In the Irish Times today there's a focus on Section 39 agencies. Stephen Farrell reports from Enable Ireland in Limerick: “It’s very disheartening, people I trained with doing the exact same job, but getting more pay,” says Anna Scully (40),a clinical nurse manager in the Enable Ireland, where she manages a number of teams of nurses, adult support workers and social care workers."
A new Department of Education report has found that relationships between teachers and SNAs can be challenging and lead to tension in the classroom over teaching and learning. It says challenges can arise when an SNA becomes “over-familiar” with a student and their family, and while teachers and SNAs enjoy a good working relationship, it can "get frayed in instances where a teacher is newly assigned to a classroom with an SNA who is more familiar with the class and students."
Elsewhere, the Irish community in Los Angeles are pulling together as wildfires continue to destroy homes in California, while in Dublin delivery riders are struggling with low pay and insufficient working hours, while the risk of attack means they avoid certain areas of the capital altogether.
Finally, John Fitzgerald writes in the Irish Times today about differing pay patterns in the public and private sectors, and the challenge of retention of skilled public service workers: "Moving away from the traditional model for determining public-sector pay holds many dangers. It could imperil the relative peace in industrial relations experienced in recent decades. However, unless there is greater flexibility in future public pay deals, to provide better rewards where staff shortages are most acute, a deterioration in public services may be the outcome."
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