The council wasn’t hiring a municipal walker, but she took the job anyway
Once a month since September 2022, artist Lian Bell has done a full circuit of the North and South Circular Roads, observing these 14km through the seasons.
Figures out there for rates of precarious in Ireland work vary wildly, because there’s no agreed definition of the term. Something needs to be done, writes a researcher for the think tank TASC.
There was low turnout to this month’s council meeting at City Hall, but the councillors who turned up talked about making Dublin dementia-friendly, tackling bogus self-employment, and more.
Right now, a blow to even a single large player could have serious consequences for a lot of real jobs, writes UCD political economy lecturer Andy Storey.
They say companies are cutting paperwork corners in ways that can mean less pay, or at least fewer benefits, for the workers.
Legally, there should be no such thing as an “unpaid internship”, says employment solicitor Richard Grogan.
When workers are recruited from outside the EU to come to Ireland, their spouses are rarely able to get work permits – often leaving them listless and frustrated.
The government says it has increased its spending on the sector, plans to increase it more, and is planning an independent review.
Richard Grogan, a solicitor specialising in employment law, says he believes people with Stamp 1G or Stamp 3 statuses are being excluded because of “ignorance”, rather than anything else.
A government-backed effort to regenerate the area has been asking big firms at the International Financial Services Centre to hire locally. So far, it’s had limited success.
Some are concerned that many workers on building sites are falsely being classed as self-employed to keep costs down. It means they’ll miss out on supports if they lose their jobs.
Several restaurant managers said that they need to try out workers to see if they are any good. Some employees say this is unfair.
Being treated as self-employed and if-and-when contracts make working in the sector a struggle, say some.