) Set against the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan, Jim Sheridan directs this family drama with Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman starring.
The Lovely Bones (January 29th) Peter Jackson’s adapts Alice Sebold’s best-selling novel about a murdered girl (Saoirse Ronan) who watches over her family from heaven.
The Wolfman (February 12th) Starring Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins, this long delayed remake of the 1941 Universal classic retains the original’s Victorian setting and gothic aesthetic.
Shutter Island (February 19th) Adapted from the novel by Denis Lehane and directed by Martin Scorsese, Leonardo Di Caprio and Mark Ruffalo feature as two cops searching for an escaped murderer.
The Crazies (February 25th) Timothy Olyphant stars in this remake of George A Romero’s 1973 thriller about a town that become infected with a toxin that turns its inhabitants into violent killers.
Alice in Wonderland (March 5th) Tim Burton expands on Lewis Carroll’s original tale, with Alice, now 19, returning to Wonderland. WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 33
Patricia Scanlan SOMETIMES IT’S hard to find the plus-side of a financial crisis. But the recession of the 1980s helped turn Patricia Scanlan into one of Ireland’s best-loved writers. “I was skint. I had a mortgage and my car was falling to pieces. I decided to write a Mills & Boon. I thoroughly enjoyed it and sent it off to a publishing house,” she says. Like most first-time writers, Patricia felt the chill wind of the publisher’s rejection before entering a Cosmopolitan competition with her next effort. She didn’t win, but her entry went on to become City Girl, her first best-seller. She submitted her synopsis for the book on a miserable New Year’s Eve in 1990. Three days later she got a call from a publisher, and two weeks on she signed her first publishing deal for a princely sum of £150. More than two dozen books later, Scanlan is the original Irish chick-lit girl. “I was lucky really. Maeve Binchy was the only other well known female writer. She was writing about women in the 1950s and 1960s while I was writing about modern women. It was very fresh and new.” The February launch of paperback Happy Ever After follows hot on the heels of Coming Home. Fans – like the elderly woman who recently urged her to hurry up with the next book so that she could read it before she died – will be delighted to know that she’s just started the third book in the trilogy. Does this work-rate demand discipline? “Not at all! At first I might do a half an hour, write a page or a few. But by the end you want to get it finished. Sometimes I would write from 9am until two or three the next morning, because it’s driving you. It’s all consuming,” she says. Patricia is an ordinary down-to-earth Dublin woman with an extraordinary gift of words. At her first book signing she pointed to the long queue and told her agent “there must be something on here today.” Needless to say, they were all there for her. She’s much happier looking out at the corn fields in Wicklow, where she does a lot of her writing, than in some glitzy hotel or night club. “If you lose the run of yourself you've had it. I have a family who ground me. I'm much more an elbow on the table girl.”●
Writing her way out of recession MARTINA O’LEARY caught up with best-selling Irish author PATRICIA SCANLAN as she prepares to launch the paperback version of Happy Ever After. Just in time for mothers’ day! 34
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Win Happy Ever After We have several signed copies of Patricia Scanlan’s paperback Happy Ever After to give away. To be in with a chance of winning, answer the question below and send your entry to Roisin Nolan, Patricia Scanlan competition, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1. Entries must reach us by Friday 5th March 2010. Name Patricia Scanlan’s first bestselling novel.
Book reviews
Wish fulfilment ONCE IN A LIFETIME by Cathy Kelly (HarperCollins, £7.99 in the UK). CATHY KELLY needs no introduction. She is the best-selling author of at least 10 previous books. Originality would not be a key feature of this latest novel but fans will find what they are looking for and have come to expect. A group of very different women facing crises in their lives and offering support, friendship and love to each other.
polished wooden floors and minimalist decor (Ingrid) or beautiful tapestries, muslin curtains and elegant clutter (Star) you might picture yourself surrounded with such good taste. The deeper themes explored are the relationships between mothers and daughters and how the superficial image hides so much of a person’s inner life. Kathryn Smith
Saviour of the good THE LAW OF NINES by Terry Goodkind (HarperCollins, £17.99 in the UK). ON HIS 27th birthday, life starts to go downhill for Alex Rahl. Not that his life has been perfect up to this point. His father died in a car crash and his mother has been in a psychiatric hospital since he was nine years old.
Star Bluestone is a wonderful creation, a gentle, private mystic who is in touch with the beauty of the earth and whose special gifts enable her to see into the pasts and presents of the other women with whom she comes in contact. With her experience and wisdom she can bring peace into the lives of others.
