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THE introduction of short-time working hours at the Element Six plant in Shannon, originally planned for January, has been deferred until opts)

Management at Element Six are meeting with workers’ representa- tives this week after workers staged a sit-in at the factory last Friday.

Workers were protesting against the planned introduction of short-time working hours, which they claim would cut the wages of up to 180 workers at the plant by 50 per cent.

A compromise 1s believed to have been reached, whereby short-time would be introduced for a defined period of time and not indefinitely,

The new working arrangements were due to be introduced earlier this year but workers rejected the propos- al on the grounds that no negotiation had taken place between manage- ment and unions. Workers believe cost-cutting measures are not being introduced on an equitable basis.

The company announced last De- cember that it was seeking 150 re- dundancies as part of a group-wide Savings programme and sustainabil-

Tava) e-b ee

That figure has been reached through a combination of voluntary and compulsory redundancies.

One member of staff, speaking anonymously, said workers remained confident that union representatives would be able to negotiate a package that will share the financial burden in an equitable manner.

“No members of the management have taken their fair share of the fi- nancial burden. It has all been tar- geted at floor staff and that is why we were protesting.”

A meeting between staff and gen-

eral management is expected to take ECO AN KIL c1o).@

Element Six manufactures and dis- tributes industrial diamonds and su- per-hard materials and its products are mainly used in the manufacture of tools for such applications as drill- ing, sawing, cutting, grinding and polishing of different materials.

Element Six, which was established in the Shannon Free Zone in 1960 as De Beers, currently employs just un- Caen eee

The company is co-owned by South African diamond giant De Beers and Belgian company Umicore.

Shannon’s Gallic flavour doubled

CITYJET is to double its capac- ity on the Shannon to Paris-Charles de Gaulle route. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was in Shannon yes- terday to announce the new capacity and new departure times, linking up with 841 destinations.

Parent company, Air France will base its modern AVRO RJ85 aircraft in Shannon to serve the route. The aircraft will cater for 95 passengers in two classes.

Basing the aircraft in Shannon

means that the first flight will depart from Shannon earlier in the morning and the last flight will return to Shan- non later in the evening, offering a wider choice of connecting flights.

The Shannon to Paris-Charles De Gaulle flights will depart at 06.30 and 14.50 every day, arriving in Paris at 09.30 and 17.55, local time, while the Paris to Shannon flights will leave CDG at 11.00 and 18.45 local time, arriving in Shannon at 12.05 and 19.50.

Minister Dempsey said he very much welcomed the entrepreneurial approach

that CityJet and Air France have taken to ensure that the mid-west continues to have easy access to key European and international destinations.

Mr Geoffrey O’Byrne White, Cit- yJet’s chief executive, said that while this was a resounding vote of confi- dence on the part of Air France and CityJet for the hard-hit mid-west re- gion, the support of the community for this service was “vital for its sur- vival”.

Shannon Airport Director, Martin Moroney described the announce- ment as a major vote of confidence

and he called on industry and tour- ism in the mid-west to fully support it. “This is excellent news for the region as it significantly enhances one-stop connectivity options out of Shannon. We now have better access than ever to international markets from Shannon and, having fought so hard for this, we would call on the industry and tourism sectors here to take full advantage of it,” he said. Deputy Timmy Dooley said it will ‘be a boost to business in the region, providing excellent connection for business customers, despite the on- going global economic downturn. “It also shows that other interna- tional airlines view Shannon as a strategically important airport hub that is not just a destination in itself but that can also serve as a link to other flights travelling across the At- lantic and to other destinations.” Fine Gael’s Deputy Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Clare, TD Pat Breen has welcomed the news. He said, “This news 1s a vote of con- fidence in Shannon Airport and I am delighted that Cityjet has decided to follow up on their commitment to ex- pand and increase their services.” Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive of Shannon Development, said the “development will bring significant opportunities to grow tourism and industrial business for the Shannon region and the west of Ireland.”

DESPITE the ever increasing scourge of drugs among young peo- ple, the Killaloe area has just one addiction counsellor who is paid to spend just one hour with one client a week.

