| Share power or Assembly faces closure
NORTHERN Secretary of State Peter Hain has warned that the Province’s
Assembly could be closed down if its politicians don’t participate
in a power-sharing executive.
If the executive is not set-up by March 26, Mr Hain said he would have
no choice but to abolish the Stormont institution.
He said the recent elections were a tremendous opportunity to move forward.
He added that there is every prospect of an executive being established
by the deadline, with DUP leader Ian Paisley as First Minister and Sinn
Féin’s Martin McGuinness as deputy.
rent rise
RENTS in Ireland have increased by over 10 per cent in the last year according
to a new report.
The study by property website Daft.ie has found that the average national
rent now stands at @1,334.
The Dublin 2 area has seen the biggest rises over the last 12 months with
rents for one and two-bedroom apartments increasing by over 20 per cent.
Outside of Dublin, Limerick has seen the strongest growth with rents up
by more than 12 per cent.
public services
A CAMPAIGN has been launched to get Ireland’s support to protect
Europe’s public services.
One million signatures are being sought by a federation of public service
unions to stop growing privatisation in the EU.
This involves getting legislation in place to help national governments
to maintain quality service standards, instead of taking the privatisation
route.
Trade unionists argue that there is no public demand to privatise Eircom,
Aer Lingus or to break up Aer Rianta and EU internal market laws are too
liberal to have prevented it.
The petition is aimed at stopping the EU’s free market rules from
determining the level and quality of public services that governments
like Ireland’s can provide.
amicus survey
THE Fianna Fáil/PD partnership is running neck and neck with the
alternative rainbow coalition according to a new poll of trade union members.
Two thousand Amicus workers from across the manufacturing, financial,
construction and engineering sectors were surveyed by e-mail at the start
of March.
Almost 20 per cent said a Fianna Fáil/PD pairing would best suit
their needs and aspirations while the same number favoured a coalition
of Fine Gael, Labour, Greens and independents.
Almost 10 per cent want Fianna Fáil and Labour to enter government
together while 12 per cent want a Fine Gael/Labour pairing.
A third of those polled are still undecided |
