Emmet Malone

6 days ago | irishtimes.com | Emmet Malone

The provision of speech and language therapy and occupational therapy in special education schools is to be expanded from the start of the next academic year. The expanded provision has been confirmed by Minister for Education Helen McEntee, who said the move would coincide with the establishment of a national therapy service in education, a measure committed to in the recent programme for government.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Emmet Malone

Former trade union official Louise O’Donnell has been appointed Labour Court chairwoman, succeeding Kevin Foley, who held the position of chairman for almost a decade. Ms Foley is a veteran of the world of industrial relations and was previously involved with the trade union Impact, which is now part of Fórsa, and was elected to its central executive before joining its staff.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Emmet Malone

The Irish Writers Union (IWU) plans to take legal action to protect the copyright of authors if tech companies including Meta continue to use their work for artificial intelligence (AI) without agreement. Author Conor Kostick, a member of the IWU, said 52 of his works, including 24 books, have been “scraped”, or copied from the internet, and used by Meta’s AI model without his permission.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Emmet Malone

Ireland’s trade unions have accused the Government of using economic uncertainty created by the Trump administration in the United States to take “a wrecking ball to recent wins on workers’ rights”. After a meeting of its executive on Wednesday, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), to which more than 40 unions are affiliated, described as “anti-worker” the Action Plan of Competitiveness announced this week by Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Emmet Malone

Almost half of 701 firms surveyed for a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment assessment of the impact statutory sick leave (SSL) was having on companies offered better terms than the minimum ones required by the legislation. The results of the survey formed the basis for a report completed on October, but just published, intended to inform the Minister for Enterprise’s consideration of whether to extend the existing five days of SSL to seven this year as had originally been envisaged.