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companies in addition to about 170,000
sets of financial statements. 64 percent
of forms received by the CRO are
filed electronically but nearly all of
the financial statements continue to
be sent to the CRO on paper. “Even
though our strategy is to implement
a move to electronic filing, we still
operate very much as a paper-driven
office as the signature requirements,
in particular, imposed by the legislation
do not facilitate electronic filing
systems.” Additionally, “the main
stakeholder groups that we have, aside
from businesses themselves, are the
accountancy and audit communities
and the legal profession - professions
which can sometimes favour operating
on a paper basis rather than dealing
electronically.”
Enforcement
In relation to enforcement of the annual
return filing obligation, the CRO utilises
its strike-off capability under Section
12 of the Companies (Amendment)
Act 1982 to secure filing of outstanding
returns. About 7,000 companies are
involuntarily struck off the register each
year. This strike-off capability, Ms Dixon
stresses, is “extremely important to us
in terms of maintaining compliance with
the key obligation of annual return filing”.
In addition, the Registrar explains, the
CRO prosecutes in the District Court
each year a number of companies
for failure to file their annual returns
and accounts. The CRO also makes
High Court applications pursuant to
section 371 of the 1963 Act to compel
filing of annual returns “in respect of
a small number of companies and
their directors”. “As of this year, we
have reached an historic high in terms
of compliance” with 90.8 percent of
companies up-to-date with their annual
returns as at December 31 2012. The
CRO is doing well in this regard as they
have “a good armoury of enforcement
provisions”.
Changing role of the CRO
How has the work of the CRO changed
in recent times in light of vastly altered
economic circumstance? The impact of
the recession has been felt primarily in
the area of enforcement according to
Ms Dixon. The enforcement team, for
example, have experienced an increase
in the number of calls from “distressed
business owners who currently face
having their company struck off the
register as they do not have the funding
to prepare and file financial statements,
pay filing fees etc”. “We are listening to
these companies and trying to provide
them with options but in fact the least
costly option in each case is simply to file
the company’s annual return on time.”
Another visible change is that while
75 percent of companies file accounts
through an accountant, there is an
increasing trend whereby companies
are completing the mechanics of filing
directly with the CRO. This, Ms Dixon
adds, is something the CRO “fully
supports”.
There has also been “a changing
profile of work and an increased
workload in certain areas”, for example
an increase in the number of notices
of appointments of receiver notified
to the office over the last few years.
There is also an increase in the types
of companies that can register with the
CRO, Ms Dixon explains, for example
companies that are investment funds
“can now register by way of continued
incorporation from certain jurisdictions”.
In recent years, there has also been
an increasing number of cross border
mergers, with Irish companies being
the transferor company in certain
instances and the successor company
in others. Thus, “the complexity of what
we are doing has increased. However,
while some of the work has certainly
become more legally complex, in
general, the work of the office really
is quite predictable with set statutory
functions.”
That said, one of the key challenges
according to Ms Dixon has been
“motivating staff through periods of
change”, sometimes caused by external
factors such as the Government’s
decision to decentralise the office.
Decentralisation
While it was intended that the CRO
would move to Carlow in its entirety
during the previous Government’s
programme of decentralisation, today
just 42 staff members are based there
with remaining staff working from a
building on Parnell Square which has
housed the CRO since 1997. This,
Ms Dixon admits “is not ideal, but we
maximise the opportunity of having
an office outside of Dublin in terms of
dealing with paper filings”. However,
decentralisation, Ms Dixon points out,
caused an exodus of staff who did not
want to move to Carlow and so the
Office lost “a lot of corporate memory”.
Furthermore, separate offices “create
communication
challenges
and
increased costs” in terms of couriering
information and documents between the
two offices. Keeping staff motivated is
proving an ongoing challenge, yet, “the
Companies Bill presents opportunities
to keep everyone motivated.”
