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Opinion A change is coming — young people now want to unionise

After years of stagnant workers’ rights, Maeve Richardson says younger people are returning to unions.

IN IRELAND AND elsewhere, a new trend is emerging — young workers want to Unionise. This follows decades of a sharp decline of union membership as neoliberalism took hold of the global economy.

The elevation of trade unions as a catalyst for change and a clamour from young people to be part of a collective force for good is exciting and challenging, and unions are responding.

Recent UCD research said 67% of people aged between 16 and 24 years are positively disposed to trade unions. This underscores a significant and growing positive shift in attitudes towards trade unions in Ireland. This is a welcome breakthrough that offers real hope for the future.

This surge in support not only highlights a growing desire for stronger worker protections, fairer wages and improved working conditions, but young workers see unions as essential for navigating tricky workplace situations, guaranteeing people fair treatment and most of all, real respect at work.

Next generation

In my role in the Irish Second-level Students Union (ISSU), I am seeing an increasing amount of young people wanting to be part of a wider collective on work, on community and on climate.

Young people can join their student council and join their national students’ union for collective representation in second-level schools – facilitated by the Education Act 1998. We can join a union in college that is recognised without question but when it comes to the world of work, young people are confronted with major barriers to collective representation.

Fear of discrimination and victimisation by bad employers for union activity is real. It happens because our legislation on workers’ rights is not strong enough.

This sentiment reflects the changing world of work, where bad jobs, poverty wages, underpinned by a housing and renting crisis, are pushing young people towards taking firm action to change the balance of power in the workplace.

But… full employment?

For many young workers, a thriving economy has not translated into anything truly meaningful. This has to change and for many young workers that change starts in the workplace.

We are not only the most insecure and undervalued generation, but we are working under the weakest workers’ rights regime in all of Western Europe. Ireland is the outlier, and we are paying for it.

That is why Unions offer hope to young people and a sense of stability, Unions can be that vehicle of change in work. This is particularly appealing to my generation, who are facing such an uncertain future.

A changing workplace

Beyond economic concerns, young workers want their voices heard on social issues like gender inequality, climate sustainability and a just transition in a world getting more and more dominated by unregulated misinformation online, concerning developments in AI and technology.

In my experience, Unions are leading campaigns for better pay and conditions, a better work-life balance for all, having proper mental health supports in place, and environmentally friendly policies that we as a society all stand to benefit from.

Recent high profile and successful unionisation drives in Amazon, Starbucks and McDonalds in America have shown young workers that collective action can achieve real change, even when the odds are so heavily stacked against them.

These victories in the face of big corporations are an inspiration and demonstrate the effectiveness of unions in improving working conditions, winning better wages and making a positive difference in the workplace.

The growing interest in unions among young workers in Ireland must be taken advantage of and is a hugely positive sign that a more equitable future of work is potentially on the horizon.

Most of all, it reflects my generation’s unwillingness to simply accept things as they are and our longing for a voice and vehicle to help us make change happen.

We need stronger legislation to protect us in our workplace.

We need a workplace where we are not afraid to express our views.

We need a workplace where our voice is represented.

We want and deserve respect at work.

Maeve Richardson is the National Student Voice Organiser for the Irish Second-level Students’ Union (ISSU) and a SIPTU member. A new Union campaign organised by CWU, FSU, Mandate and SIPTU called Respect at Work is launching today.

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46 Comments
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    Mute Rory Murphy
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:19 PM

    Maybe schools shouldn’t open until after Easter so, when cases hopefully will be lower than now.. Construction isn’t opening up on Monday next..

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    Mute Brian Dunne
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:30 PM

    How are we supposed fo feel confident sending our kids into schools on monday?

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    Mute Kim Steen Hansen
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:31 PM

    @Brian Dunne: keep your kids at home, problem solved.

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    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:38 PM

    @Brian Dunne: Because they’ll only be there for three weeks and then off for 2 weeks (14 days out of 35). Plenty of breaks in potential transmission there unlike, say, construction.

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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:47 PM

    @Brian Dunne: because the 14 day infection rate in school going children is about 15% (21/02/2021) after the schools were closed for two months. This is the exact same rate as on the 21/12/2020 when the schools closed for Christmas. So it would appear that the rate of infection in the 5 to 18 year olds is unaffected by the schools being opened or closed.

