A roundup of today's other home news stories in brief
President urges surveyors to be ‘radiators of hope’
President Mary McAleese has urged chartered surveyors to be “radiators of hope” and not “drains” in the battle against the recession, reports .
Speaking at the annual dinner of the Society of Chartered Surveyors in Dublin last night, Mrs McAleese said she realised the recession had hit their industry “like a tsunami” but added that the “fuel of hope” needed to be drawn on to create a new future.
“You didn’t come here tonight to have you hearts broken; neither did you come here to be fed an unrealistic Pollyanna view of the present or the future . . . around these tables we can be radiators of hope or we can be drains.”
The Society of Chartered Surveyors has predicted that 40,000 more jobs will be lost in the property and construction sector in 2010.
Society president Ken Cribbin said the Government’s failure to tackle the unemployment crisis in the sector was “totally unacceptable” and called for a “construction chief” to be appointed.
Registration of properties affected
THE industrial action in the public service is affecting the full registration of titles to property, writes Martin Wall, Industry Correspondent.
The chief executive of the Property Registration Authority (PRA), Catherine Treacy, yesterday told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee that, from earlier this week, staff have not been signing off on the notice of completion that finalises registration of property.
About 250,000 staff in the public service are engaged in industrial action in protest at pay cuts. Yesterday, lower-paid civil servants in the Civil Public and Services Union refused to answer phones in the Oireachtas, the Revenue Commissioners, the State Solicitor’s Office and the Departments of Health and Defence.
Meanwhile, trade union Siptu has told the HSE to set out where its members in the radiation therapy service had failed patients in the course of the dispute. On Tuesday, the HSE warned of patient safety concerns over the impact of the action on radiation therapy services, particularly in Cork, and sought an exemption for the speciality from the dispute.
Into calls for U-turn on supply teachers
The INTO has called on Minister for Education and Science Batt O’Keeffe to reverse the decision to abolish panels of supply teachers.
The union says the Minister should follow the recommendations of a consultants’ report to the department and reform the system. Established in 1993, the Teacher Supply Panel scheme helps schools provide substitute cover for short-term teacher absences.
It comprises 60 teachers, and covers more than 200 schools.
Incoming INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said it “provides schools with . . . substitute teachers who are fully up-to-date with the curriculum. The supply teachers know and are known by principals, teachers, pupils and parents in the schools which they serve. They are familiar with the ethos of each school, and can provide continuity in teaching.”
Honesty just the ticket for rugby fan
A Cork rugby fan who found 16 tickets for tomorrow’s Six Nations clash between Ireland and Italy was yesterday being hailed for his honesty after he and his wife managed to track down the worried owner of the tickets and return them to him.
Paul O’Donoghue and his wife Callie found the tickets on Liberty Street on Wednesday night when they spotted an envelope lying on the pavement. They contacted gardaí to try and track down the owner and were later contacted by Brian McMahon. He repaid them with a bottle of wine and an offer to donate €100 to a charity nominated by the Cork couple, who selected Down Syndrome Ireland as their preferred beneficiary.