Easing administrative burdens on
business: Companies Bill 2012
Ms Dixon admits that one of the key
administrative burdens imposed on
businesses is the obligation to file an
annual return within 28 days of the
company’s statutory annual return date
every year and to append financial
statements to that return. Various types
of companies that are required to file
audited accounts, such as guarantee
companies, the second most populous
company type on the register, would
claim that “the burden of audit is
disproportionate and not necessary”.
However, the new Companies Bill, Ms
Dixon notes, will remove the absolute
requirement for guarantee companies
to have their accounts audited.
Additionally, to further ease that burden
on business, CRO provides the option
to electronically file a company’s annual
return by developing a portal entitled
CORE (Companies Office Registration
Environment) which permits companies
to access a pre-filled annual return
form and businesses can attach a set
of accounts to this online form as a
PDF or else post them in. Under the
existing law, two directors must sign
a company’s annual accounts and
thus Ms Dixon notes, for the moment
companies probably find it easier to
simply sign and post paper accounts to
the Office.
An innovation under the Bill is
a requirement for simple type-set
signatures and only of the directors
to be included in the filed accounts in
certain cases. “We envisage once that
is operational most companies will start
attaching PDF accounts to their annual
return, making electronic filing much
more meaningful”. Technology is, in
the Registrar’s view, “certainly the key
to reducing the burden for both filers
and for the CRO.” “We would envisage
that once the provisions of the new
Companies Bill are operational, we will
be able to redeploy quite a number of
staff currently involved in those manual
activities”.
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Companies Bill 2012
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise
and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD
published the Companies Bill 2012 on
December 21 2012. The primary aim of
this Bill is to simplify company law and
consolidate the existing Companies
Acts. As the largest substantive Bill
in the history of the State, with over
1,400 sections, the implications of the
Bill for the CRO must undoubtedly be
extensive. “It is great news that the
Government has published this Bill and
the positives for us are manifold”, Ms
Dixon stresses.
The Bill will however, bring initial
challenges to the CRO “because we
are at the centre of implementation”.
Companies currently incorporated
as private limited companies will
be required to undergo a statutory
conversion process to the two new types
of private limited companies envisaged
under the Bill. “This makes obvious
sense as you do not want to introduce
new state-of-the-art legislation and then
have the bulk of companies not convert
to the company type to which the new
law applies, so the initial challenge for
us is going to be the 18-month transition
period after commencement of the
legislation whereby 170,000 private
limited companies in Ireland need to
undergo this statutory conversion.”
The Bill sets out a number of
mechanisms, which, Ms Dixon
highlights, companies can use to
convert to one of the two new private
limited company types and file their
choice accordingly with the CRO. For
companies who fail to proceed with
conversion during the 18-month period,
the Bill deems those companies to have
adopted the form of the new simplified
limited company.
The CRO must “try and envisage
how many companies will opt to make
a filing with us during the 18 months
and estimate the amount that will fail
to do so.” The CRO must also develop
a communications strategy in advance
of the legislation “to ensure companies
know they cannot stay as they are and
need to convert”.
Simplification
Some of the key innovations in this
Bill, Ms Dixon states, include the fact
that the Private Limited Company is
at the centre of the Bill with the first
volume being solely dedicated to this
type of company. This new simplified
Private Limited Company will have
the option of having just one director,
as opposed to the current requirement
whereby all companies are required
to have a minimum of two directors.
It will also have a single document
constitution omitting “the complexity”
of the Memorandum and Articles of
Association. The Bill will also remove
the concept of ultra vires and will allow
the limited company to have the capacity
of a natural person. The requirement to
hold AGMs will allow for a written-only
format. The simplified form of limited
company will be a substantial change
for the CRO “in terms of new company
incorporations because it is envisaged
most new companies, once the
legislation commences, will be of the
simplified limited type and incorporating
companies will become much easier
and quicker for all concerned.”
