by Niall Shanahan
 
Joan O’Connell speaking to the TUC in 1968
Joan O’Connell speaking to the TUC in 1968

Elsewhere at the weekend, TheJournal.ie reported that the government doesn’t appear keen on the prospect of a four-day week in the public service.

 

If your work takes you out on the road this morning, particularly on the west coast, take it easy out there, there's a status yellow wind warning from Met Éireann is in place for seven counties.

 

Elsewhere in brief, details of a climate action Bill are to be published today, government departments and agencies which fail to deliver on the new climate commitments will be punished with reduced funding. The news cycle always focuses on overcrowding in hospitals at this time of year, with reports today that ambulance personnel in Co Clare had to undertake a round-trip of more than 900km to Tipperary and Cork during one 12-hour shift over the weekend.

 

In September 1968 Joan O’Connell, a Dublin trade unionist, made an impassioned speech at Britain’s Trade Union Congress in Blackpool. Her speech took place against the backdrop of the Ford dispute at Dagenham in June 1968, when women sewing machinists had staged a three-week strike in support of equal pay. The speech has now been included in in a new book about inspirational speeches by women by Labour MP and former cabinet minister Yvette Cooper. She Speaks: The Power of Women’s Voices, also includes a speech by Irish disabilities campaigner Joanne O’Riordan.

 

Your Zen this morning follows Lankum's brilliant performance in Dublin's Vicar Street at the weekend. The band were on top form, a huge sound, songs dripping with emotion, pathos, wit and wickedness. Songs of loss and lusty defiance. Spider Stacy of The Pogues joined them for a tune. Incredible atmosphere in Vicar Street. I was beaming ear to ear all night. Top class.

 

They played this one and it stuck with me.

 

Have a good week...and a great decade to follow, and please support our school secretaries on Friday.

 

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