The Nationalist

Tim Ryan, Oireachtas Correspondent

Concern expressed for Bord Na Móna job losses

The future of Bord Na Móna jobs in the Midlands was raised by Fianna Fáil Deputy Fiona O’Loughlin in the Dáil. “I am a bog woman and very proud of it,” she said. “I come from the heart of the .”

Deputy O’Loughlin said she could not overstate the importance of Bord na Móna to on many levels. “People moved from other parts of to work for the company and settled in places such as Timahoe, Kilberry, and Allenwood in County Kildare,” she said. “Their families have become part of the area.”

Recently, she said word came through that there were to be job losses at Bord na Móna. “I understand 45 jobs will be lost in ten locations, including seven in Newbridge and four in Lullymore, both of which are in County Kildare,” she said. “I invite the Minister to visit the Lullymore Heritage Centre close to the Bord na Móna operation in the area to show him what a wonderful job people in the area have done to celebrate the importance of the bog. It is fine if it suits people to take a redundancy package or leave the company. However, there are many Bord na Móna employees who are not in a position to do so. I call for consultation on the job losses and a commitment to be given to sustain the company's other jobs in County Kildare.”

She said she understand a new chief executive officer, Mr. Tom Donnellan, will start work on 18 April. “I ask the Minister to use his good offices to ensure a meeting will take place between Mr. Donnellan and Deputies and Senators from the counties impacted on by Bord na Móna,” she said. “It would be good to have a meeting with Mr. Donnellan early in his tenure to assure him of our support and raise our concerns about individuals in our counties.”

In response, Minister Denis Naughten said the recent decision by the company to cease operations in its coal business will affect 11 of the 450 employees in County Kildare, of whom seven are located in Newbridge and four at a convenience fuels facility in Lullymore. “The company is engaging with the affected employees and will consult them on possible outcomes, including redeployment,” he said.

Bord na Móna, he said, had informed employees of the decision to exit the coal business for a number of commercial and regulatory reasons. “My priority is to ensure biomass is generated and grown as close as possible to the three peat-fired power stations,” he said. “The intention is to maintain and, I hope, enhance current employment levels in Bord na Móna. I am acutely conscious of the importance of the employment provided by the company across the Midland counties, extending from east County Galway to counties Roscommon, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Kildare.”

The Minister said he was sure the CEO will not have a difficulty in meeting Oireachtas Members from right across the region. Murphy criticises role of Strategic Communications Unit

Political communication is an important part of the functioning of democracy and is correctly prioritised by many working in politics, Social Democrat Deputy Catherine Murphy told the Dáil. That should not be questioned. However, she said there should be a significant difference between what constitutes political communication and propaganda.

Speaking during a debate on a Sinn Féin motion calling for the abolition of the Government’s Strategic Communications Unit, she said a balance must be struck between self-promotion and party advertising and a Government's role providing responsible and accurate information to citizens.

“The balance has been tilted and in doing so, irreparable damage has been done and continues to be done to citizens' trust in the political process in this country,” she said. “The general sense of spin replacing substance has been amplified and most people one talks to will take some of the Government campaigns with a pinch of salt so it is defeating the purpose and undermining politics. Many people felt rightly aggrieved that they had read things in their local papers and assumed they were reading a local news story only to find out, thanks to the work of Ellen Coyne in The Times, Ireland edition, that they were subject to advertisements dressed up as news.”

This sort of underhand falsification of politics does nothing but further entrench the belief that the political system is not to be trusted, she said. “The way in which the Civil Service has effectively been politicised through the Strategic Communication Unit is yet another serious blow to the trust placed in political and public institutions,” she said. “When a senior civil servant in the Department of the Taoiseach raises concerns about political impartiality in the Strategic Communications Unit, then surely it should be enough to force a change.”

Ratification of UN Convention a step towards equality

As a sister of Cathal, who has Down's syndrome, and as someone who has worked both full- time and as a volunteer with Special Olympics, Deputy Fiona O’Loughin said she had lived her life trying to implement consistently both the spirit and the core tenets of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Welcoming the Government’s decision to ratify the Convention, she said these core tenets represent the most fundamental rights of all persons regardless of ability or disability: the right to health care services, the right to education, the right to an environment safe from exploitation and abuse, the right to work and, most importantly, the right to be included as an equal member of society.

“Ten years have passed since the UN Convention was signed by the Government, and ratification is now the next step,” she said. “It is just a step but a very important one on the journey towards equality.”

She said a recent survey conducted by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection on those in receipt of disability allowance highlighted that people with disabilities are being left behind completely in the areas of education and employment. “Of those surveyed, 75% said their level of disability was a barrier to their entering the workforce,” she said. “It is clear that people with disabilities are being left behind, and if the Government is serious about creating a fairer and more equal society, it must address the systematic and institutionalised barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in education, the workforce and society in general.”