The CRO too are particularly pleased
that the legislation is going “to help
us make in-roads into driving uptake
of electronic filing” and eliminate the
antiquated elements of the 1963 Act
that did not envisage modern day
technological capabilities. There are
many other areas of change that will
be challenging from an operational
perspective, Ms Dixon admits, for
example under the current 1963 Act
where companies are obliged to file
details of charges over their property
with the CRO within 21 days of the
date of creation of the charge. The
new Bill rewards faster disclosure by
moving from a system of “first in time”
in terms of creation, to a system of “first
to file”, meaning that the CRO will have
to have in place a system “capable of
recording with great accuracy the order
of receipt of charges”. Traditionally the
filing of charges has been completely
paper-based but this system under the
Bill will have to be “entirely electronic”
to cater for the “first to file” regime.
Given the extent of the current
Companies Acts and the complexities
surrounding their interpretation, “the
Bill is going to be great news for this
Office” with all the legislation in one
“new consolidated volume”. The
Companies Bill will be highly beneficial
for businesses, Ms Dixon notes:
for example the CRO is aware that
company directors complain about the
difficulty in understanding their exact
duties and obligations under current
law. The new Bill codifies directors’
duties. This too should serve to
encourage start-up companies where
in the past the “memo and arts seemed
archaic but the new system will be very
simple and clear allowing companies
the ability to get set up quickly and
begin operating”. Additionally, from a
governance perspective, the fact that
only one director will be required will
also benefit small companies who are,
under the current legislation, “forced
into having an additional director, who
may not be in any real way involved
with the business”.
With a particularly busy time looming
for the Office and the Registrar herself,
she admits that it is difficult to know
when the Bill will be fully enacted as
there are likely to be some amendments
as it passes through the Houses of the
Oireachtas. However, this legislation
was developed by policy makers
primarily from the Company Law
Review Group, chaired by Dr Thomas
B. Courtney, “which is extremely
representative of the full stakeholder
community of legal practitioners,
accountants, business regulators
(…) and a lot of it was developed
from a consensus point of view”. So
while specific details are likely to be
“tweaked and minor errors corrected”,
great changes are unlikely and so the
CRO can “start to prepare based on the
published Bill, while keeping an eye on
second stage and committee stage in
terms of what amendments do arise”.
“the CRO is aware
that
company
directors
complain
about the difficulty in
understanding their exact
duties and obligations
under current law”
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Croke Park extension deal: Supporting
a ‘YES’ vote
Bernard Harbor explains why IMPACT is urging for the new Croke Park deal to be accepted and stresses how
significant the negotiations were for members
On entering the most recent Croke
Park negotiations, IMPACT’s general
secretary Shay Cody described them
as “probably the most difficult ever”.
By the conclusion of the talks, his
prediction turned out to be accurate.
The deal that has emerged from those
negotiations is, without any doubt, the
most challenging proposition put to
public servants in living memory.
IMPACT’s
Central
Executive
Committee (CEC) has recommended
that our members accept the new
proposals for an extension to the Croke
Park agreement. The decision to make
that recommendation was not taken
lightly. But IMPACT’s elected leadership,
composed of a diverse group of public
servants from a wide variety of grades,
believed the proposals represented the
best package that could be achieved
through negotiation.
And that is, in every respect, the crux
of the issue when members are making
their decision to vote for or against the
agreement. Would it be possible to
achieve something less painful and
more palatable if the current deal was
rejected? In our judgment, it is not.
There is no denying that the package will
result in loss of income for a proportion
of public servants, and changes in
conditions for many more. It is a stark
but undeniable reality that, faced with
management’s determination to make
€1bn additional cuts to the pay bill, our
task in negotiations was to minimise
the adverse effects on our members
and the services they provide. But it
was not possible to make that €1bn
figure go away.
By negotiating however, we did
achieve the following:
• The package contains measures that
will eliminate the “two-tier” workforce
introduced when the previous
Government imposed an additional
ten percent cut in pay scales for new
entrants.
