Workers would take 10pc pay cut to end car misery

Victor

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Workers would take 10pc pay cut to end car misery
From:The Irish Independent
Wednesday, 10th December, 2003



COMMUTERS from outside the capital say they are are prepared to take a 10pc pay cut to work locally and avoid the misery of four hour daily car journeys getting to and from work in Dublin, an official survey reveals.

Two-thirds of those who relocated to Meath because of cheaper houses say they would work for between 5-10pc less if it meant not having to face the capital's gridlock every day.

The findings are contained in a new survey by Meath Co Council which discovered that 91pc of the 20,000 people who commute to Dublin are fed up with the travel nightmare. Many are spending two hours in their cars in the morning and a further two hours behind the wheel coming home from work.

The research estimates that as many as 20,000 commuters leave the county every day, the overwhelming majority of them travelling to Dublin to work. The vast majority of these commuters said they wanted work within their own locality.

Almost two-thirds of commuters surveyed, said that they would strongly consider either a change in employment sector or a drop in income, or both, in order to secure local employment. The report found vast majority of commuters spend at least an hour commuting each way to and from work, though some reporting times of up to two hours each way. The survey covered a broad cross-section of the workforce including civil servants, engineers, IT professionals, workers in financial services, and manufacturing.

The research spearheaded by Frank Fitzmaurice, council economic development officer, said it clearly showed that many people who moved out from Dublin to Meath because of cheaper houses and country living were feeling the strain of spending long hours commuting.

"If you're getting up at 6am and getting home at 7pm then you're not experiencing country living. The commuting is tough," he told the Irish Independent.

He said the message was that there was a highly qualified workforce available in Meath and companies should consider locating there instead of having all the problems of getting workers to and from work.

County Manager Tom Dowling said the population of Meath had grown by 22pc since 1996 and now stood at over 134,000.

"Some of our towns have grown much faster than this. We have invested enormous sums of money in providing the services infrastructure to cope with this influx. However we have yet to see similar strong growth in local employment." He added: "Without this, we cannot sustain the growth in our population.

"What this research demonstrates is that the county of Meath has a very large and very skilled labour force, which when added to all the other advantages the county offers means that Meath is an ideal location for economic and industrial investment."

Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

Victor

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Top staff 'forced' to move - or take new State jobs
From:The Irish Independent
Wednesday, 10th December, 2003



NEARLY one-third of the State's senior officials will be effectively forced to move to provincial centres if they want to keep their current jobs under the new decentralisation plans.

Although the proposed plan is voluntary, those in senior positions or running State agencies will have to move if they want to keep their current jobs. And that would involve around one-third of civil servants, according to the main public service unions.

Their chiefs and Department of Finance officials will meet today for initial discussions about the Government plan to transfer 10,400 civil and public servants out of Dublin.

SIPTU, which has many members affected by the proposals working in Bus Eireann, FAS and Failte Eireann, will not be involved in today's General Council talks. The talks are expected to lead to a sub-committee being formed to work with the decentralisation implementation committee, appointed last week.

An estimated 50 assistant secretaries and up to 200 principal officers will be asked to leave the capital.

People like Jim Flanagan, national director of Teagasc, would have to move to Carlow; Michael Moloney of Bord Glas and his counterpart in Bord Bia, Michael Duffy are marked down for Enniscorthy - and Arts Council chief Patricia Quinn for Kilkenny.

More junior staff would have greater choice, but heads of key sections and directors of the state agencies will either have to move or change their current jobs.

It is very unlikely that most of the clerical staff in Bus Eireann will volunteer to move to Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Bill Lilley and his 200 administrative staff are supposed to move out of their Broadstone base, though its fleet of 1,300 buses will remain at 11 depots throughout the state.

Shaun Quinn, who has been trying to merge Bord Failte into the CERT training organisation, would have to persuade his 200 staff to move to Mallow.

Niall Crowley's Equality Authority and the neighbouring Equality Tribunal, run by Melanie Pine, are under orders to get their 80 staff to move to Roscrea.

The three educational awards agencies - Seamus Puirseil's HETAC, Stan McHugh's FETAC and Sean O Foghlu's NQAI, are bound for Edenderry.

And John Hayden's team in the Higher Education Authority are earmarked for Athlone.

Irish Aviation Authority chief Brian McDonnell faces a real challenge in persuading 100 staff to follow him to Shannon.

Roddy Molloy, of FAS, would have to persuade his eight assistant directors general to move to Birr, Co Offaly. Richard Kirwan would have to shift the 300-strong Ordnance Survey staff from the Phoenix Park to Dungarvan.

SIPTU hopes to meet "relevant agencies and Government departments to clarify Mr McCreevy's intentions on his proposals on decentralisation," according to the union's Dublin regional secretary, Brendan Hayes.

"The Minister for Finance has said the transfer will be voluntary and while this assurance is to be welcomed, our members will not be satisfied until they have been assured that their job security will be guaranteed if they choose to remain in Dublin," the SIPTU chief declared.

At today's meeting the Department of Finance's personnel and pay chief, Eddie Sullivan will map out the likely decentralisation process.

Gerald Flynn Industrial Correspondent