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Litter levels rise during Pandemic

Litter levels in Irish towns are at their worst in 13 years, according to Irish Business Against Litter.. litter

Litter levels rose in 24 of the 37 towns and cities inspected at the end of 2020 by An Taisce for Ibal. This represented a decline in cleanliness of more than 25 per cent on last summer and a marked deterioration on three years ago, when 80 per cent clean.

The two most littered places in the State were in Dublin, with Ballymun and the north inner city both ranked as “seriously littered”.

For the first time in 13 years, fewer than half of the towns surveyed were deemed clean.

Takeaway coffee cups and PPE-related litter, particularly masks, were among the most prevalent litter types found. “Covid is clearly a factor here, but we should never accept litter as inevitable. It comes down to people disposing of their waste without regard for their surroundings or their fellow citizens, and it is entirely unnecessary,” Ibal spokesman Conor Horgan said.

Agents seek post-Covid support

The Irish Travel Agents Association has appealed to the Government to take steps to support the Irish travel industry by ensuring that travel agents are protected in the aftermath dawson

of the COVID-19 pandemic. As pressure mounts for a ban on non-essential travel between EU member states, the ITAA want to see the travel sector treated fairly with long-term supports put in place for Irish travel agents.

The Association has been seeking to meet with the Department of Transport, Minister Hildegarde Naughton and Minister Eamon Ryan for some time now in order to discuss supports needed for travel agents in the coming months. Travel agents in Ireland are currently among the worst affected sector of SME’s in the country, receiving temporary CRSS supports under Level 5 restrictions only. Many travel agents faced huge financial pressure to stay open last year; therefore tailored, long-term supports are vital for the remainder of 2021.

Gate Gourmet staff in dispute

Staff at Gate Gourmet at Dublin Airport have rejected the Swiss airline services group's insistence that it had properly consulted with them before changing their terms and gategourmet conditions of employment.

The company, which provides catering and cleaning services to airlines at the airport, had planned to let go almost three-quarters of its 123 person workforce but said the changes to hourly rates and annual leave entitlements had allowed it to reduce job losses to 39.

But a group of staff had lodged formal grievances in December and warned that they planned to refer the matter to the Workplace Relations Commission's conciliation service.

The staff claimed they were never consulted about the Gate Gourmet plan, which had been agreed on a temporary basis by trade union Siptu. A ballot on a cost-cutting proposal that was carried out by Siptu the week before Christmas overwhelmingly rejected the plan.

Traveller bride wins discrimination case

A Traveller woman has been awarded €15,000 in compensation by the Workplace Relations Commission for discrimination she suffered when she tried to book a hotel for her wedding.

The sum is the maximum that can be awarded in such a case.

In its decision, the WRC referred to the “dismissive nature” of the hotel’s contacts with the woman after she provided information that would have identified her as a Traveller, as well as to the failure of the hotel to appropriately engage with the WRC.

“I am satisfied that the level of the compensation awarded in the case must be reflective of these factors and must be such that it dissuades the respondent from repeating such discrimination in the future,” the deciding officer, Ray Flaherty, said in his decision.

Neither the woman nor the hotel were identified in the decision, which was made earlier this month and published on the WRC website on Sunday.

IHF will 'engage' on quarantine.

The Irish Hotels Federation has said that it would “engage with the relevant authorities to help in whatever way we can” in relation to the use of hotels as quarantine locations for testing incoming travellers,

In a commet to the 'Irish Examiner' an IHF spokesperson stressed that participation in the scheme would have to be “a matter for individual hotels”.

“Health and safety is the first priority for hotels including guests, suppliers, and our teams,” theIHF said.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar appeared to pour cold water on the move when speaking on the issue in the Dail on Thursday afternoon, describing it as being “unworkable”, but public experts have said the measures would be a crucial part of Ireland's battle to control the virus.

It’s also unclear at present how such mandatory quarantine would be funded.