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    Mute emer mcdonnell
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    Feb 26th 2021, 1:50 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: schools were closed before the new variant was here. Wait and see numbers rise. Will be interesting to see if it will be put down to community, house parties, calling in for a cup of tea or actually within the school!

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    Mute Declan Edward
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:04 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: Well you could argue that the current positivity rate for 5-18 year olds, with the new variant, is worrying considering that the children haven’t been in schools or in large groups. You could also argue that with the new, more prevalent variation, that those numbers are likely to drastically increase

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    Mute Niall Gannon
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    Feb 26th 2021, 4:07 PM

    @emer mcdonnell: hopefully it won’t happen but I’d imagine it will be spun exactly as you say Emer. Even schools themselves didn’t know in a lot of cases if their own kids had tested positive. It was completely at the parents discretion

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    Mute Declan Doherty
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:35 PM

    This governments obsession with schools makes little sense particularly when they’re willing to destroy livelihoods and businesses in order to prioritise getting kids back into the classroom. Is it because Norma and Michael are teachers ? I certainly hope not as the stakes are too high for those games and they just got higher.

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    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:40 PM

    @Declan Doherty: As per my comment above, schools will be open for 14 days out of 35 from next Monday. And that’s also for less hours per day than construction/business. Schools also have the same pool of people every day, unlike businesses.

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    Mute Declan Doherty
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:47 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: Yes, less people overall but they’re all crammed into crowded and poorly ventilated rooms, often less then 2 meters apart, and kept there for hours on end. That doesn’t happen in building sites, shops or restaurants who’ve all been shut for months on end with no income, lost jobs, potential for permanent closure etc. Kids were already getting an education remotely and yet this government actively prioritised the schools over people’s livelihoods. It doesn’t make sense.

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    Mute Lauren McEnery
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:52 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: 19 days. Schools will close for Easter holidays on Friday 26th and will also be closed on St Patrick’s Day.

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    Mute Franny Ando
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:03 PM

    @Lauren McEnery: Well then they should be left closed till after Easter holidays. Three weeks won’t make any difference to kids but it might make a difference to case numbers.

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    Mute JedBartlett
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:12 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: With that logic why not allow rural pubs to open for 14 days out of every 35. Most of them have the same pool of people everyday too. Nonsense logic

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    Mute emer mcdonnell
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:18 PM

    @Declan Doherty: Totally agree with you. I think a lot was media driven, never seen so much focus on school closure ( even though theyre getting an education remotely) in Irish media, compared to media in other countries where remote learning is happening.

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    Mute Séamus Heffernan
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:42 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: Sorry, where are you getting 14 from? You should have your facts straight before arguing any opinion.

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    Mute Gert McNulty
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:44 PM

    The data clearly shows the uk variant is more transmissable particularly among children.

    Has the government put in place any extra precautions – no
    No masks for primary school children
    No changes to ventilation
    No change to who is deemed a close contact.

    The numbers may not shoot up but the spread will be down to schools. It will scupper what remains of any hope’s of a nearly normal summer for these children and the rest of the population.

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    Mute Fozz
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:33 PM

    @Gert McNulty: Your ideas only work in theory.
    Try keeping masks on primary-age children and enforcing tat.
    Improved ventilation? What, should we knock loadsa holes in the walls?

    There are calculated risks in every decision that is made and they are being made with all the information, stats and figures from elsewhere.
    If parents fee that strongly, they can keep their kids at home.

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    Mute David Jordan
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    Feb 26th 2021, 4:38 PM

    @Gert McNulty: Primary school aged children are less likely to fall ill and spread SARS-COV-2 as they higher levels of ACE2 cell receptors than adults, that makes them more resistant to infection and as a result young Children <12 very rarely infect adults. This is one reason why primary school children don't wear masks, as well as the impracticably, size, ill fitting.

    The same cannot be said about Teenagers however, several studies have found outbreaks linked to Teens.

