Tag Archives: UCD

OLDER workers in Clare are being urged to get in touch with an Ennis-born researcher and his team at University College Dublin (UCD), with a view to sharing their employment experiences. This county has been selected as one of five locations nationwide, where the research team  will explore the opportunities and challenges faced by workers aged 55 and over, who are living or working in the region. The lead researcher is a Clare man, Dr Micheál Collins, who is Assistant Professor of Social Policy at The School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice at UCD. The study is funded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Low Pay Commission. The hope is that the study’s results will be used to inform future public policy in the area. “One of the reasons we chose Clare is because of the relatively high numbers of people working in the hospitality and retail sectors,” Dr Collins told The Champion. …

THE number of places available for students to study nursing in Ireland should be increased, according to Councillor Gabriel Keating. At a recent meeting of Clare County Council, he said, “An increase in points is being driven by the shortage of undergraduate places in our universities and institutes of technology. “The number of placements in general nursing programmes reduced from 1,870 places in 2009 to 1,500 places in 2015, due to the HSE decision that year to reduce the number of places as a cost-saving measure, given that as part of their education trainee nurses receive a payment when there are on placement in hospitals.” He said that nursing courses are becoming increasingly difficult to access. “For example, midwifery and nursing courses in UCC were both 445 points, while general nursing at UCD, IT Tralee and Trinity were all 425 points. “It is clear at this stage that the only way forward is to allow the 13 nursing schools to …

MARK Glynn is acclimatising to life at UCD having traded Kilrush Community School for the prestigious third level campus. The 18-year-old Cappa man achieved stunning results in the leaving certificate, emerging with eight A1s and one A2. Mark, who has two sisters and a brother, was one of just nine students nation-wide to achieve similar results. Utilising his mathematical prowess to tot up his points tally, he realised that it sat at a maximum 625. Not surprisingly he sailed into medicine, his first-choice course. “I wasn’t expecting to get those results at all although I needed those points to get medicine,” the self deprecating student told The Clare Champion last week. Mark probably sensed that something was up when it was suggested that he stay around for a bit, on the day the leaving certificate results were distributed. “I went into the school at about 9.30am. They handed me the envelope. I was just told to wait back for a …