• On increments, unions successfully
moved management from its position,
which was that all increments should
be frozen until the end of 2016.
• On premium payments, unions moved
management from its position, which
was that payment for working Sundays
should be reduced from double time to
time and a half, and that premiums for
Saturday working should be abolished
outright.
• Overtime payments, which
management wanted to abolish, have
also been preserved in a modified
form.
• On flexi-time, unions were able to
modify the management position on
the grades to retain the facility.
• The proposals will also see a small
restoration of pension levy reductions
for all public servants.
• There will be no change to the 45km
limit on redeployment. Management
had sought a 100km radius.
Understanding the proposals
Some say that we would have been
better off staying outside the talks,
but that would have led to a €1bn
extraction from the public paybill by way
of the blunt instrument of legislation.
This would have been an abdication
of responsibility to our members.
Therefore, by negotiating, IMPACT
and other unions have succeeded in
reducing the severity of management
proposals in every important area, and
it is likely that deeper cuts will be
imposed if this package is rejected.
The priority right now is to ensure
that public servants understand the
proposals. Also, before members cast
their votes, it is vital that they also
understand the alternatives.
If the current proposals pass,
the savings that were sought by
management will be achieved in a
manner which best protects the lower
paid. In addition, protection against
compulsory redundancy will remain
and 87 percent of public servants will
avoid a pay cut.
Although unions have not accepted
Government plans to cut so-called
“higher pay”, the negotiations resulted
in less severe cuts, a higher threshold
at which cuts are imposed, and a form
of implementation that means pay can
be restored in time for those who earn
less than €100,000 a year.
In the event that the deal is rejected
and legislation is introduced, we have
no influence over how, where or for how
long those measures are applied. That
is why it made sense to stay involved
in the negotiations, and that is why we
are asking members to vote yes.
Bernard Harbor is the National
Secretary of IMPACT Trade Union.
“our task in negotiations
was to minimise the
adverse effects on
our members and the
services they provide”
“If
the
current
proposals pass, the
savings that were sought
by management will be
achieved in a manner
which best protects the
lower paid.”
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Croke Park extension: The ‘NO’ side
The ‘Croke Park Extension’ deal is the worst set of proposals ever voted on collectively by the Irish Trade Union
Movement writes Mike Jennings
The National Executive of the Irish
Federation of University Teachers
(IFUT) has decided unanimously
to recommend a ‘no’ vote to IFUT
members in the ballot which will
take place in the next few weeks on
extending the Croke Park Agreement.
IFUT is calling on all of its members
to reject the proposed agreement for
reasons outlined below.
We cannot afford it and that is a
fact
IFUT members have already suffered a
reduction in their earnings of the order
of 25 percent. We simply cannot afford
a further pay cut of 5.5 percent to 8
percent. IFUT has calculated that a
combination of the proposed cuts and
reductions over recent years will mean
that every single pay increase achieved
since the year 2000 will be more than
wiped out for all academics below
the level of professor (who constitute
a small minority in any College). In
fact, a college lecturer will earn 3.6
percent less than his/her equivalent
back in April 2000 when adjustments
are made for CPI increases since then.
Despite all of these facts, there is still a
gross misconception in the public mind
that academics are highly paid. How
many people know for instance that the
starting salary of a lecturer is €34,386?
And that is for a job which requires
at least eight years of post-Leaving
Certificate education to qualify for.
Many IFUT members are under
a constant threat of compulsory
redundancy
Almost uniquely in the public sector,
significant numbers of staff in the
universities and colleges face the
threat of compulsory redundancy.
IFUT has been forced to fight all such
threats on a case by case basis and
the Department of Education refused
absolutely to insert any wording
whatsoever into the new proposals
which would give more job security to
academics and researchers.