    Goel, et al., 2020. The role of ace2 receptor and its age related immunity in covid-19. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research; 63(2):190-194, 2020

    Euser, et al., 2021. SARS-CoV-2 viral load distribution in different patient populations and age groups reveals that viral loads increase with age. medRxiv. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.15.21249691v2

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    Mute Beulah Donohoe
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    Feb 26th 2021, 7:36 PM

    @David Jordan: 21%of chess in the last 2 weeks were children 0 to 18 yrs

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:41 PM

    But, but, but… “schools are safe” and didn’t lead to any rise in community transmission. Smells like a bit of back-pedaling from the Dept. of Education in the near future.

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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:52 PM

    @Alan Wright: have you any statistics to back this up. When I looked the 14 day infection rate on the 21/12/2020 was 15.5% and closing the schools for two months resulting in the 14 day infection rate on the same group being, on the 21/02/2021, the same at 15.5% . There are always minor fluctuations but little evidence that schools being opened or closed makes a difference to the infection rate of school going children.

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    Mute JedBartlett
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:32 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: Niall, have you considered that perhaps the new more transmissible variant is the reason for the infection rate remaining at 15.5% after 2 months of closure.
    I wonder without this variant, would they transmission rate have dropped? If the new transmission rate is the reason for the stagnation then infection rates will surely rise when the schools reopen.

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    Mute Jakie McLean
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    Feb 26th 2021, 11:29 PM

    @JedBartlett: unfortunately you may be right. In the UK it was reported that the new UK variant spread more rapidly in the teenage population than the previous variant.

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    Mute Greg
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:50 PM

    Schools going back way to soon , new Strain discovered in Ireland , and sending kids back to school no canteens opened in the schools so the leaving cert students up the town mixing no masks

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    Mute emer mcdonnell
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    Feb 26th 2021, 1:57 PM

    Absolutely crazy that they are opening schools without having put any new safety measures in place. No antigen testing…theyre doing this in France, Spain, Germany! No combination of in class and remote , they’re doing this in plenty of States in the US and even in Ethiopia! They’re not even giving an option to those who would prefer to continue with remote can do so. No, over here it’s back to normal after Easter, 30 kids all crammed into small, badly ventilated rooms and hope for the best. Can we ever get or do anything right?

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    Mute Vanessa
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:25 PM

    “The schools are safe”.

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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:44 PM

    @Vanessa: – the 14 day infection rate of school going children on the 21/12/2020, when the schools closed for Christmas was 15.5% – after the schools were closed for two months the infection rate on the 21/02/2021 of the same group was still 15.5%. Having the schools open or closed does little to affect the infection rate in school going children, they are on average as safe going to school as they are staying at home. There was an increase in the rate when the clocked changed interestingly. This could be dark evening, Halloween, sports, or a host of other things but the case rate in school going does not support the idea that children are safer with either the schools open or closed.

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    Mute Vanessa
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:56 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: “but the case rate in school going does not support the idea that children are safer with either the schools open or closed”

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    Mute Declan Doherty
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:59 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: If this data is correct then why are the government prioritising schools reopening over businesses ? If schools make no difference to infection rates then just reopen them and prioritise peoples livelihoods instead. Also, it’s not just about infection rates in students. Once schools go back parents will naturally be moving about again along with everyone who supported them, cleaning staff, drivers etc. There’ll be a considerable relaxing of behaviours by a large portion of society and the government, who’ve already lost control, will have no other options left to try. They’re rushing this at the expense of everyone else and it’s a big gamble.

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    Mute Peter Fitton
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    Feb 26th 2021, 1:02 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: Might wanna double check the logic.

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    Mute NotMyIreland
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:26 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: The article states that that precentage was 20.1% for school age kids in the last two weeks. So is the precentage already rising before schools are open? Also as the close contact positivity rate has more than doubled in the time period you are comparing well does it not suggest that when kids go back to school and increase the number of close contacts they have that there will be more cases than December? I’m also not sure comparing data that is different for two main reasons, new variant and closed schools, is relevant at all.

