Dear Deputy, 

I am mailing to invite you to the launch of the Irish leg of an international campaign for a four-day working week. 4-Day Week Ireland will be launched at 10.30am on Thursday 26th September at the Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin, D02 HH58.

The launch event will include contributions from Irish and New Zealand-based employers who have successfully implemented four-day working arrangements in their businesses. There will also be academic, trade union, women’s rights, and environmentalist contributions.

The event will outline the business, societal, environmental, personal and other benefits that could arise from the adoption of shorter working time, in all sectors of the economy, in the context of technological change and new forms of work organisation.

The programme for the launch is:

10.30: Registration opens
11.00: Welcome and introduction (Joe O’Connor, Director of Campaigning, Fórsa)
11.15: The history of reduced working hours (Laura Bambrick, Social Policy Officer, ICTU)
11.30: A 4-day week in Ireland (Aileen O’Carroll, Maynooth University)
11.45: Andrew Barnes (founder of Perpetual Guardian, New Zealand)
12.00: The benefits of a 4-day week: Panel discussion with Orla O’Connor (Director, National

            Women’s Council of Ireland), Margaret Cox (Chief Executive Officer, ICE),

            and Oisín Coghlan (Director, Friends of the Earth Ireland)
12.15: Closing address (Kevin Callinan, General Secretary, Fórsa)
12.25: Questions
12.45: Close.

We look forward to seeing you at this important event on 26th September.

Please RSVP to joconnor@forsa.ie.

Yours,

Kevin Callinan
General Secretary, Fórsa