Fianna Fáil at it again

July 6, 2016 By Leave a Comment

This week in the Dáil Sinn Féin tabled a Bill which would protect workers who are on low hour contracts. These workers, mainly in the retail sector, are faced daily with precarious conditions, contracts which have them on 15 hours a week when they really work 30 and 40, conditions that make it next to impossible to plan for the future – kids, mortgage, childcare etc.

Sinn Féin’s Bill provides that a worker, or their union representative, would be entitled, after six months of continuous employment, to make a request to the employer to be moved to an increased weekly band of hours.

Last night Fianna Fáil, in a pathetic attempt to play politics with people’s livelihoods, indicated their intent to block this Bill when it comes to a vote on Thursday. Just like they did with the scrapping of water charges and reversal of bin charge hikes.

Filed Under: General News

Young Ballymun funding not sufficient.

July 5, 2016 By

 

Sinn Féin TD Dessie Ellis is disappointed with the outcome of a series of meetings with Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone, TDs from Dublin North West, officials from various government Departments, and young Ballymun representatives.

Deputy Ellis said:

“It’s clear that the funding needed to continue the entire programme as rolled out over the years will not be forthcoming. However, the Minister has agreed to increase the funding by a quarter of the budget already allocated. Despite this intervention, it is not enough for the project to continue fully but Young Ballymun will continue to exist albeit in a focused and targeted manner.

“It’s clear that in attempts to tackle child poverty and social disadvantage the Young Ballymun model has achieved remarkable results. Many children and parents across the area have had a positive experience and Young Ballymun changed their lives for the better. The final report showed that Young Ballymun had achieved impressive outcomes in all areas of implementation and that these kinds of changes and outcomes affected the community in a very positive way. It has shown that this project could be a positive template for other areas.

“It is a huge disappointment that this government hasn’t the vision to take on board this model and roll it out across disadvantaged communities across the country. Sinn Féin and I will continue to advocate for the Ballymun model to be used as a template into the future.”

Filed Under: Ballymun, General News