The Killaloe/Ballina Family Re- source Centre gets funding for the hour of counselling but it is totally inadequate to deal with the problem, Tracey Doyle, a community worker FMW Oet tA KoMESY- BLOM

The resource centre offers counc- selling services from a voluntary councillor and a student counsellor but their paid counsellor is funded for just one hour per week by the Department of Family Affairs.

‘Addiction is affecting young peo- ple of about 15 upwards but we have to rely on the counsellors’ good will to give us hours for free. Otherwise we would not be able to offer any level of service,” said Tracey.

Other counsellors offer their time voluntarily, but don’t have the spe- cific qualification needed to counsel addicts.

“We don’t have figures for the number of people who are suffering addiction in the area but the numbers who are caught in possession are high, so considering the number who

aren’t caught, that’s a big figure.”

In her work with the Family Re- source Centre, Tracey makes contact with families when youngsters fall foul of the law because of drugs.

“We also talk to the probation and welfare officer in the court and we had considered putting it out to the judges that this service is avail- able but we couldn’t do it. We’d be swamped.”

Other areas that are not covered by counsellors with the specific quali- fications are domestic violence and child abuse.

“We’re hoping to make a very strong case for increased funding for the service for next year but, in the meantime, we have to play on the goodwill of our counsellors, who give a lot,” said Tracey.

And the need extends beyond Kil- laloe, the community worker pointed out.

“Go down the road to Scariff and there is no addiction counsellor at all. Yes, people have the option of going private but what happens to people when families can’t afford a private counsellor?”

The Killaloe/Ballina Family Re- source Centre is now up and running in its new premises on Main Street in Killaloe and counselling and other activities are going ahead again.

€19,000 award for toddlers tumble

FORD was a bit late entering the crowded SUV market, but I think it was worth waiting for their Kuga.

I first drove this neat SUV over a testing off-road obstacle course at Druid’s Glen golf course in County Wicklow last year. As I said before on these pages, car companies go to great efforts to show us what their SUVs can do off-road. In reality, the only grass that will touch the wheels of most SUVs is if the driver has to pull in and let another car pass on a CoO MYM Ouse IF

I genuinely expected the Kuga to pick up some silverware at the end- of-year Irish motoring awards, but it was beaten by the Volvo XC60 for SUV/Crossover of the Year at the Semperit sponsored awards.

Coincidentally, my week in the Kuga came immediately after testing the massive XC60. Naturally friends wanted to know which was the best. Comparisons in this instance are not fair; the XC60 is bigger and chunkier and much more expensive. The Kuga would probably be compared more with Nissan’s Quashgai, which is even cheaper. Ultimately it comes down to what you can afford in these recessionary times.

It’s no secret that I am a big Ford fan and as far as I’m concerned cars with the famous blue oval logo can do no wrong. But I also realise that others, including my own family, are not as keen on everything to come O)HmOm one

When I sat in I was immediately impressed with the way my back fit- ted snugly into the seat. There is am- ple seating for five adults. The boot is huge and of course the back seat can be let down to provide more carrying space if needed.

The interiors of most new cars are predominantly black, so it was nice to see a grey strip stitched to front and rear seats. The grey lines did brighten up the interior, but really I think they looked a bit naff.

The dash is regular Ford design with discreet slave controls for the radio/CD to the side of the steering Wheel. On the bonnet, straight in

your line of vision, are two raised creases which help you get a feel for where exactly you are positioned on the road.

Externally the car looks very neat. The front has attractive headlamps and the rear is well finished. Two sil- ver roof racks add to the SUV effect.

At night you get the benefit of a dis- creet light under the side mirrors to

help you walk away from the car in leyu rca alae lente

The Kuga, which is built on the same platform as the Focus and C- Max, handles very well and is I think ideal for city or rural driving. Natu- rally, being an SUV, the driving po- sition is high and the visibility front and back, is good.

Only available in 2.0 diesel, prices

Start at €32,565 for the five-door two-wheel drive Zetec and go up to €39,995 for the top of the range Ti- tanium All-Wheel drive. All models are in Band D for road tax which has risen to €447 per annum from Janu- Aan

THE decision to discontinue a class for children with special needs at St Senan’s National School, Kilrush has been branded “inhumane and incon- siderate”’.