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    Mute Paddy Fox
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    Feb 26th 2021, 3:58 PM

    @NotMyIreland: I’ve done a few stints as a substitute teacher in a secondary school since September. Windows and doors were left open. Students wore hats and coats. They all wore masks. I wore a mask unless I was alone at the top of the class. There was plenty of hand gel and also wipes for students to wipe down their desks. At least three times per day there was a supervised break where classes could leave the room and get fresh air. Each class stayed together, there was no mixing with other classes. Teachers could not distribute handouts or collect copies.
    I contrast all the above with young people meeting up outside of school in unrestricted settings and the increased possibilities for infection this brings.

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    Mute Paddy Fox
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    Feb 26th 2021, 4:01 PM

    @Paddy Fox: in addition, any work given was completed and corrected using Google classroom. All surfaces were sanitised at the end of the day. An extra staffroom was created and tables were rearranged to maintain distancing. The school had a covid inspection in the autumn.

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    Mute emer mcdonnell
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    Feb 26th 2021, 5:28 PM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: the new more transmissable variant was not here when schools closed for Christmas so those stats aren’t helpful. Time will tell in a few weeks how many children come down with it. A gamble the government are very willing to take it seems, without having put any additional safety measures in place.

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    Mute Munster1
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:49 PM

    The great UK variant school experiment.

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    Mute Jennifer Kelly
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:27 PM

    Maybe sort out the ports!!!

    56
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    Mute Greg
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:50 PM

    Schools going back way to soon , new Strain discovered in Ireland , and sending kids back to school no canteens opened in the schools so the leaving cert students up the town mixing no masks

    44
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    Mute Miss T
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:49 PM

    I’d love to see the logic in sending back the junior classes – the classes of school age children who can’t/don’t wear masks? Why they didn’t wait till after the Easter break, give it another month for lowering case numbers?

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    Mute Ger Power
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    Feb 26th 2021, 3:18 PM

    I teach in Youthreach in Dublin. We have our 2nd year Leaving Certificate Applied group back from Monday. All my colleagues and I can’t wait to get back to our centre to work as the online learning has been a struggle for many our students (no laptops, no wifi, extra supports needed etc etc). However the concern for staff is that many of our students have been ignoring guidelines and restrictions. One student missed his midterm review session as he had been at a ‘mad 21st party the night before which was great craic’. Another student slagged my hair which has not been cut since November saying ‘sure all the barbers are open in Dublin you just go around back or under the shutter’.

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    Mute Declan Doherty
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    Feb 26th 2021, 5:06 PM

    @Ger Power: My daughter has the same concerns. She’s been following the guidelines but from next week she’ll be forced to sit bedside people who’ve been ignoring them and hanging out in large groups. She’s just spent the last afternoon with her grandparents who we’ll all have to stay away from now till they’re vaccinated . No matter what happens, Norma and Michael will just keep spinning the party line that schools are safe and cases will be either swept under the carpet or put down as community transmission as they were last year. I couldn’t have any less confidence in Norma’s ability to manage this situation.

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    Mute Jakie McLean
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    Feb 26th 2021, 11:35 PM

    @Declan Doherty: you are right. Have absolutely no confidence or respect for Norma’s management ability

    8
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    Mute Alan Barry
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:51 PM

    To be clear too – Niamh O Beirne works as a consultant for EY. The HSE are outsourcing many key roles. http://www.ey.com/en_ie/people/niamh-o-beirne

    24
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    Mute Henri Poincaré
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    Feb 26th 2021, 1:52 PM

    @Alan Barry: looking at her CV, I’m wondering how she is qualified for the role?

    19
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    Mute Ann Nugent
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    Feb 26th 2021, 1:46 PM

    Hope their all vaccinated ,including staff

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    Mute Diana Doll
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    Feb 26th 2021, 2:26 PM

    @Ann Nugent: No, they’re not.

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    Mute Alan Barry
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:51 PM

    To be clear too – Niamh O Beirne works as a consultant for EY. The HSE are outsourcing many key roles rather than building internal capacity.

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    Mute Alan Barry
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    Feb 26th 2021, 12:51 PM

    To be clear too – Niamh O Beirne works as a consultant for EY. The HSE are outsourcing many key roles. https://www.ey.com/en_ie/people/niamh-o-beirne

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    Mute Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin
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    Feb 26th 2021, 1:53 PM

    Yawn

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