Alex has been raised by his grandfather, who on this birthday, gives him documents showing he has inherited a large amount of land but with stringent conditions attached. On the same day, he is almost killed saving a beautiful young woman from certain death as a large truck heads straight towards them. It soon becomes clear that the careering lorry was not a random accident but that the driver was actually heading for Alex and the woman and that all of this is connected with his life to date.
Ingrid Fitzgerald is a well known TV journalist with a seemingly perfect life and family. She is shattered when she discovers that her carefully constructed perfection is not the full truth.
Reading a good novel can stretch your imagination to experiences that you would never encounter in life. The problem is that the story has to be in the realms of possibility for me to feel any connection with the characters. This is where I run into difficulties with The Law of Nines. For instance, Jax can send dead bodies back to her world through magic. No messy blood or evidence of murder to worry about, and dead bodies are plentiful here. If you can accept the unusual premise and like page-turning action, violence and suspense you will probably enjoy this cinematic thriller. Kathryn Smith
Lifetime of brilliance LIFE STORIES by David Attenborough (Collins, £20 in the UK).
SIR DAVID Attenborough is, quite simply, in the words of the nearest ten-year old, “Legend!” When it comes to the art of bringing the whys and wherefores of the natural world into the sitting rooms of the nation, he is the undisputed master of the genre. In fact, he invented it.
Another well kept secret is unearthed when Natalie Flynn decides to find out more about the mother who died when She was two years old. Charlie Fallon combines work, motherhood and dealing with her own unloving and demanding mother. To put it simply, if you like this sort of story, you will love this. The characters are very sympathetic and Kelly’s writing style is familiar and conversational. A bit like catching up on all the news with your best friends. There is also an amount of wish fulfilment going on here. If you’re not the sort of person who has
is the one who can save the good people of Jax’s world.
The woman, Jax, is from another world and has come to save Alex from the evil forces of her world who want to learn his secrets and then kill him. He is descended from Lord Rahl who came from the other world many generations back and the law of nines suggests that Alex
It is somewhat staggering to realise that Sir David has been a broadcaster for over 50 years, starting with Zoo Quest in 1954, which we’re all far too young to remember of course, and hitting his stride in 1979 with his landmark series, Life on Earth, which had a worldwide audience of 500 million people! This was followed by The Living Planet in 1984, and The Trials of Life, in 1990. Then came a string
continued on page 36 ➤
WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 35
More book reviews of fantastic programmes, each one a classic, each one sublime, each one leaving its audience enthused and amazed at the world outside the window. His calm, warm, presentation, coupled with his wit and insight, made sense of every circumstance, from a herd of wildebeest insistent on crossing a river teeming with crocodiles (why don’t they just detour?) to a killer whale surfing the waves in search of a seal supper (why don’t the seals just move back 100 metres and laugh?) This latest book however is something of a departure, in that it is not linked to a TV series, but to a series of tenminute talks Sir David gave on BBC 4 Radio 4, as part of the station’s Point of View strand. In each of the 20 programmes he discussed a subject of particular personal resonance, ranging from fossils to sloths, including a reminiscence about his very first pet, a salamander – which is not a lizard, but an amphibian, don’t you know. (Of course you knew that! you watch David Attenborough!). As a pet, it was resilient, but somewhat limited in its responses, summed up neatly by Sir David’s mild observation that “Salamanders, I have to admit, are not really for cuddling.”
Sadly, two of the species alive at the time of the first trip, the Yangtze River Dolphin, and the Northern White Rhino are now officially extinct in the wild.
Each chapter is like a conversation with a favourite uncle, who is happy to tell you about all his adventures, and who is charming, informative, and witty. A lovely life affirming book that every nature lover will enjoy. Margaret Hannigan
Endangered beauties
imagine, or remember, the sheer joy of the natural world.
THIS IS the follow-up book to the TV series of the same name, which featured the talents of the author, Mark Carwardine, a renowned naturalist, and Stephen Fry, actor, writer, wit, and general all-round good man to keep you company in a tight spot.
from the tiny Black Robin to the huge Blue Whale? That’s right – us. Comparing this findings to an expedition he made in the 1980s with the late Douglas Adams, provides Carwardine with a personal snapshot of how conservation efforts have fared in the past 20 years. Sadly, two of the species alive at the time of the first trip, the Yangtze River Dolphin and the Northern White Rhino, are now officially extinct in the wild.
