Profitable companies should have the option of sharing profits with employees as an alternative to pay rises under any new pay deal, according to Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD.

“Last September, IBEC and the unions negotiated an 18 month pay agreement for the private sector. Since then, the economy has slid into a deep recession, unemployment has soared, businesses are closing down and we have moved from inflation to deflation for the first time in a generation. This means the National Pay Deal was dead on arrival. IBEC’s weekend olive branch and the decision of the unions to call off Monday’s strike action presents the opportunity to agree a new pay deal. This opportunity must not be lost.

“To bring about recovery, the Government must stabilise the public finances by reducing borrowing, and restore competitiveness by bringing costs back into line with our competitors. Any new pay deal agreed by the social partners must honour these objectives and not avoid them. …[more]

FG research suggests banks are increasing, not decreasing margins

Further evidence of rip-off activities by banks have emerged after a Fine Gael analysis revealed they have increased dramatically the amount of money they make on loans and overdrafts since the State bank guarantee was introduced last September.

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD said his analysis revealed that the cost of business borrowing from Irish banks increased dramatically, and in some cases more than doubled, between September 2009 and last January, according to new Central Bank statistics. This increase happened after two years of relative stability.

Deputy Varadkar is calling on Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to call on the banks to cut margins and ensure an affordable flow of credit to businesses. …[more]

Yesterday Enda Kenny launched Fine Gael’s proposals to reform both Houses of the Oireachtas. The policy document in full can be accessed here, but the main points of the proposal are:

1. Reduce the number of Junior Ministers by 8 to 12, inclusive of Chief Whip and European Affairs Minister.
2. Extend the Dáil sitting times to 4 days per week.
3. Reduce ministerial staff allocated to work on constituency matters to 2.
4. 20 of the 60 Senators to be elected directly by the public based on 5 Senators from each of the Euro constituencies. These elections to take place every five years on the same date as local and European elections.
5. Six Senators will be elected by all Graduates after each general election.
6. Extend the power of the Dáil Committees to hold people to account – in particular introduce new Constitutional amendment to reverse effect of Abbeylara decision.
7. No special payments to be made to senior management in Civil Service or agencies arising from failure to discharge their remit.
8. Reduce the number of Joint Oireachtas Committees by 10 from 19 to 9.
9. No allowances will be paid for committee chairperson, vice chairpersons or convenors.
10. No ministerial pensions should be paid while a member continues to serve in either house of the Oireachtas.

Fine Gael Dublin North Deputy, Dr James Reilly TD, and Dublin West Deputy and Enterprise, Trade & Employment Spokesperson, Leo Varadkar TD today (Wednesday) said the Government should ensure that all potential investors interested in SR Technics are introduced to the workers as well as being directed by State Agencies to the company’s Zurich head office.

Deputy Reilly said: ‘The current situation where the IDA and Enterprise Ireland are directing interested investors to SR Technics only is most unsatisfactory. It is quite clear that the management of SR Technics in Zurich have no interest in the Dublin facility. This was shown quite clearly when they declined an invitation to attend the Dáil transport committee. The workers and local management are the key interests in saving jobs at the facility and it is essential that they are introduced to all interested parties.’

Deputy Varadkar, who raised the matter in the Dáil this week, said: ‘I am appalled at the treatment SR Technics has meted out to its employees in its refusal to honour its commitments in the pension fund and in the paltry redundancy offer. SR Technics clearly has an agenda which involves closing down a potentially viable operation and shifting its business to the Middle and Far East. Where supports can be offered, they should be offered. And where supports would be offered to a foreign direct investor, there is no reason that similar supports could not be offered to a management buy-out team or a similar investor who might be in a position to save this industry and these jobs.’

Last night I had the opportunity to raise in the Dáil the matter of the SR Technic job loses, as well as the disgraceful treatment by SR Technics of those employees in terms of pension and redundancy matters. You will find my contricution on the matter below, as well as the response of Minister Kelleher.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important issue, the imminent closure of the SR Technics facility in north County Dublin and the knock-on effects the loss of 1,100 jobs will have on north and west Dublin and the adjoining areas.

