This afternoon.

Killeigh, county Offaly.

Workers evacuated from factory fire in Co Offaly (RTÉ)

Pa Sheehy – Through The Fields

Fields of gold.

Former Walking On Cars frontman Pa Sheehy (top) hits another home run with the latest single from his solo EP The Art Of Disappearing.

Pa says:

“The EP title comes from my need to go away from social media and the world to make something. I used to love artists and bands who would stay low key for two years and then announce that they’ve got a new record. That excites me so much.

“So this EP is what I’ve created in my reclusive state. Songs that I’ve written and recorded but only truly come to life when released. ‘Through The Fields’ is a song where I wanted to capture the sense of community in a small town when a family is faced with loss. The first verse paints my childhood Sundays while verse two brings up the realities of saying goodbye to someone.”

Nick says: Kerry gold.

Pa Sheehy

From top: Hector with…’Black Paddy’ (from Nigeria to Kildare); Ziggy & Iveta Kislina and their children (from Latvia to Mullingar); Victor Bayda (from Russia to Kerry) and Yemi & Deji Adenuga (from Nigeria to Navan)

Staying In Thursday?

Via TG4:

Hector is taking us on a whirlwind tour of Ireland meeting all the great people from overseas who now call Ireland their home. From Brazil to the Congo, Canada to Ghana, Russia to Syria, he’s in search of answers of who they are, why they came, how they settled in and how Ireland is treating them. These people are the changing face of Ireland – This is Hector’s ‘Éire Nua’.

Hector – Éire Nua: Thursdays from September 30 on TG4 at 9.30pm.

Pics: Andrew Downes

Dublin City Council councillor Christy Burke has stepped down as chairman of Inner City Helping Homeless

This morning/afternoon.

Further to the resignation last night of former Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke as chairman of Inner City Helping Homeless, a role he took on following the death of Anthony Flynn.

…Via Breakingnews.ie:

…As only one board member remains from the original 15, the charity now faces two options according to sources. The appointment of a liquidator which could result in the winding up of the charity or else an inspector being legally charged by the Charities Regulator to examine the organisation.

A new board had been due to meet last Monday following the proposed appointment of Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon as its new chairman along with Clare O’Connor, a previous board member, and Gavin Elliot, a barrister, as two trustees.

An Emergency General Meeting (EGM) scheduled for last Tuesday was scheduled to take place but was postponed due to Mr Gannon, Ms O’Connor and Mr Elliot withdrawing from the nominations.

…Meanwhile, a woman is expected to be co-opted onto Dublin City Council next month to fill Mr Flynn’s seat

Anyone?

Christy Burke steps down as Inner City Helping Homeless chair (breakingnews.ie)

‘We believe more victims will now come forward’ – gardaí continue investigation into claims against late Anthony Flynn (Maeve Sheehan, Sunday Independent)

RollingNews

Incendiary.

Meanwhile…

The introduction of vaccine passports in Northern Ireland is a “no brainer“, the infrastructure minister has said.

SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon said she has raised the issue at Stormont executive meetings on “a number of occasions”.

“It’s frustrating that we’re still sitting having this discussion,” Ms Mallon told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme.

Covid-19 vaccine passports a ‘no brainer’, says Nichola Mallon (BBC)

This afternoon.

Via the Data Protection Commissioner:

As the economy and society continue to open up with the lessening of COVID-19 restrictions, many employers are seeking to understand what information they can process in relation to their employees return to the workplace. In particular, as the rollout of the National Vaccination Programme progresses, the question has been raised as to whether employers can lawfully collect and process information about the COVID-19 vaccination status of their employees.

As a general position, the DPC considers that, in the absence of clear advice from public health authorities in Ireland that it is necessary for all employers and managers of workplaces to establish vaccination status of employees and workers, the processing of vaccine data is likely to represent unnecessary and excessive data collection for which no clear legal basis exists. This is particularly the case when there is no public health advice pertaining to what the purpose of such data collection would be. For example, advice as to what employers would be expected to do with knowledge of vaccination status of workers i.e. to send non-vaccinated workers home or segregate vaccinated and non-vaccinated workers in workplaces?