The real stars of the show of course, were the creatures they went to see, all of whom are officially, recognisably, quantifiably (hint: the clue is in the title) endangered. And what is the single biggest threat any of them face –
As a book, this is a delight. Carwardine absolutely loves and believes in what he’s doing, without being in any way preachy or self-righteous. He is funny, and insightful, and makes his argument simply and powerfully, letting us
LAST CHANCE TO SEE by Mark Carwardine (Collins, £20 in the UK).
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He is aided and abetted in this boy’s own adventure by Stephen Fry, who is whisked out of his urban comfort zone, and dropped in the Amazon Basin, by way of introduction, to search for the manatee. From there, he hikes through jungles, skulks around the edge of a war zone, flies in a plane that’s running out of fuel, and manages to survive for days at a time without broadband. Fry is a wonderful foil for Mark’s relentless determination, and brings the perspective of an interested, but largely uninformed, amateur to the journey. So he says a lot of the things you and I would probably say were we there, including the rather poignant: “Are you absolutely sure there aren’t any endangered species that live in flat parts of the world near comfortable hotels?” Margaret Hannigan
Union business Unions pledge sustained campaign to restore pay cuts IMPACT IS working with other public service unions to develop a strong and sustained response to the second public service pay cut in less than a year. The union’s objective is to restore the pay cuts and protect pensions following Budget announcements of forthcoming changes.
McLoone slams Budget.
Following the Budget announcement of pay cuts worth between 5-8% for most public servants – on top of the so-called pension levy – IMPACT’s Central Executive Committee agreed that the unions’ response must include industrial action. This will first come in the form of total non-co-operation with the management change agenda. This action will be coordinated with other unions to ensure its effectiveness.
The union is planning another massive round of workplace meetings to ensure that members understand and support the strategy – and to guarantee that members get full support if management attempts to victimise them for supporting the campaign against pay cuts. IMPACT has said further strikes may be necessary too. Alternative budgetary proposals put forward by the unions would have avoided pay cuts while meeting the Government’s target for payroll cost reductions in 2010 and saving billions in future years. But the Government reneged on its earlier willingness to finalise a deal on the basis of unpaid leave, which would have delivered the savings this year before wide-ranging transformation started to yield massive savings while preserving public services as staff numbers fell. The Government favoured another public service pay cut, which it believes will pave the way for wage reductions across the economy. Unions slammed the Budget for kowtowing to the interests of business instead of protecting the most vulnerable and planning for quality public services as resources decline. IMPACT general secretary Peter McLoone said the Government had alienated the entire public service workforce. “They have walked away from a long-term integrated response to public service transformation, which would have delivered better services and billions in savings over the coming years. It would also have generated payroll savings of over €1 billion in 2010 in a way that better protected those on low and middle incomes. By opting for a permanent pay cut the Government’s knee-jerk reaction – driven by short-term political expediency – has left Ireland and its citizens with absolutely no plan or framework to protect and develop public services during the recession,” he said. IMPACT and other public service unions have said that partnership is now finished with this administration and that the massive public service transformation package, which would have been delivered as part of an overall agreement, is now off the table. The union campaign will include a managed withdrawal from most local partnership arrangements and a blanket refusal to co-operate with transformation proposals. This will be done in conjunction with other unions. For instance, health service unions are developing a ‘solidarity pact’ to ensure support if members of one union are targeted by employers. The union campaign will also involve extensive and ongoing political and public relations work, and an exploration of the legal options in the face of pay cuts and future changes to pension entitlements. Industrial action elements of the campaign could include selective strikes, other forms of disruptive action, targeted responses to compulsory redundancies or disciplinary action for non-cooperation, demonstrations and protests, and consideration of a wide-scale strike at a strategic point in the campaign.
Louise: Kick-box medal.
Winning ways LOUISE O’DONNELL, IMPACT’s national secretary for the civil service division, earned a place on the podium at the world kick-boxing championships held in County Kildare late last year. Louise, who also holds a black belt in jatsu, won the bronze medal in the continuous fighting, semi-contact, category having battled it out with fighters from Canada and America. Louise trains with Rob Devane in Martial Arts Incorporated, which has several centres in Dublin. You can visit them at www.martialartsinc.com. Congratulations and well done.
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
See pages 6-9 for more on the unions’ alternatives. WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 37
Union business
Round up Pensions cut proposed UNIONS ARE to oppose the Government’s Budget announcement that it intends to end the current link between pay increases and pension increases and move to inflation-based pension increases for both existing and future pensioners. And unions have insisted on negotiations over the proposed introduction of a new single pension scheme for new entrants to the public service from 2010 onwards. Neither was discussed – let alone agreed – with the unions.