I am appalled at the treatment SR Technics has meted out to its employees both in its refusal to honour its commitments in the pension fund and in the paltry redundancy offer it has made. It is clear SR Technics has an agenda relating to Dublin Airport which involves closing down a potentially viable operation, if necessary changes were made, and shifting its business to the Middle East and Far East. My party leader, Deputy Enda Kenny, and a number of our spokespersons have visited the facility. I have been impressed by the positive role of the workers and unions in SR Technics. It has been interesting to see how that union in the public sector refuses to accept even modest reforms and cuts while the same union in the private sector has been so proactive in trying to save jobs and an industry by putting forward a cost saving plan, offering to take pay cuts and redundancies and offering to change work practices. It behoves the Government and the Minister to do everything they can to sustain this industry and save as many of the jobs as possible. …[more]

Kieran Dennison

The long awaited pay and display parking scheme for Clonsilla Railway Station has been shelved by the Council because of a lack of funds. The scheme was designed to regularise commuter parking in the vicinity of the railway station and relieve congestion in the nearby Portersgate Estate.

Former Chairman of Portersgate Residents Association and now Fine Gael local election candidate Kieran Dennison is fuming over the decision and blames inaction by local councillors. “This is a very big let down for the local residents, commuters and all who have campaigned to regularise the parking in the area. The council have already spent a fortune of public money on consultants in drawing up this scheme and we were assured that the funding was ring fenced.” In a newsletter last October I reported that the scheme was to go to tender by the end of the year but warned that ‘cutbacks in expenditure could significantly delay the project’. It’s unbelievable that it should be shelved only two months after councillors adopted their €270m budget for 2009. This project would only represent 0.2% of that. Last April Community Voice revealed that the council spends over €85,000 each year on providing senior staff with a daily newspaper. Like every other citizen I would like some idea what the other millions are spent on.” …[more]

Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has called on all banks operating in Ireland to pass on the full 0.5% European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate cut to help out hard-pressed homeowners.

“This is another welcome move by the ECB. However, with the economy slipping ever deeper into crisis and thousands of homeowners experiencing difficulties in meeting mortgage repayments, the banks must immediately pass on this cut in full.

“One in ten people are now unemployed, with 26,700 joining the dole queue in the last two months alone. Most of these have mortgage payments to make in extremely difficult circumstances. Meanwhile, people fortunate enough to be in full time employment are bearing the full brunt of the economic collapse, as well as the prospect of a tough emergency Budget in April. …[more]

Ireland isn’t working as unemployment 4th highest in Europe and double rate in Iceland

With one in ten people now on the dole and the live register set to reach 500,000 by Christmas, Fine Gael Enterprise Spokesman Leo Varadkar TD has accused the Government of turning its back on the unemployed, and urged it to take immediate action by increasing the number of Community Employment schemes.

As the CSO reveals that the live register jumped by 26,700 people, almost 1,000 a day, Deputy Varadkar said Irish unemployment is now fourth highest in the European Union. With more than 350,000 now signing on the live register, Irish unemployment is even higher than Iceland and Latvia, two of Europe’s worst performers.

“Fianna Fáil has done nothing to support businesses or save jobs, and has discarded the unemployed by the side of the street as if they were pieces of litter. Ireland is not working. The country is haemorrhaging jobs at a disastrous rate, with significant lay-offs being announced on a daily basis. There is a significant human cost to every job loss, with the spectre of mass long-term unemployment now looming. Yet the Government hasn’t done a single thing to address this crisis.

…[more]

Fine Gael councilor for Castleknock, Eithne Loftus, has given a warm welcome to the decision of Fingal County Council to reject a planning application for a development of 538 high-density apartments and houses in Diswellstown, Castleknock. The council has asked the applicants, Park Developments, to submit revised plans for the development which must;

• Reduce the overall density of the development by replacing many of the apartments with detached and semi-detached houses
• Provision of a dedicated road access to the school
• Making the land between St Patrick’s National School and the access road available to the school for its use
• Changes to the design of the retail units and the terraced housing …[more]