A speed limit of 30 km/h is to be recommended for many roads across Ireland in one of the biggest overhauls of speed limits the country has ever seen. The speed limit of 30 km/h will apply to all urban centres, residential roads, and anywhere with a lot of pedestrians or cyclists.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has overwhelmingly voted no confidence in Commissioner Drew Harris. Gardaí are currently engaged in a major industrial relations row with Harris over his decision to push through a working time roster they believe will adversely affect members. Other issues cited by the union include the retention of staff, discipline processes and the feeling that gardaí are unable to engage in robust policing in response to anti-social behaviour.
Meanwhile, Unions at RTÉ say they had no prior knowledge of the recruitment freeze, which was announced in an email to staff yesterday by Director General Kevin Bakhurst. RTÉ Trade Union Group Secretary Cearbhall Ó Síocháin described the announcement as a "bolt from the blue" and said a recruitment freeze will have a "detrimental impact" on workers and their ability to do their work.
And the new president of the TUC has hit out at the Government over its “toxic cocktail” of attacks against unions. Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, was elected as TUC president at the end of the TUC Congress in Liverpool.
In other news, Astellas, a global Japanese pharmaceutical company specialising in transplant, kidney, bladder and cancer drugs, is to invest more than €330 million in a new facility on a 45-acre site in Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Finally, animal lovers are being offered the opportunity to pay tribute to their late pets as a pet memorial garden opened its gates in Dublin last week, the first of its kind in Ireland. The Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) Pet Memorial Garden offers offer grieving owners a space where they can remember their pets. Located on the grounds of the DSPCA Centre in Rathfarnham, Dublin the memorial garden opened to the public on Friday, 8 September.
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