Maura Clohessey, whose six-year- old granddaughter is one of three pupils in the Mild General Learning Disability (MGLD) class at St Sen- an’s, said her family are “saddened and annoyed” at the decision.

Maura said her granddaughter has severe physical and intellectual dis- abilities and that it would not be appropriate for her to go into main- stream education.

St Senan’s is the only school in the west Clare peninsula that offers spe- cial needs supports.

“She would have to go into Ennis and she would not by physically able for a 70-mile round-trip every day. It’s inhumane and inconsiderate and the families weren’t even consulted,” added Maura. Maura described the school as a “home away from home” for her granddaughter.

‘She has an excellent teacher, Deir- dre Kenny, and she gets great support from the special needs assistants. The learning style is appropriate to her needs,’ added Maura.

School principal Paddy McInerney said the MGLD class at St Senan’s now catered for children with severe OURS leye bales

“This is in no way equitable; it’s just plain picking on the softest tar-

get. They have obviously not thought this through, because if they did they would have looked at individual cas- es,’ added Mr. McInerney.

Sean McMahon, INTO representa- tive for Clare, labeled the announce- ment by Education Minister Batt O’ Keeffe to close 128 special classes for children with mild learning dif- ficulties “a disgrace”.

Mr McMahon continued, “Coming as it did on a day when billions in tax payers’ money was found to recapi- talise the banks, 1t showed without any doubt how those who had noth- ing to do with the country’s economic difficulties are paying a huge price.”

Reacting to Minster O’Keeffe’s comments that many children would integrate easily into mainstream edu- cation, Mr McMahon said, “It is pat- ent nonsense to return these children to classes in which, through no fault of their own, they couldn’t cope with in the first place. These mainstream classes are themselves now even more over-crowded than they were when the children were withdrawn because of the other recent budget cutbacks, which resulted in signifi- cant increases in class sizes.”

MINISTER of State Tony Killeen TD this week said that the prepara- tion of a UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination for the Burren re- mained a key priority for the Depart- ment of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The North Clare TD explained that Environment Minister John Gorm- ley was committed to developing a management plan, which would have to be undertaken as part of the nom1- nation process.

The World Heritage List includes 878 properties in 141 countries, which the World Heritage Commit- tee considers as having outstanding universal value. They include monu- ments and landmarks as diverse at the Great Wall of China, the Great Bar- rier Reef, the Sydney Opera House, Machu Picchu in Peru, as well as the historic centres of famous cities such as Venice, Prague, Rome and Paris.

Ireland currently boasts two list- ed World Heritage Sites; Skellig Michael (1996) and Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne (1993). Each World Heritage Site 1s the property of the state on whose territory the site is located, but it 1s considered in the interest of the in- ternational community to preserve each site.

According to Minister Killeen, “A

key initiative of the Department’s UNESCO world heritage programme is the preparation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination for the Burren. Munister Gormley has informed me that work on progress- ing the nomination will be brought forward in the context of the priori- tisation of the constituent elements of the Department’s UNESCO world heritage programme.”

“IT am especially delighted to learn from the minister that consultation with all relevant stakeholders and interested parties will be an inte- gral part of this nomination process. Consequently, I urge all local people to join in the discussion around the Burren region’s attempt to acquire World Heritage Site status’, he add- ed.

Minister Killeen noted that achiev- ing World Heritage Site status would be an important milestone for the future of the Burren. He explained, “Such status would not only help raise the profile of the Burren and at- tract additional tourists but it would help ensure the conservation of the fragile landscape for future genera- tions. The continued protection of habitats, including Special Areas of Conservation designated under the EU Habitats Directive, and conser- vation of sustainable farming prac- tices are also vitally important to the Burren region.”

THERE have been renewed calls for the Irish Government to order gardai to search all US military aircraft which stop at Shannon Airport fol- lowing news that a fugitive wanted by the FBI managed to fly into and out of the mid-west aerodrome with millions of euro worth of gold with- out being detected.

Christopher Warren (26), who has Since been arrested in the US, was wanted over a $100m (€78m) mort- gage scam in California. He spent a day in Shannon earlier this month af- ter chartering a private jet in Las Ve- gas. US authorities believe Warren may have had up to €4m worth of gold, weighing over 160 kilograms, in his possession when he arrived in Ireland however he managed to pass through Shannon without being stopped.