IMPACT subs down IMPACT SUBSCRIPTIONS will fall in the event of the implementation of the Budget changes to public service pay. Union subs are 0.8% of pay rates, so the amount paid will fall if pay falls. There is a ceiling on subs at the first point of the local government grade IV scale, which would also fall on foot of the budget. Members have been reminded to continue to claim the €70 per annum tax relief, which is still available.
Aer Lingus talks IMPACT HAS expressed concern at the threat of job losses proposed by the Aer Lingus board. Substantial progress has been achieved in negotiations with cabin crew and middle management grades. As we went to press further talks were underway in the Labour Relations Commission regarding pilots’ issues.
Bonus for embargo IMPACT CRITICISED the €70,000 bonus due to be awarded to HSE boss Brendan Drumm for his work in 2007 – the same year that his organisation introduced an embargo on recruitment, preventing vacant posts from being filled. At the time the HSE said this was in response to a financial overrun. The policy caused considerable hardship to service users and staff, and the Labour Court subsequently found that the HSE had acted in breach of several provisions of different agreements in relation to the embargo.
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Private firms spurn pay cuts NEW RESEARCH shows that the vast majority of private firms are avoiding pay cuts as they struggle to survive in the recession. A report, published by Mercer last December, found that while 70% of companies reduced payroll costs by an average of 11% in 2009 only 9% implemented salary cuts. And 12% of companies introduced unpaid leave – the payroll reduction measure proposed by public service unions as an alternative to pay cuts. IMPACT deputy general secretary Shay Cody said the report showed that, although employers’ organisations had called for public service pay cuts, most of their members spurned this blunt instrument when dealing with their own staff costs. “Private sector employers are clearly facing up to the economic challenge in ways designed to sustain their businesses during a time of crisis. But, when it comes to their staff, this Government has abandoned that approach for short-term political gain and media applause. These figures serve as an interesting contrast to the Government’s approach,” he said. The Mercer report says that 33% of companies introduced salary freezes in 2008 and 2009, while 50% of companies plan to do so in 2010.
Bye-bye Brady IMPACT NATIONAL secretary Tom Brady retired from the union in December. Tom had worked for many years in the union’s Municipal Employees’ division. He was appointed as an official of the Irish Municipal Employees’ Trade Union in 1979 and became part of IMPACT when the two organisations merged in 1991. Prior to that, the Dubliner had been based in Glasgow, where he was active in the British electricians’ union, and he established strong contacts with Unison, IMPACT’s sister union in Scotland. Tom took over as national secretary in IMPACT’s Municipal Employees’ division when Séan Redmond retired in 2001. He was a fierce fighter for members’ rights, and worked tirelessly to make Dublin City Council’s partnership forum deliver for general operatives. With assistant general secretary Johnny Fox, he also oversaw the successful expansion of the division in the education sector. Tom was also very popular among the union’s staff, who hope to hear his renditions of ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ again in the not too distant future.
Obituary
Harold O’Sullivan Photo: Conor Healy.
IT WAS with great sadness that members and staff of IMPACT learned of our former general secretary Harold O’Sullivan’s death, aged 85, on 20th October 2009. A former shop steward and executive member of the Irish Local Government Officials’ Union, which eventually became part of IMPACT’s predecessor the Local Government and Public Services Union (LGPSU), Harold became its general secretary in 1964. He was first elected to the ICTU executive in 1968 and became ICTU vice-president in 1977 and ICTU president in 1978 at the time of the PAYE taxes marches, which saw over a quarter of a million workers on the streets. He told demonstrators that the “PAYE classes” would no longer tolerate the “grossly inequitable” fact that trade unionists were paying almost 80% of the nation’s income tax. Harold was an early supporter of national wage agreements saying: “If you are going to have an open season for profits and continued restraint on wages and salaries you have a ready-made recipe for massive industrial unrest.” He was also a strong defender of the rights of workers to take action to defend their interests. Speaking on proposals to restrict the right to strike he said: “The day that happens is the day the worker will have to conform to every dictation from management.” But he was equally opposed to unofficial strikes which, he believed, yielded power to small unelected groups to the determent of workers. Harold was born in Dublin in 1924 and joined the defence forces during the emergency. He started work for Bord na Móna in 1946 before joining the staff of Kildare County Council. He was later a health inspector in Waterford before transferring to Louth County Council in the same capacity.
Harry was among the guests at a retirement function in the IMPACT head office last year.