Student numbers up, staff numbers
down
The savings we have already given
are exceptional in both the public
and private sectors. The cut backs
proposed in the revised agreement will
have a seriously disproportionate effect
on higher education staff because of
the massive amount of additional work
they have had to take on arising from
historically high enrolment numbers
combined with severe reductions in
staff numbers. Our staff to student ratio
has deteriorated alarmingly over the
past few years.
In 2008 there were 4,795 academics
and 89,650 students. By 2011 the
number of staff had fallen to 4,426,
yet the number of students we teach
had soared to 106,448 and this figure
continues to increase. If we had an
agreed student to staff ratio we would
automatically have almost 900 extra
colleagues to help us share the extra
work we all have had to do for free.
You cannot trust those who do not
keep their word
The new proposals represent
a shameful breach of faith by the
Government. Ever since 2010, we
have been giving huge concessions
in return for a promise that there
would be no pay cuts for four years.
This commitment has been reneged
upon in such a manner, that it renders
meaningless the recent promises that
the current proposals will last for three
years.
The existing agreement does not
permit the Government to threaten
us as they have done. The existing
Croke Park Agreement says that it is
binding for four years unless there is an
“unforeseen budgetary deterioration”.
Things are bad but there has been no
deterioration, as we are told constantly
when it suits the Government to say
so.
Lack of balance
IFUT accepts that the country is in dire
financial straits (although for reasons
entirely beyond our control or fault)
and that, regrettably, sacrifices are
called for by those who can afford
them. What we cannot, and will not,
accept is that these concessions are
to be sought exclusively from public
servants. If a person on €34K or €80K
is being asked to contribute more then,
in fairness, all people on €34K or €80K
should be involved. The way to effect
that is through a fair and progressive
taxation system. Everyone, in both the
public and private sectors, should be
asked to contribute according to their
means in a manner which does not
victimise one section of society simply
because they serve the public good.
“Ever since 2010, we
have been giving huge
concessions in return
for a promise that
there would be no pay
cuts for four years.”
95
The proposal was put together by
two departments who have no idea
of how universities operate
In Clause 2.3 of the Agreement it
says that the people who work 39
hours a week will not have extra hours
to work. Yet in the same clause it
says that “academic staff at third-level
will work an additional 78 hours per
annum”. How can that make sense
unless the Department of Education
thinks we work less than 39 hours?
Especially when at least one university
(NUIM), sent up a formal report to
them confirming that academics there,
work 55 hours per week.
Also, in figures contained in her speech
to the IFUT Annual Conference last
April, Dr Marie Clarke of UCD provided
proof that senior academics in Ireland
work an average of 50 hours per week
and junior academics an average of
47 hours per week. In both cases
this was significantly higher than the
European average (48 and 42). These
are facts, not anecdotes and were
established by a survey conducted
across 12 European countries and
involving more than 1,200 respondents
in Ireland.
The proposals hit lower paid
academics more than higher paid
The proposals demand the elimination
of exam fees despite the fact that only
early-stage academics are paid these
separately. More senior staff have their
exam duties paid for as part of their
basic salary. IFUT calculates that this
measure could involve a loss of up to
€2,250 per annum for academics who
are already struggling on lower pay
scales.
The Department was unable to
answer IFUT’s queries as to how they
will manage should casual staff who
are paid to mark exams no longer be
available, owing to the fact that there
will be no payment for this work.
Conclusion
There has been much talk of late of
“sweeteners” to entice unions to vote
in favour of this dreadful deal which
is easily, in our view, the worst deal
ever voted on collectively by the Irish
Trade Union Movement. To conclude,
for IFUT members there have been
no enticements and the deal is as bad
today as it was in the early morning
when it was finalised.
Mike Jennings is the General
Secretary of the Irish Federation of
University Teachers.
“The proposals demand
the elimination of
exam fees despite the
fact that only early-
stage academics are
paid these separately.”
