This article is from page 2 of the 2007-09-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
JUST 60 people have applied to fill the 292 posts which have to be filled if Enterprise Ireland is to decentral- ise to Shannon.
The shockingly low figures were revealed as SIPTU called on the Government to abandon plans to de- centralise semi-state bodies.
SIPTU delegates representing al- most 1,600 members in 16 semi-state organisations have called for an end to the Government’s plans to decen- tralise them.
Delegates met in Liberty Hall to hear a report of the Labour Court on a dispute over voluntary decentrali-
sation being linked with promotion. The court had ruled that any reloca- tion must be voluntary. Representa- tives attended from bodies including Enterprise Ireland, Failte Ireland, the National Standards Authority Ireland, the National Roads Author- ity, Bus Eireann, Bord Bia, BIM, the Combat Poverty Agency, the Arts Council and FAS to discuss the rec- ommendation.
Afterwards, SIPTU Regional Sec- retary, Patricia King said the union representatives had “welcomed the acceptance by FAS management and the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, of the Labour Court recom- mendation. The delegates reaffirmed
that their campaign would continue to remove all state agencies from the decentralisation programme.
“We believe that the Labour Court recommendation has highlighted the legitimate concerns of staff and has spelt out very clearly that voluntary means voluntary.
“The court accepted people had legitimate expectations and propri- etorial rights based on their careers with these agencies and cannot be compelled to relocate.”
So far the applications for reloca- tion with Enterprise Ireland have fallen far short of the expectations or the minimum number necessary to make the move.
A spokesman for the Department of Finance, which is handling the whole decentralisation project, said that many of the semi-state bodies had “issues” to be ironed out before the move could take place.
These were generally HR issues of the kind demonstrated in the FAS dispute, he said.
Plan to decentralise the Revenue Commissioners to Kilrush have met with much more success, however. Of a required 50 posts there were 86 applicants and 55 people have now been assigned to the town.
The excess number is explained by the fact that a job-share option was taken up by a number of applicants.