He was the first official ICTU representative to attend a conference of the Union of Students in Ireland. He left the post of LGPSU general secretary in 1983, when he was succeeded by Phil Flynn, and was appointed to the National Planning Board. In the mid-1980s he was chairman and acting director-general of the Institute for Industrial Research and Standards. Harold was a former chairperson of the Irish Health Services Development Corporation and was a passionate advocate and fundraiser for modern health facilities. He also served on the National Prices Commission and was a board member of Telecom Eireann. Harry also became a gifted and respected local historian who wrote and co-wrote several books and journal articles. In 1985 he completed his masters thesis on ‘The Trevors of Rostrevor: A British Colonial Family in 17th Century Ireland’ at Dublin’s Trinity College, and followed up with a doctoral thesis on land ownership changes in County Louth in the 17th century. His books included ‘A History of Local Government in Louth’ and ‘John Bellew: A Seventeenth Century Man of Many Parts’. Although it was over a quarter of a century since Harry had completed his service with the union, he kept in touch with his friends and colleagues in IMPACT. His interest in – and advocacy for – the union and its members never waned. Harold O’Sullivan: born 1924; died 20th October 2009. WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 39
Play it loud
Double trouble (or pain comes in pairs) 2009 X Factor sensations Jedward had RAYMOND CONNOLLY seeing double over pop’s dreadful duets. WHAT IS a duet? It seems like a simple question, but it elicited polar opposite views when I asked it in IMPACT’s own communication unit. Is a duet an act that performed consistently as a pair, or a combination of preestablished celebrities contrived together in the interests of a hit single? Either way, with the odd notable exception, I approach the whole duet thing with trepidation – except to say that they work best as comedy acts. Laurel and Hardy, Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnie’s and, more recently, John and Edward. My diminished appreciation of the duet phenomenon has its roots in 1970s Saturday night TV. Back then, the likes of Lulu and Petula Clarke hosted their own sing-along shows. In August Sacha Distel hosted Seaside Special, where the audience had the bejaysus frozen out of themselves in some tent in Margate or Whitley Bay.
5
1. Cor Baby That’s Really Free by John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett
DS
D
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The climax on all of these shows was when the special guest star inevitably puckered up to Lulu at the piano to perform a completely “spontaneous” and “unrehearsed” duet performance. Yeah, right!
Half spoken punk classic from two nutcases.
2. Teardrops by Womack & Womack Classic soul disco from two of any amount of Womack family members.
3. It’s Cold Outside by Tom Jones & Cerys Matthews Welsh warbling at its finest.
4. Scarborough Fair by Simon & Garfunkel Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme? Don’t tell Foster and Allen.
5. 500 Miles by The Proclaimers Lads jumping around the dance floor at weddings. 40
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Who can forget Cilla (she’s the one singing through the cheesy grin) and teen heart throb Marc Bolan (he’s the one singing through clenched teeth) crucifying Life’s A Gas? For years this went on. Week after week. I know it could be viewed as a radical alternative, but glue sniffing did become quite a regular pastime back then.
Pye-eyed My first exposure to the joys of duets occurred in the early 1970s while rummaging my way through my parents biscuit tin of 45s, stored beside the radiogram. It was just staring at me. The Pye label struck me, that pinkish colour, the same one as Merrion Street, Nassau Street and Dawson Street on the Monopoly board. The record was The Two of Us by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. Dire ➤
by David Bowie & Bing Crosby Parrup-a-pum-pum. Enough said.
R E US
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3. Wedding Bells by Godley & Creme Crack open the sherry and drink plenty of it.
4. Snooker Loopy by Chas ‘n’ Dave Pot the reds and screw back for the yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black. Eclectic!
5. Unchained Melody by Robson & Jerome It’s all Simon Cowell’s fault.
stuff and thank the Lord for Noddy Holder as my saviour. Dubbed the ‘British Bacharach,’ Hatch was the lad who appeared as a panellist in the original New Faces – an early day X Factor – and awarded marks for presentation, content and ‘star quality’ like they were coming out of his communion money. He penned the theme tunes for Crossroads, Mr and Mrs and Emmerdale Farm, but redeemed himself by composing the wacky theme tune for BBC’s Sportsnight (a must-have download option). It seems amazing to me now that Jackie Trent was the more famous of the two, but then, whoever heard of Stoke-on-Hatch? The final nail in the coffin of duet tolerance for me came during the 1980s when they became the format of choice for that lot at the wrong end of the Seven Sisters Road. Step forward Charles Hodges and David Peacock aka Chas ‘n’ Dave. Snooker Loopy Nuts Are We. Ossies’ Dream. Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley. Knees up, knees up, bum slap-abum, slap-a, ’av a banana. Recently Chas ‘n’ Dave split up citing musical similarities as the reason. Apparently ‘Arry Redknapp is lined up as a replacement. And as for Hoddle and Waddle with their Diamond Lights experiment? Let’s not go there.
