Tag Archives: Equality

COUNTY Councillors at this week’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District slammed plans to house refugees in an industrial building at the Shannon Free Zone and also criticised the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) for the secrecy it has maintained around the plans. The meeting also heard warnings that a lack of information can give an opportunity for misinformation to flourish, and give the far right an opening to exploit. Following the criticism at Tuesday’s Shannon Municipal District meeting DCEDIY told the Clare Champion it has no option but to take advantage of any type of accommodation available, while it said there would be communication with local representatives before the facility does open. At Tuesday’s meeting Sinn Féin’s Donna McGettigan said the Department’s decision not to make information available was leading to “all sorts of innuendo”. She also said councillors have been called liars when they have said they don’t know what the plans for accommodation in …

SEVEN County Clare accommodation providers signed Government contracts with a cumulative estimated value of €6.36m to accommodate Ukrainian refugees in the second quarter of this year That is according to recently released contract details by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Clare has become home to one of the highest populations of Ukrainians per capita in the country and the figures provided by the Dept of Integration show that one Lisdoonvarna-based firm, The Hydro Hotel Ltd which operates the Hydro Hotel entered a contract worth €1.53m with the Dept. Another hotel firm, Windward Management Ltd operating the Park Inn hotel entered a contract worth €955,000 while a third firm, Atlantic Hotel Management Ltd operating Lahinch Lodge entered a contract worth €329,400 to house Ukrainian refugees. The figures also show that Kilkee Town Ltd operating the Kilkee Bay Hotel entered a contract worth €1.52m while the Cliffs of Moher Hotel Ltd which operates the Cliffs of Moher hotel …

ACTION on bullying in schools is to be reviewed and updated to take account of cyberbullying, Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD has been told. In response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Cathal Crowe, the Minister for Children outlined a number of responses being undertaken to make the online sphere safer, including a review of school policies that date back to 2013. Responding to Deputy Crowe’s question, Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the Department of Education is soon to update its interventions in relation to bullying. He noted that Minister Norma Foley’s Department has already published a strategy document for schools.  “My colleague the Minister for Education has also brought forward significant policy initiatives in this area this year including the publication of the new Digital Strategy for Schools in April, which focusses on further embedding the use of digital technologies in all teaching, learning and assessment activities and includes building awareness and knowledge around online safety,” Minister O’Gorman said. “The Department …

Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy has said, from what he can remember, his father was “ a thug and a bully”. He made the comment in a  contribution to a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, which was discussing submissions on domestic and sexual violence. During the speech on Wednesday night, at the end of which he received a round of applause, the Shannon-based senator said he was not sure how his family would react to his sharing these personal details but said he thought nothing had changed in Ireland since then with regards to this issue. As regards gardaí being called out to investigate an alleged domestic incident, he remarked, “What’s perpetrated at the time is an absolute assault, right, and it is a criminal act, and we need to treat it as a criminal act,” he said. More power should be given to gardaí, as first responders to these incidents, Senator Mulcahy suggested, adding that community …