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Private and Public Sector: Sharing best
practice
The concept
of sharing
best practice
between the
private and
public sector
has been
part of policy
rhetoric for
de ca d e s.
Translating
this rhetoric
into reality
presents a challenge which a new
pilot staff exchange scheme between
the civil service and the private sector
seeks to address.
The idea is not new. Similar schemes
were tested unsuccessfully in Ireland
during the 1970s and the 1990s.
However, both the Government and
the business community believe that
this is a particularly propitious time
to introduce such an initiative. In the
intervening years, more public services
have been delivered in partnership
between government agencies and
private companies, and there is a
deeper mutual understanding of
how the respective sectors work.
Economic constraints have also
driven an ambitious reform agenda
which has included business process
improvements, better use of technology
and more effective public procurement
processes.
Goals
The main ambitions driving this new
scheme include to:
• Enhance communication, co-operation
and understanding between the civil
service and the private sector;
• Provide a better understanding by the
private sector of the drivers of public
policy and to further develop the policy
formulation and project management
capacity of the civil service;
• Provide for staff development
opportunities through new work
experiences and project based
assignments;
• Provide an opportunity to develop
useful relationship networks and
contacts between sectors; and
• Increase the knowledge on both sides
of the culture and way of working in the
other sector.
The success of the scheme
will depend on the alignment of a
number of moving parts including the
aspirations of the potential participants
and organisational needs of those
establishments. Therefore the sponsors
have agreed on two principles: (i) The
scheme should not be ‘over-engineered’
and bureaucracy should be kept to a
minimum and (ii) It must make sense
in terms of generating tangible skills
and experience for the participants and
their organisations.
Government departments have
been asked to nominate up to three
staff for assignment to placements
in the private sector to areas that
best link into key government policy
and reform initiatives. These could
include initiatives such as project
management, facilities management,
ICT/eGovernment, shared services or
information sharing. They could also
include specific sector areas such as
agri-food, job placement, water/waste
services, energy, communications and
education.
Candidates
Nominees will be chosen from high
performing individuals with strong
leadership potential. Departments will
give an undertaking that nominees will
be released for a period of between
six months and a year, where there
is a suitable match, and will be
strongly encouraged and incentivised
to participate. IBEC has conducted a
similar exercise amongst a group of
member companies.
The original employer relationship
will be retained and the assignment
will be by way of secondment, on foot
of an exchange of letters. The existing
salary will be unchanged and paid by
the applicant’s employer.
Inclusion of specific clauses in
assignment letter will oblige private
sector assignees for the duration
of assignment to be subject to Civil
Service Code of Behaviour and will
cover aspects such as political activity
and affiliation, ethics and official secrets
etc.
A small exchange scheme oversight
group, with representatives from the
civil service and the private sector,
will be established, the main function
of which will be to maintain a general
overview on the implementation of
the scheme. It will be supported by
a Secretariat from the Department
of Public Expenditure and Reform.
Its initial job will be to draw up a
list of suggested matches between
private and civil service applicants for
consideration by the oversight group.
Individual companies and departments
will liaise directly with each other to
put the exchange arrangements in
train and arrange to meet nominees
advised to them by the oversight
group. It is hoped to make the process
as flexible as possible, with minimum
bureaucracy.
The pilot scheme has an initial target
of 20 exchanges for the first year. Early
indications of interest suggest that this
should be achievable. It is hoped to
have the first exchanges in place by
the middle of the year.
Given the economic constraints the
country is facing, we need ambitious
reform of the public sector that delivers
speedy, specific and measurable
savings while maintaining the quality
and level of public services. However,
budget constraints mean that it is difficult
to maintain the quality of outcomes.
This challenge can be addressed
through best practice sharing with the
private sector and a more collaborative
approach to public service delivery.
The proposed staff exchange scheme
is a modest, but tangible example of
this approach.
For more information contact Tony at
tony.donohoe@ibec.ie.