Spring 2010 Soduko Solutions (From page 48.)
3 1 5 6 8 2 7 9 4
4 6 7 3 1 9 2 8 5
2 9 8 7 5 4 6 3 1
5 4 1 8 2 3 9 6 7
6 8 2 9 7 1 5 4 3
Solution easy
7 3 9 4 6 5 1 2 8
8 5 4 1 9 6 3 7 2
9 2 3 5 4 7 8 1 6
1 7 6 2 3 8 4 5 9
6 2 1 8 7 3 4 9 5
4 5 3 1 9 6 7 2 8
8 7 9 2 5 4 3 1 6
9 3 2 6 8 1 5 7 4
7 4 5 3 2 9 8 6 1
1 6 8 7 4 5 9 3 2
Solution difficult
5 1 4 9 3 2 6 8 7
3 8 6 4 1 7 2 5 9
2 9 7 5 6 8 1 4 3
Humblebums Our Scottish cousins have a flair for churning out the doubletakes too. The New Humblebums (Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty), Hue and Cry, The Proclaimers, Gallagher and Lyle. Perhaps it was safer to walk around in pairs where they all came from, so we’ll give a wide berth there. Mind you, the Irish don’t escape censure in this regard either. Take a bow Mick Foster and Tony Allen. They famously soared up the UK charts in 1982 with A Bunch of Thyme, which lamented the early loss of virginity with a mixed herbs metaphor. And what about Simon and Garfunkel? They split up and don’t talk to each other for 30 years, re-unite to tour, and open the set with The Sound of Silence. Another pair that got the better of my tolerance threshold was 5cc – otherwise known as Godley and Creme. I could never get away from the fact that they sounded like a brand of sherry. And spare a thought for Renée and Renato too. Renato Pagliari sadly passed away last year, but his life as an Aston Villa fanatic was arguably a fate worse than death. Following one dire first half Villa performance, Big Ron Atko asked Renato to sing Nessun Dorma at half time and told his players “Now that’s passion.” [Are you making this stuff up? Editor.] A final thought on the contrary, however. Was it WC Fields who despised Philadelphia but had the foresight and the humour to have his headstone read: “On the whole. I’d rather be in Philadelphia”? When I think of U2, “All things considered I’d rather listen to a duet.”●
Winter 2009 Crossword Solutions See page 48 for the competition winners from Issue 7.
ACROSS: 1. Curse 5. Adorn 8. Nucleus 9. Rings 10. Susan 11. Upgrade 14. Slope 17. Tasty 20. Romance 21. Beef 22. Inca 23. Operation 24. Drama 28. Get 30. Musical 32. Llama 33. Obese 34. Zealous 35. Sieve 36. Exert. DOWN: 1. Curls 2. Ringo 3. Ensue 4. Blur 5. Asset 6. Oasis 7. Nancy 12. Gala 13. As acute 15. Lover 16. Perform 18. Anoint 19. Trickle 24. Dolls 25. Abate 26. Amaze 27. Close 28. Glebe 29. Treat 31. Isle. WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 41
OM
2. Little Drummer Boy
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Wake me up when it’s all over.
E
by Wham
ME T
OS W
1. Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)
O
Gaeltacht 2010
Gaeltacht scholarship scheme for children of IMPACT members of €150 each are available to assist children of IMPACT members to attend Irish Language courses in Gaeltacht areas in summer 2010. The grants apply to children of IMPACT members who are aged between 11 years and 18 years of age on 1st July 2010. (See below for summary of conditions).
80 GRANTS
The terms and conditions Here are some of the terms and conditions of the Gaeltacht scholarship scheme, full details are available on www.impact.ie or are available on request from vwest@impact.ie. 1. A child includes a son or daughter, whether natural or adopted, of the member and a child of the member’s partner where the member and partner live together. The scheme does not apply to other relatives of a member eg niece, nephew, grandchild. 2. Separate applications must be made in respect of each child. Only one application per member per child is permitted. 3. The scheme only applies to paid up members of IMPACT. 4. A child may only be awarded one scholarship per annum and a family unit (legal or de facto) will not be awarded more than two scholarships per annum. 5. The successful applicants will be drawn at random by the union’s Membership Services Committee from within each divisional allocation. 6. Successful applicants will be so advised and a list of these will be published in the union magazine and on our website. 7. Payment of the scholarship will be made in arrears and subject to receipt of written confirmation of the child’s attendance at the course and confirmation of payment of the course fee. The names of successful applicants will be checked against the IMPACT membership database to ensure that they are paid up members.
