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FIANNA FÁIL WILL seek to have the controversy surrounding John McNulty’s Seanad by-election nomination discussed in the Dáil later this week, calling on the Taoiseach to “to give a detailed explanation, outlining the entire sequence of events”.
Earlier this week, Enda Kenny said “took responsibility for this having evolved to what people might imagine it is”.
McNulty, a Dongal-based shop owner, was appointed to the board of the Museum of Modern Art Ireland (IMMA) just days before using this affiliation as grounds to qualify for the Seanad’s Cultural and Educational Panel in his nomination papers.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said this afternoon that “this controversy has gone on way too long and the Taoiseach needs to answer very fundamental questions that have been ignored to date”.
The Taoiseach’s half-hearted apology on Friday has not cleared up the mess caused by the botched appointment of John McNulty to IMMA and his subsequent selection at the Fine Gael Seanad bye-election candidate.
He added that he believes that Kenny owes both the IMMA and the Seanad “a fulsome apology”.
Speaking to RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Labour Junior Minister Kevin Humphreys noted that the opposition would have this opportunity to raise the matter further, but defended Kenny’s handling of the controversy.
“What you have to accept is that the Taoiseach has very clearly accepted responsibility,” he said.
He denied that Labour was giving Fine Gael “political cover” on this issue. He said he will be supporting John McNulty’s nomination.
Humphreys was also questioned over a report in The Sunday Times that two coalition party councillors and a teacher from Enda Kenny’s home town had been nominated to the board of University College Dublin.
He denied it was “cronyism”, and instead highlighted previous work by Labour councillor nominated for the role, Dermot Lacey, which qualified him for the position.
The vast majority of appointments to state boards are advertised, Humphreys said, but UCD was simply an exception.
Originally published 5.20pm
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I’m sure the staff are “extremely disappointed” that they’ve had to go on strike at Christmas too. So before anyone starts union-bashing, I know from experience that no one enjoys being on strike without pay at any time of the year but it’s often a last resort. Hopefully it’s resolved swiftly.
@Pascal Coleman: Good luck to the staff. Don’t cross the picket people!
@Pascal Coleman: I thought I heard before that one of the reasons employees contribute a small portion of their pay to union membership is so that they union can subsidise the strikers when on strike and pay them something extent when they are on strike?
@Simon Carroll: Yes , as it should be. Unfortunately it is only pittance , also depends on how long strike lasts. If costumers do not cross the picket line , an Tesco profits suffer… They will not be long in resolving this dispute. Support the striking workers.. Do Not Pass The Picket.
I fully support the staff here, Tesco have a reputation for screwing their staff over and dishonorable work practices in general. Not to mention they don’t give a rats ass about their customers which is evident by the overall presentation of most stores, the general lack of staff in same and the over reliance on “self scan” checkouts wherin they take away a job and offer no cost saving whatsoever to the customer. I’ll continue to shop at lidl thank you where they at the very least pay the living wage.
@Frank Lee: per square ft in shops Tesco hire more staff, and as Tesco do not use central distribution to such a large degree so local supplies still have a chance in Tesco.
@Frank Lee: you complain about the lack of staff in Tesco but yet you shop somewhere that employs less! That’s a bit strange.
@Frank Lee: as someone who has worked for 15 years for that company in the past o don’t know where you getting your info from. Yes they have had falling out with pre 1996 staff over redundancy but trust me they are far from the worst!! We would often get the mandate magazine into each store and left in the canteen and it was always a certain Irish supermarket that was plastered throughout having wronged it’s staff or up in the wrc to the point were I was glad in never took a position there . I have also heard first hand accounts from various managers who worked with me who also worked with this company about the treatment of staff
@Frank Lee: and screwing their customers . Anyone who shops in Tesco and doesn’t focus their Monday on the price displayed as against the price on their bill needs to wake up.
@Terry Cahill: minds
@Frank Lee: Tesco staff have banded guaranteed hour contracts, Do Lidl? Tesco pay premium time for Sunday and early morning & double time for Sundays in December Do Lidl? Tesco have a save as you earn scheme for staff and a great pension, do Lidl? Tesco have subsidised staff food offers, do Lidl? Tesco give staff a 10% discount card, Do Lidl? Tesco allow staff to use money off vouchers as well as the discount card, do Lidl?…
@Fergus Sheahan: They got rid of the drivers, they are kings of the zero contrat and all of it and they make millions. Look at all the Christmas stuff. British Cheeses and all the rest of it.
@Trev: Is that why the staff in my local tesco buy their lunch at the counter or used to buy it in the local spar but it closed. How long are you a management lackey
@Gary Kearney: they have banded contracts not zero contracts! BANDED contracts are what unions would like EVERY other retailer in Ireland to have.. TESCO have them. They do sell some British CHEESE that’s true but also they sell cheese from Italy, Spain, France, IRELAND!! & other places too, You do realise Irish companies sell their products outside Ireland also don’t you?
@Gary Kearney: christ Gary you talk some rubbish. There are literally no zero hour contracts in Tesco. Stop talking crap. Yes, staff may be buying lunch from the counter, but they get it at a discounted rate. Come back when you know what your talking about.
I fully support the staff also. Tesco have no response to the unions and try to influence the new /summer or Christmas staff not to join the union. They still want rid of pre 96 staff that is left.sorry Tesco but you operate in ireland so you need to abide by the laws of ireland not UK.
@Eddie Mc Keown: The only difference for new staff is that they are not automatically entered into the union. It’s up to them to make the decision of whether they wish to join or not.
@Skimothy: how are you now,after your frontal lobotomy?
@Thomas Devlin: good one Tom. Good one.
Let’s not start “Union bashing” or ” Tesco” bashing. I’ve been worker in situations where the union has helped genuine workers with grievances and I’ve been working in situations were lazy workers have hidd behind a union. I don’t know what the situation is with this particular case but all I do know is when Tesco opened in my local area they employed alot of local people and most of them still seem to be working there and semm happy enough. By the way I’m no Tesco fan. I shop in Tesco, Lidl, Aldi & Supervalue- wherever I can get the best prices. You have a choice on where you shop and you have a choice on where you work. Good luck to the workers if these are genuine grievances but let’s have a balanced approach when commenting…
I most certainly will not be shopping in Tesco when they have total disregard for the wishes of the staff and they wish to be represented by Mandate Union . We need to support the Tesco staff
Boycott.Boycott ..
@Margaret ODwyer: ive read the article and the various comments but I am none the wiser on what the actual dispute or grievance is about – i get all the Tesco Bashing / Union bashing whingers – but what EXACTLY is the issue and grievance that is causing them to take the most extreme action a union can take in striking ? anyone ?
Stick to Dunnes and Supervlau
Anyone doubting the strikers here should have a read of Joanna Blythmans book on the practices of tesco and their competitors…. they can well afford to pay staff a decent wage
@Jessie Ginger: they do.
**wont
***wont
Ahh Bless
I’m sure the workers are “disappointed that TESCO engage with the union
I refuse to use the the scan your own lark nor the self service unless in dire emergency. Why as they take jobs. Next they will want us to stack the shelves and unload the trucks too.
have your say