Category Archives: News

news as it is happening-ish

Recruitment agencies? Greedy and exploitative? Surely not.

Pat Byrne (above), chief executive of aviation software specialist Rainmaker and chairman of airline Cityjet, says recruitment agencies have become too dominant and are charging employers exorbitant and unsustainable commissions.

He says agencies seek up to 28 per cent of the salary of anyone hired by a client company. In the case of software engineers and other similarly qualified staff, this could come to between €14,000 and €19,000.

Oh.

Job Agencies Accused Of Driving Up Costs Of IT Staff (Irish Times)

pic: IIBN


Behold: the government’s proposed new performance-measuring points system for civil service managers who, according to an internal review, fail to manage (and erroneously promote or reward) sub-standard staff.

You at the back. Pay attention there:

The system involves a sliding five-point scale. Five points is “outstanding”, four points “exceeds the required standard”, three points is “fully acceptable”, two points “needs improvement”, while one point is “unacceptable”.

The expert group that drew up the scale anticipated that – based on other organisations – up to 10 per cent of staff would score a single point, while up to 20 per cent would score two points.

However, an internal review of the system found a majority of civil servants – 65 per cent – were awarded between four and five points by their managers during 2010.

In contrast, just 1 per cent of staff were assessed at between one and two points.

Meanwhile, eh, only yesterday.

Senior civil servants to face sanction for failing to manage staff (Irish Times)

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The report is designed to provide a roadmap for the transfer of Catholic schools to other patrons. In the first phase, it recommends 43 towns and four Dublin areas where there is likely to be substantial demand for diversity.

This will involve 18 dioceses and scrutiny of 250 schools, of which about 50 may be divested. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has said he hopes to see 1,500 of the 3,000 Catholic primary schools divested. The report is much more cautious. It backs a three-stage process as follows:

* The department gathers information on the demand for divestment through parental surveys;

* Various school patrons provide the Department of Education with a range of options for divestment after consultations with school communities;

* The department evaluates the options and submits a report to the Minister.

 

Gather information. Provide a range of options. Report to the minister.

Yes. This may take some time.

No ‘Big Bang’ On Changes To Schools Patronage (Sean Flynn, Irish Times)

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Above: John Daly, Goldman Sachs Group, New York; Martin Kelly, vice-president of worldwide information technology; Una Fox, vice-president of technology, Walt Disney Company and Conor Allen, global head of technology, NYSE Euronext.

THE HEAD of the Irish Technology Leadership Group in California has urged the Government to move quickly to secure the services of top business executives who have offered to serve on state boards without payment.

But Mr [John] Hartnett [founder of the ITLG] said Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, who was keen on the project when it was first suggested last year, had not yet been in contact to finalise details of the scheme.

“I would urge the Government to move quickly on this,” Mr Hartnett said.

High powered advice for free at our time of greatest need?

Surely, a way will be found to make an utter bags of this.

Move Urged On Securing Executives’ Free Services (Irish Times)

Spring is arriving earlier each year and it is turning the tight relationships between birds, trees and insects on their head.

The amount of change is significant, said Dr Alison Donnelly of Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for the Environment. Beech trees growing on Valentia Island, Co Kerry, now begin breaking leaf a full month earlier than they did 40 years ago, she said.

Birds that migrate from the sub-Sahara now tend to arrive about seven days earlier than in the past, including the common cuckoo, bard swallow and sand martin. But this is late compared to their main food source, the insects, whose numbers rocket weeks earlier as they feed on sap delivered by the opening leaves.

Have you spotted any anomalous bird, insect or tree behaviour?

All ‘What the hell is up with this bird/insect/tree, Broadsheet?’ sightings to: broadsheet@broadsheet.ie

Warm Spring Upsets Links Between Birds, Insects And Trees (Irish Times)

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A ‘No’ vote in the upcoming May 31st referendum will damage Ireland’s ability to borrow, according to a ‘major international financial institute’ which sez (without a scintilla of irony):

“Our general view on the Irish situation is: here’s your success story, and what we’re hopeful for is that that success story doesn’t get bumped off course.”

The institute, which draws its directors from Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, UBS, HSBC and Morgan Stanley, has told its members to be on alert for three strands of news from Ireland: economic performance following a new wave of fiscal austerity; opinion polls on the referendum; and “the rise of Sinn Féin” in polls.

“One of the things we notice is: Sinn Féin is quite supportive of taking a tough line on the promissory note issue. That’s something which will make international investors nervous,” (institute chief economist) Mr (Phil) Suttle said.

International investors. Mmf. We owe them so much.

Bankers Warn Of No Vote Risk As EU Treaty Date Set (Irish Times)

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RETAILER GAME has closed all of its stores in the State with the loss of 121 jobs after the group went into administration. Administrators appointed yesterday also closed most of its stores in Northern Ireland, cutting 110 jobs.

The Game Group became the latest retailer to go into administration, after the company last week suspended its listing on the London Stock Exchange and said it was seeking the protection of the courts.

Only five outlets in Ireland will survive the cull – all in the North.

Game Closes All Shops In Republic (Irish Times)

The Death Of The High Street Game Retailer (IGN)

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Above: Hogan, Burton and protestors at the National Stadium on Saturday showing the number of people they claim won’t pay the Household charge.

Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan last night flatly contradicted a statement made earlier in the day by Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton.

She suggested at lunchtime yesterday that arrangements were being made to allow people to pay the household charge through their local post office.

Ms Burton also described next Saturday’s deadline for the payment of the charge as “ambitious” although she urged people to pay by the deadline.

Mr Hogan told The Irish Times later that there had been no change in the arrangements for payment of the charge and no change in the deadline.

*popcorn*

Ministers At Odds Over Payment Of Household Charge (Stephen Collins and Fiona Gartland, Irish Times)

Nearly 9,000 Payments Per Hour Needed To Meet Next Friday’s Deadline (Paul Melia, Irish Independent)

(Photocall Ireland)