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OTHER THAN SIGNATURE, PLEASE COMPLETE IN BLOCK CAPITALS. IMPACT Member’s Name ............................................................................ Home Address .............................................................................................. .......................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................... Daytime Phone No ...................................................................................... Employer ........................................................................................................ Personnel/Staff No ...................................................................................... IMPACT Branch .......................................................................................... Child’s Name .................................................................................................. (Include surname, if different to member’s surname) Child’s age as at 1st July 2010 .................................................................... Relationship of applicant to child (eg partner’s child) .......................... The completed forms must be received by the Membership Services Committee, IMPACT, Nerney’s Court, Dublin 1 before 5.30pm on Friday 26th March 2010. (Regretfully late applications cannot be considered, irrespective of reason) 42
SPRING 2010
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WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 43
Sport It was one of the great questions facing Irish rugby. How could Ireland coach Declan Kidney tackle the challenge that had eluded Eddie O’Sullivan? To develop a back-up out-half, (perhaps even a challenger) to Ronan O’Gara? KEVIN NOLAN profiles the contender.
This Sporting From the moment Jonathan Sexton rocked up at St Mary’s College school as a fresh-faced kid, he laced his boots with an uncommon confidence. He progressed to play eight times for Leinster schools and made five uncapped appearances for Ireland schools on the tour to Australia in 2004. This was followed by three Leinster under-21 and ten Ireland under-21 caps in the season 2005/2006. Sexton was a young man in a hurry. Leinster coach Michael Cheika was never shy about telling the national media of how Sexton constantly campaigned for more regular game time. But he would have to bide his time behind the formidable Argentinian, Felipe Contepomi. He never lacked the self-belief, not by a long shot, required to become the ‘quarterback’, the central figure as Ireland’s pivot. First, he had to prove himself at his province.
The first glimpse of his capacity to handle heavy pressure was exercised as he took the controls in Leinster’s Magners League defeat to Munster at Thomond Park in December 2006. He followed that up with another fine outing against Ulster four days later - New Year’s Eve in ‘The Last Stand’ in front of a packed out Lansdowne Road. From there, he stumbled to such an extent that he was toiling away for his club St Mary’s College in the All-Ireland League this time last year. He was growing increasingly frustrated working in the 44 SPRING 2010
shadow of Contepomi. He was low on confidence. It was then Kidney threw him a lifeline by nominating him for a start for Ireland ‘A’ against Scotland ‘A’ in February last year. It kickstarted his season. When Contepomi’s knee gave way in the dramatic Heineken Cup semi-final against Munster in Croke Park, Sexton strolled on to boot an immediate penalty and marshalled Leinster to a glorious win over the raging favourites by 25 points to 6. The snowball effect carried through to the u
final where his massive drop goal and pinpoint kicking edged out Leicester Tigers in the decider. From there, the Churchill Cup clean sweep followed in the summer. He began this season as he left the last. Every facet of his game was functioning well at a time when Ronan O’Gara was dealing with the fallout from The British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa. A flawless seven-from-seven, 19-point input into the 41-6 destruction of Fiji at his home ground the RDS convinced Kidney the time was right for Sexton to be unleashed against South Africa. It came as no surprise to see the Leinster flyhalf stand up to the physical and mental test set by the World champions, emerging with his reputation enhanced with all five penalties in the 15-10 victory last November. Sexton, standing at 6’2” tall and 14 ½ stones in weight, is a formidable defender, having the appetite for physical contact to go with his size. He is a deceptively quick runner with a very Leinster-trained ability for putting others into space. His distribution has improved and his goal-kicking is standing the test of pressure, if not yet time.
