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6th September 2011 • Volume 18, Issue 24 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. • ISDN 8139966 • Tel: 8•400•200
€340m Pension Deficit At Dublin Airport A deficit in the Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport Authority pension fund is threatening to reduce future benefits for Dublin Airport staff. The deficit is believed to be in the region of E344 million. The figures relate to the end of last March and are contained in the preliminary results of the fund’s first valuation for three years. The last valuation, in March 2008 showed a surplus of E79 million quite a contrast from these new figures. A memo sent by the pension scheme’s actuary, Mercer to the trustees, said that “the position is both critical and urgent.
By Patrick Finnegan Local deputy Clare Daly was very worried about the situation when she spoke to the County Leader. “There is a crisis in pensions all over and the main reason for this particular shortfall is that at its heart, it is due to the fall in employment at Aer Lingus, with thousands retired and not enough employees to sustain retirees,” she said. She also spoke about a change in work practices at the airport, which are contributory factors in the pension deficit. “Jobs that were undertaken by airport staff have been outsourced to lower paid workers, who don’t pay into the pension fund. The responsibility for
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People need a decent pension after years of hard work and there needs to be an urgent coming together to address this problem. Daly concluded by saying that “the figures mentioned, while high, are merely a small percentage of the sum which was this lies with the Government as the full owner of DAA pumped into the banks by and partial owner of Aer Lingus. They need to tackle the government.” Clare Daly TD this problem immediately. This is really serious and will The memo from Mercer affect families. Employers and unions need to wake up also points out “the current level of employer and to this reality,” she added. member contributions are not suffiOne of the options put forward was “Employers and unions cient to support the future service that employees would pay 20 per benefit for current active members need to wake up to cent of their salaries to redress the and proposed that additional contrithis reality” imbalance, an option that Daly butions needed are substantial - in ridiculed as ‘impossible.’ “People the region of 24 per cent of pensionare hard pressed enough without this yoke around able salaries to maintain current benefits.” This their necks. The pension levy is also affecting the Aer exceeds the amount described by deputy Daly as Lingus scheme and the removal of SRT from the ‘impossible’. scheme has contributed greatly to the problem. This whole scenario is symptomatic of a greater national problem,” she said.
Great Success For North County Towns
The St Finians GAA Club, River Valley Summer Camp which takes place every summer hosted a great prize giving for the children who had attended the camp. Camp Coordinator, James Devlin and 1st team captain, Warren Hanley gave out the trophies and medals to the enthusiastic children who cheered and clapped for their fellow players. Pictured at the ceremony is Marcella McGeogh with her grandsons, Ben McGeogh and Josh Pic: JR Murtagh and camp assistant, Stacey McEvoy.
The National Tidy Towns Awards were presented at a glittering ceremony at the Helix Theatre on Monday last. It proved to be a successful event for our lovely towns and villages. Skerries emerged as the Regional Award winner for Dublin, with a total of 303 points, up by three on last year and a mere seven behind the overall winner, Killarney. They also won a Gold Medal, as did Malahide, with a total of 291 points. In third place in the North County was Lusk with a hugely impressive 272 points, up 10 on last year’s performance. Other notable successes were the performances of Skerries which also won the overall Sustainable Award, with Donabate winning a Highly Commended Award in this category. Other results included an impressive total of 241 points for Balbriggan, 259 for Swords, 256 for Donabate, 252 for Balscadden, 225 for Rush - a great result after such a long absence from the competition.
Swords Cleans Up It’s Act By Peter Kearney Des Becton, of Swords Tidy Towns committee was over the moon with the outcome of the latest IBAL Anti-Litter League 2011 survey. Having finished in last place in 2005, Swords now sits proudly in 4th position out of 53 towns and cities in Ireland. In total Swords received 10 Grade A awards and commendations for the cleanliness of the approach roads to the town. Of course the recent success did not happen overnight. It came as a result of a lot of hard work from the Tidy Towns committee. The core group of eight volunteers are out every Thursday evening and Saturday, between March and August, as well as other times of the year when they work on special projects. Such projects, include the cleaning of the Ward River. Chief Executive of the Fingal Dublin Chamber, Tony Lambert said that “Swords position of receiving 10 Grade A awards in this survey is amazing and well deserved and a credit to the Tidy Towns and business community.” This is a good news story for Swords and its inhabitants and highlights that when faced with a crisis, as they were in 2005, that simple hard work and commitment for the common good will always succeed.
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