Millions of euro of taxpayers’ mon- ey 1S spent at Shannon to provide round-the-clock armed protection for US military aircraft. Despite the security presence at the airport and countless claims that US planes have illegally carried armaments and pris- oners through the airport on small private jets, no searches are carried out on aircraft there.

Retired Irish Army Commandant and prominent anti-war campaigner Edward Horgan has reiterated his calls for all US planes to be searched at Shannon, describing the airport as

the “wild west”.

“Gold is a harmless and completely inert substance to be taking through Shannon, but it does emphasise that Ireland, and Shannon airport is the “wild west” as far as controls are concerned. It now appears that any- thing can be brought through Shan- non Airport mainly because the gardai have been told not to search any US aircraft, especially executive type jets, in case they may turn out to be CIA planes carrying prisoners. This of course would embarrass the Irish Government and expose their complicity with the torture rendition programme.”

Mr Horgan added, “Again, I strong- ly recommend that the garda do their duty at Shannon and carry out regu- lar and random checks on all aircraft, including and especially US aircraft, to ensure that no such aircraft are carrying contraband of any sort, es- pecially drugs, dangerous explosives or kidnapped prisoners.”

The jet which Warren had char- tered made a refuelling stop at Shan- non on February 3rd where the pilot and crew took a rest break before flying the fugitive on to Jounieh in Lebanon.

Warren was apprehended last week after attempting to return to the US using a false passport.

When caught he was carrying two false passports while immigration officers also found a total of $70,000 (€54,554) in cash; $lm (€778,970)

in Swiss bank certificates and nearly $6,000 (€4,675) worth of platinum. Warren now faces charges of con- spiracy, fraud and conducting a fi- nancial crime.

It appears that the FBI was unaware of Warren’s movements until after he had left Shannon.

It 1s believed that neither gardai nor customs were informed by US

authorities that Warren was passing through Shannon.

EMPLOYERS body IBEC have announced plans for a practical in- formation briefing for employers in Limerick, Clare and North Tipper- ary on the critical people manage- ment issues that businesses have to face to survive this recession.

The event will take place between 8.30am and 10.30am on Tuesday, February 24 in the Strand Hotel, Limerick and is open to all, IBEC members and non-members alike.

“The economic downturn is of grave concern The role of manage- ment is to chart a course through these challenges. In doing this, IBEC can provide the support and advice that a business needs in order to po- sition itself to weather the storm and come out stronger at the other end.” stated IBEC Director for the mid- west, Chris O’Donovan

SW slomm oyulosibercamrsU0 mele (onlAU Ram nelommOyon tions and risks for businesses to con- sider when making decisions on pay costs, downsizing and absenteeism, among other issues, in the current economic environment. It will also highlight key legal issues involved when addressing people manage- ment issues.

A spokesman for IBEC explained what will take place during the brief- ing.

“Topic one of the IBEC briefing will specifically focus on under- standing your costs Payroll costs are a significant cost in every organisa- tion. IBEC will guide you in how to scrutinize your pay costs so you can ensure every element is adding value; what to examine in reviewing pay costs; how to measure the cost of absence; sector, national and interna- tional comparators.”

“Topic two will focus on reduc- ing costs. What are your options and what do you need to consider to make the right decisions? Redundan- cy, Lay-off and short-time working, Pay reductions, Leave, Implications of the national wage agreement”

“Topic three is about manag- ing people. For those left behind, how do you cope with the ‘survivor syndrome’; communications- who, when, how? Managing performance, cross-skilling; managing absence,’ he added.

“In 2007, National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) inspectors carried out over 14,000 inspections and detected 2,344 breaches of em- ployment legislation securing almost €2.5 million in arrears for employ- ees. Compliance with constantly changing employment law is becom- ing more challenging than ever.

“Membership of IBEC provides companies with access to specialists in a broad range of business areas including human resources. Local services include practical industrial relations assistance, including IBEC attendance at any third-party repre- sentation.

“Your local office is also a mecha- nism to ensure policy issues of local importance are raised at national level,’ he concluded.

If you would like to attend the briefing, please book online at www. ibec.ie/O/briefing.