Photo: sportsfile.com
Unfortunately, while he thrilled Irish fans with outstanding performances in the autumn tests, he broke two fingers in the process, ruling him out of Leinster’s Heineken Cup matches in rounds three and four just before Christmas. Not long ago, Sexton admitted to “modelling myself on O’Gara when I was playing at school.” He is now locked in a duel of nationwide, indeed global, interest with his one time hero for the Ireland jersey. The grand slammers of 2009 will be all the stronger for it this year. It is a contest that is primed to run all the way to the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. It should make for compulsive viewing l
If the burden of being the son of one of Ireland’s most famous sporting icons of all time is weighing heavy around the young shoulder of Nicholas Roche, it’s not showing. Twenty-five year old Nicholas, son of the legendary Stephen, draws inspiration from who his father is and what he achieved. He is chasing his own milestones determined that the surname Roche will never be a millstone around his neck. The Roches are steeped in Irish, European and world cycling folklore. Stephen, for obvious reasons, is the king of the clan. He became the second only cyclist ever to capture the triple crown of Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and World Road Race Champion in 1987. The legendary Eddy Merckx keeps Stephen company in the elite group of two as the Belgian became the first man to win all three in 1974. But the Roche tradition also stretches to Stephen’s brother Lawrence who completed the 1991 Tour de France in 153rd position in the general classification. Daniel Martin, cousin of Nicholas, was crowned Irish 2008 road racing champion. If Nicholas’ rise has not being meteoric it has been very impressive nevertheless. In 2007 he concluded the Giro in 123rd position but was injured on the Tour de France and withdrew. The following season he finished 64th in the Beijing Olympics and, along with Philip Deignan and Roger Aiken, represented Ireland in the Word Championships. But an early crash forced young Roche to retire from the event. Nicholas really started to set tongues wagging in 2009. He finished the gruelling Tour de France in 23rd position and on two occasions went very close to claiming stage victories. He clocked in with five top ten finishes – an excellent return in his debut tour. At the same age his father finished third overall in the Tour de France (1985) having completed the famous race in 25th, 12 months earlier. On the basis of the year just gone, 2010 certainly promises to be a challenging but an exciting season for Nicholas Roche l
Work & Life: The Magazine for IMPACT Members 45
Photo: gettyimages.ie
Life
Le Roche
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1 Patricia Scanlan’s new paperback is called: A Happy Ever After B Happy Out C The Happy Ending 2 Accident triangle theory is used in: A Bermuda shipping investigations B Dan Brown’s latest book C Workplace health and safety 3 Which of these bands is NOT from Manchester: A Madness B Oasis C The Smiths 4 Renée of Renée and Renalto supported: A Numerous charities B The Monster Raving Looney Party C Aston Villa 5 Talks between unions and Government broke down in December because: A The Government reneged on a deal B The couldn’t agree on the amount of savings C The parties left for a Christmas party 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 5th March 2010. The editor’s decision is final. That’s it! 46
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YOU COULD add €50 to your wallet or purse 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 5th March 2010. We’ll send €50 to the first completed entry pulled from the hat.* You’ll find the answers in this issue of Work & Life.
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ACROSS PRIZE 1. Birthplace of the GAA (7) 5. Twin crystal, especially of 1 2 a diamond (5) 8. Course; road; way from one place to another (5) 8 9. Celtic supporters would scarcely like them (7) 10. 18th Century English naturalist (7) 10 11. Confuse (5) 12. Music in fast time; at once; speedily (6) 12 14. This light should warn you and guide you to safety (6) 17 18 17. Irish midlands county colonised in the 16th Century (5) 19. Overground exposure 22 of rock stratum (7) 22. Beaming with light (7) 23. North African Country (5) 24 24. Painting or decoration on a wall (5) 25. Re-echo (7) DOWN 1. North Italian City (5) 12. 2. Guitar-like four stringed musical instrument (7) 13. 3. Blood-sucking work formerly used in medical circles (5) 15. 4. Diminutive edible water crustacean (6) 16. 5. This miraculous food sustained the 18. Israelites in the desert (5) 20. 6. Faith or belief (5) 21. 7. Oriental (7)
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Crossword composed by Sean Ua Cearnaigh
Traveller.. usually on a religious mission (7) This Tipperary athlete gained an olympic medal for Ireland in 1932 (7) Ulster Clergyman hanged in 1798; a popular drink (6) North American reindeer (7) Command; correct arrangement (5) Stories (5) Type of shawl worn by the Galway girl in Francis A Fahy’s song (5)
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Winners! 1 2 3
The winners from competitions in the winter issue were:
Survey winner: Jacinta Jameson, Wicklow Crossword winner: Fiona Horsman, Galway Prize quiz winner: Clifford Perrins, Dublin
Lots more competitions to enter in this issue!
Your view
n i w100 €
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.* And don’t forget, we’re also giving prizes for letters published in the next issue. See page 19.
The survey
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WORK & LIFE: THE MAGAZINE FOR IMPACT MEMBERS 47
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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.
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