Specific Employment Contexts

The processing of health data in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in all contexts, should be guided by the Government’s public health policies. The current version of the Work Safely Protocol: COVID-19 National Protocol for Employers and Workers suggests that there are a limited set of circumstances in which vaccination should be offered as a workplace health and safety measure (as provided for under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Biological Agents) Regulations 2013 and 2020).

There may be further situations, such as in the provision of frontline healthcare services, where vaccination can be considered a necessary safety measure, based on relevant sector specific guidance. For example, the Medical Council’s Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners states that practitioners “should be vaccinated against common communicable diseases”. In these situations, it is likely that an employer will be in a position to lawfully process vaccine data on the basis of necessity.

Data Minimisation

The Work Safely Protocol: COVID-19 National Protocol for Employers and Workers also states that, “Irrespective of the vaccination roll-out, Public Health infection prevention and control measures (such as physical distancing, hand hygiene, face coverings, adequate ventilation), and working from home unless an employee’s physical presence in the workplace is necessary, will all need to remain in place”.

This makes it clear that there remains a full suite of measures that employers should employ to maintain workplace safety before considering whether knowledge of vaccination status is a necessary measure. In accordance with the principle of data minimisation, employers should implement all such measures that avoid processing the personal data of employees in the first place.

Voluntary Nature of Vaccination

Information about a person’s vaccination status is special category personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. It represents part of their personal health record, and is afforded additional protections under data protection law. The Work Safely Protocol: COVID-19 National Protocol for Employers and Workers states that the decision to get a vaccine is voluntary and that individuals will make their own decisions in this regard. This further suggests that COVID-19 vaccination should not in general be considered a necessary workplace safety measure and consequently, the processing of vaccine data is unlikely to be necessary or proportionate in the employment context.

Due to the nature of the National Vaccine Programme, individual workers are not in control of when they will receive a vaccine, and due to its age-based nature many younger workers will not be fully vaccinated for several months. For these reasons, it is not clear that processing vaccination status can be considered a necessary or proportionate measure in most employment situations. In addition, the long-term efficacy of vaccination in terms of immunity is not yet clear i.e. where new COVID variants may arise, or vaccine top-ups may be required. For these reasons, there does not appear to be a sufficiently evidence based justification to consider that knowledge and processing of vaccination status can be considered necessary in employment at this time.

The processing of personal data in the context of employment takes place in a situation where there is an imbalance between the data subject (employee) and data controller (employer). Therefore, employees should not be asked to consent to the processing of vaccine data as this consent is not likely to be freely given.

Medical Officer of Health

In the course of carrying out their public health duties under the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981, as amended, a Medical Officer of Health may require access to the vaccination status of employees. This limited type of processing is specifically permissible under data protection law where carried out on a case- by-case basis, subject to the determination of necessity and at the request of the Medical Officer of Heath.

Employees and Travel

Situations may arise where employers need to be made aware of when an employee will be available for work after travelling to Ireland from abroad and undergoing any required periods of self-isolation. It should not be strictly necessary for employee’s vaccination status to be recorded in such instances, rather the employee can be asked to indicate the date on which they will be in a position to return to work.

Processing COVID-19 Vaccination Data in the context of Employment (DPC)

Earlier: Can He Get Lower?

Meanwhile…

 

This morning.

Via RTÉ News:

The report by myhome.ie claims prices in Dublin were 7.3% higher in the period between July and September compared to the same three months in 2020.

Daft.ie’s analysis, however, puts that rate of price growth in the capital at 4.9%.

Myhome.ie calculates that outside of Dublin inflation ran at around 10.1% over the period.

This compares to daft.ie’s estimate, which puts the increase during the quarter outside of the main cities at 12.9% year on year.

Despite the differences in the findings of the two reports, both agree that the rate of residential property price inflation continues to be driven by a chronic lack of supply and high demand.

Asking prices for homes rose 9% in third quarter, but rate eases (RTÉ)

RollingNews

Ah here.

Also: YIKES!

Saturday’s Guardian magazine.

The Transformation of Greta Thunberg (The Guardian)

Meanwhile….

Um.

Meanwhile…

Ah here.

Broadsheet.ie