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 Portuguese Motorway employees allege unfair conditions by their employer, named as ‘RAC Eire Partnership’; while building a section of the N7 motorway, between Limerick and Nenagh.
Mr Armando Agostinho Alves da Silva, a Portuguese construction worker has claimed, in the High Court, that he and his colleagues lived in deplorable conditions at a work camp in Co. Tipperary. The camp, now demolished, was provided by his former employers, while they were building a section of the N7 motorway, between Limerick and Nenagh, back in the years 2007 and 2008.
Twenty workers allege they were underpaid while working for three Portuguese companies, latter who traded under the name ‘RAC Eire Partnership’. Mr Da Silva told Ms Justice Carmel Stewart that they were expected to begin work at 7.00am and continue until 10.00pm or 11.00pm at night. He and up to 90 other Portuguese workers were obliged to live in a cramped prefab outside the town of Nenagh, in Co. Tipperary, with six to eight persons allocated to a single room, latter which lacked even the very basic facilities.
Showers did not always work all of the time and clean water was undrinkable. Bags of rubbish from the facility provided, were not always collected on time and there was a constant smell from waste water. There were no cooking facilities in the building and meals were only provided by their employer on working days, while on days off they were obliged to fend for themselves. Deductions made from wages for this accommodation and for domestic laundry were not deemed as being reasonable by the workforce.
Following a later take-over by a new company, Mr Da Silva was moved into a house in the locality and received an increase in pay and shorter working hours.
The Portuguese construction workers have now taken proceedings against three allied companies, namely (1) Portuguese-based Rosas Construtores SA, (2) Constructocoes Gabriel AS Couto SA, and (3) Empresa Deconstrucoes Amandio Carvalho SA, all of which traded as RAC Eire Partnership.
This case is just the latest in a similar number of actions to come to the attention of the High Court. One similar case, back in 2016, saw 27 workers awarded €1.5 million.
The case continues.
 Lisheen Mine Site, near Moyne, Thurles, Co. Tipperary Deputy Michael Lowry TD has welcomed the announcement, by Minister Heather Humphreys, that the site known as Lisheen Mines, which closed with the loss of some 400 employees at its peak in 2015/16, has now been chosen as the site of a National Bio-economy Centre.
This is an exciting development with the Government having agreed to allocate €4.5 Million Euro from the Regional Enterprise Development Fund for the former mining location situated near the village of Moyne, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. This initiative is in line with present Government policy to invest and devolve enterprise and jobs into the Mid-Tipperary region.
Deputy Lowry stated, “The site at Lisheen is one of the best and most strategic sites in the country. I am delighted that painstaking and time-consuming research, together with detailed planning has now converged to give the county a major project with enormous potential into the future. It combines the particular interests of the 5 publicly funded partners to the project and the private interests they involve.”
“The partnership of Enterprise Ireland, L.I.T., U.C.D., T.C.D. and Tipperary County Council is a premium package with attractive synergies which will guarantee a very exciting project. The State funding for this project, sanctioned by the Government to increase investment and job opportunities in Tipperary is most welcome. It will bring renewed life and reinvigorate the closed Lisheen site, to become a flagship technological innovation centre that will offer enormous opportunities for the future”, the Deputy continued.
In all over €14 million Euro has been approved for projects in the Southern Region, with more than 11 million Euro in all for identified projects in the Eastern and Midlands Region, and a welcome €5 million Euro approved for the Northern and Western regions.
Tipperary Education and Training Centre (ETB) will be opening a new Further Education and Training Centre in the Archerstown Business Park, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Same venue will provide training for Apprenticeship Learners in the form of training courses of durations of between 20-22 weeks, with several student intakes per year. Their accommodation needs will vary from 4 nights to 7 nights a week while these training programmes are running.
Tipperary ETB are now inviting expressions of interest from accommodation providers within the Thurles locality, which can be included on the Tipperary ETB accommodation list for those involved in Apprenticeship courses.
If interested please contact Mr Tony Perez on Tel: (051) 640745 or Email tperez@tipperaryetb for an application form. This form can also be downloaded from HERE.
The packing company, Kalafatis Packing, appeared before Shepparton Magistrate’s Court, Victoria in south-eastern Australia, yesterday on charges in relation to an incident in 2015, at its packing shed in Shepparton East.
The incident involved related to causing extensive injuries to Irish native, Miss Annie Dunne, Kilkeary, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Miss Dunne suffered severe injuries to her scalp and to one ear when her hair got caught in a mechanical conveyor belt, situated at a packing shed in Shepparton Victoria, back in November of 2015.
The company Kalafatis Packing, which ran the business, initially faced ten charges, however same have since been reduced to two, for which the company are expected to plead guilty.
It is understood Miss Dunne, on the date in question, was working to fulfil the 89 days of regional work required to extend her working holiday visa. Local news reports state Miss Dunne was cleaning a pear distribution conveyor belt, when her hair became entangled in a rotating drive shaft. It is reported that interlock guards had been removed and had not been replaced at the time of the accident.
A further plea and sentencing is expected to take place on January 11th 2018 at Shepparton Magistrate’s Court, and the work-site will be inspected prior to that date, to observe all safety upgrades installed.
The packing company were fined €42,000 and had to pay another €5,150 in legal costs.
 Education While as yet there is no immediate prospect of disruption to second level education; the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) today have rejected the new public service pay agreement, by a narrow margin of 51.5% against and 48.5% in favour.
The voting turnout was 64%, and the result is understood to reflect concerns over the failure to address the issue of pay for staff recruited since 2011, latter understood to be losing up to €6,000 annually when compared to their longer-serving colleagues.
The Union’s 180 strong Central Executive Committee is now expected to meet early in November 2017, to decide their next move, which will undoubtedly include a possibility of the resumption of industrial action, latter suspended earlier this year pending the outcome of the ballot result today.
The Irish National Teacher’s Organisation and the Teacher’s Union of Ireland have similarly rejected this agreement, but continue to participate in a new process, aimed in principal to address pay inequality.
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