Irish employers have a shorter working week than everyone else in the EU apart from the Danes last year, according to new data. Irish full-time employees spent an average of 38.4 hours in the workplace, two hours fewer than the EU average.
The figures from the EU’s statistical agency, Eurostat, show that those in the education sector had the shortest working week, putting in just 31.5 hours. This was six hours below the EU average for the sector and slightly below the time spent at work in 2008.
Only in Greece and Italy do education sector workers have shorter working weeks than their Irish counterparts. Hours are longer in the other 24 EU member countries, with British teachers putting in the longest weeks – at more than 42 hours.
In all other sectors, including public administration and health, Irish employees are much closer to EU averages in their respective sectors in terms of hours worked per week.
Employees in the agricultural sector worked longest – more than 42.5 hours a week.
Irish employees in the aggregate have barely changed the number of hours worked since the recession began. In 2008, the average working week was less than half an hour longer. This is in line with patterns elsewhere.
The working hours gap between the sexes in Ireland is the second largest among the 27 EU countries, according to Eurostat’s Labour Force Survey. Salaried Irish men work 3.5 hours more than women. Only in Britain is the gap bigger. The average gap between the sexes across the EU is 1.8 hours. Men work longer hours in paid employment in every country without exception.
The self-employed in Ireland work much longer hours than their salaried counterparts. Self-employed people put in 48 hours a week on average last year, in line with the EU average.
Across Europe, Lithuanian entrepreneurs laboured least, doing a 42-hour week. Their Austrian counterparts were at the other end of the spectrum, working for 55 hours a week.
The figures show no north-south divide in Europe in hours worked, either among salaried employees or the self-employed.
The figures also show Irish employees are less likely to be on limited duration contracts than their counterparts in Europe. One in 10 employees was employed on such contracts last year. The average across the bloc was 50 per cent higher. In Spain and Poland more than one in four people was employed on such contracts.
Ireland’s TDs & Senators to get tablet computers despite delay & order block
Senators and TDs are still set to receive tablet computers, despite a tender for some 300 devices being withdrawn by the Oireachtas yesterday.
The public tender for the devices, to be provided for free to politicians, was withdrawn yesterday due to a change in procurement rules.
In July the Oireachtas Commission decided to put the devices to tender. It cancelled the tender yesterday due to a new “framework agreement” by the Department of Public Expenditure under which the devices could be purchased.
However in a statement today, the Oireachtas Commission said it still expected to “complete a tendering process using the framework before the end of 2012”.
The new framework may yield “significant efficiency and cost reductions” so the ICT Unit of the Oireachtas had “cancelled the open tendering process”, it said.
“We believe the minimisation of cost to the taxpayer is paramount, and we regret any inconvenience caused to bidders,” the statement added.
Fine Gael TD John Paul Phelan earlier described the withdrawal of a tender as “common sense prevailing”.
“I simply could not understand the logic behind spending over €100,000 on new technology, when hundreds of thousands of people up and down the country are living on the breadline,” Mr Phelan said in a statement.
Mr Phelan said that every TD and Senator had access to a computer and a mobile phone and there was “absolutely no need” for any additional technology. If they wanted to invest in a tablet it should be “paid for” from their “own pocket” he said.
In a statement the Oireachtas Commission said the purchasing of the devices was “part of a larger project” aimed at “reducing the annual cost of parliamentary printing”.
Mary Robinson warns on climate change & great injustices on our grandchildren
Former Irish President Mary Robinson has warned that climate change will be one of the “greatest injustices” we inflict on our grandchildren.
Addressing the International Bar Association annual conference in Dublin’s Convention Centre yesterday, Mrs Robinson said the public needs to urgently motivate political leaders to act on climate change.
”Climate change threatens to be one of the great injustices we inflict on our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“We need to look at the potential impacts of climate change 100 years hence and plan for a world very different to that in which we live today.”
“Until there is greater demand from people in all walks of life for meaningful action on climate change, political leaders will continue to be able to return home from unsuccessful climate conferences with little fear of retribution,” she said.
She told delegates that the economic growth experienced in past decades had come at a cost, which was being borne by people in developing countries.
The former UN Commissioner for Human Rights told the lawyers they had a role in tackling climate change — as it was not just an economic and environmental issue, but a human rights issue.
Facebook application to raise mental health awareness
Just how many of your Facebook friends are suffering from depression right now? we really will never know.
This will be answered individually for each of Ireland’s 2.2m Facebook users by the mental health recovery group GROW as part of its campaign to mark World Mental Health Week – which takes place on Monday. October 8.
GROW says it is preparing to launch the first ever interactive social media health awareness campaign in Ireland which is specifically designed to tailor a different and relevant response for every participating user.
Through the GROW Facebook app, each participating user’s number of friends is automatically run through an algorithm to estimate how many of them are likely to be experiencing mental health issues at this point in time.
The exercise produces a relevant unique number for each and every Facebook user.
This new app is designed to be passed on and shared among friends.
GROW points out that social media is the favored communication medium of young people today – the group that is often most vulnerable to depression, isolation and stress – as indicated by the particularly high numbers of suicides among under 25s.
The app is designed to stress to Facebook users and to the population generally, just how much of a toll depression is likely to be taking among their loved ones and their friends at any time.
“Around one in four Irish people will experience depression or other mental health issues in their lifetime,” said Michelle Kerrigan, CEO of GROW in Ireland.
“For World Mental Health Week our message is to ‘share awareness.’ Everyone is entitled to mental health and GROW’s track record in assisting real recovery demonstrates that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that recovery is not only possible but fully achievable.”
On World Mental Health Day next Wednesday, GROW will be raising funds in its first national flag day in order to continue building the resources necessary to raise mental health awareness nationally and to expand GROW’s frontline self-help groups.
Northern Ireland-based Titanic Belfast’s visitor number touches 500,000
The 500,000th visitor was Canadian citizen Lynda Price pictured above, who was born in east-Belfast and is the great granddaughter of a shipyard worker.
Titanic Belfast in Northern Ireland recently touched the 500,000-visitor mark, just six months after it was opened on March 31, 2012, exceeding the annual forecast for visitor numbers, which was set at 425,000.
The six-storey Titanic Belfast features nine interpretive and interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the city, and the people who constructed the ship. Supported by the Northern Ireland Executive,
Titanic Belfast is a public-private partnership, funded by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Belfast City Council, Belfast Harbour and Titanic Quarter Ltd. It is operated by Titanic Belfast Ltd and owned by the Titanic Foundation Ltd.
Of the visitors of Titanic Belfast in the past six months, 65 per cent were non-Northern Ireland residents, with some coming from the Republic of Ireland, the Republic of Korea, USA and the United Arab Emirates. Titanic Belfast has welcomed tourists from 111 countries, from Argentina, Nepal, Qatar and Belize, amongst others, generating significant tourism revenue for not only Belfast, but also for Northern Ireland as a whole. More than 30,000 guests have been served in Titanic Belfast’s conference and banqueting suites, including The Queen of England, The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, and James Cameron, director of the movie ‘Titanic’.
Howard Hastings, Chairman, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, said, “2012 has been a momentous year for tourism in Northern Ireland, with Titanic Belfast at the heart of its success. This iconic exhibition is now reaping the benefits of worldwide media attention and I am delighted that it has exceeded visitor expectations so far.”
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