Tony Donohoe is the Head of
Education, Social and Innovation
Policy with IBEC.
Tony Donohoe provides details of a new pilot staff exchange scheme between the civil service and the private sector
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dublin
Life in the Mansion House for Dublin’s
Lord Mayor
Councillor Naoise Ó Muirí outlines his opinion as Dublin’s first citizen on a range of issues relating to
Dublin city
The role of the Lord Mayor comprises
four key responsibilities, namely to chair
the City Council meetings, to represent
the city at public functions and events
across Ireland, to represent the City at
public functions and events abroad and
finally, to pursue a policy agenda.
The term of office is one year and the
role of Lord Mayor is a demanding one
with well over 2,500 diary appointments
in the course of that year. The amount
of travel involved in this role varies
based on the priorities of each Lord
Mayor, however, internationalisation
is a critical part of my agenda and so
far I have been on missions to Beijing,
Hamamatsu (Japan), Helsinki, Brussels,
Barcelona and London. I will shortly
travel to London again and I also expect
to travel to Guadalajara in Mexico and
our sister city of San Jose in California
in late March. There is also likely to be
a mission to Munich in Bavaria in May.
In this regard, I believe that the term of a
Lord Mayor is too short. I am frequently
asked by my compatriots abroad
“What can you get done in a year Lord
Mayor?”
Directly elected Mayor
The prospect of directly electing a Lord
Mayor of Dublin city was reiterated by
the Government in the Action Plan for
Local Government, launched in October
2012. While I am hugely supportive of
a directly elected Mayor, there are a
number of factors I would prefer to be
adopted first, should this ever become
a reality. Firstly, it would be preferable
to have an election solely in Dublin and
for the role of the city manager to be
transformed with a transfer of executive
power to the Mayor. In addition to these
two amendments, I would like to see
the ability to maximise local taxation
decisions or raise finance locally to be
embedded within the local government
system.
There is certainly a political tension
around the idea of a directly elected
Mayor for Dublin, mainly within the
civil service in my view. For example,
what official within the Department of
Finance would be willing to devolve
taxation policy down to one region
that generates 35 to 40 percent
of the country’s economic output?
Nevertheless, every major capital city
in the developed world has a directly
elected mayor and in my view, Dublin
needs to follow suit or risk being left
behind.
Crime in the city centre
Dublin’s city centre is safe and we have
worked very closely with An Garda
Síochána to improve the situation,
particularly with respect to O’Connell
Street and its environs. 20,000 people
an hour pass the Spire on O’Connell
street at peak and the key crime
statistics show that the risk of serious
assault in the area is now approximately
1,000,000 to 1. That being said, we are
engaged in a constant battle to deal
with a negative media perception of this
area and while we are acutely aware
that there are certainly ongoing issues
to be dealt with (including street-dealing
and trading of prescription drugs), I feel
that the overall improvement is very
positive.
Dublin and tourism
If we all pull together, tourism in Dublin
is an industry that has huge potential
for growth. Dublin does not need a re-
branding exercise, it is a city of intimate
cubbyholes from which each visitor
inevitably departs with their own story.
Additionally, the beauty of tourism is
that it is labour intensive but does not
require highly-skilled workers.
Construction in Dublin
Based on international norms, Ireland
should be able to support a steady-
state construction industry of about
12 percent of GNP. This equates to
an annual industry worth approximately
€15bn which would bring with it 170,000
jobs and translate to 60,000 people in
the greater Dublin region working in
the construction industry. It is therefore
vital for Dublin that we get back up to
this level of activity.
Dublin and sport
Research states that just a little regular
exercise has significant benefits on
one’s general health and longevity,
especially as you get older. With that
in mind, we have set up a Lord Mayor’s
Challenge to recruit 200 runners of all
shapes and sizes to participate in five
road-races taking place throughout the
City. The 200 places were snapped up
in jig-time and we have just completed
the 4th of five races with the St. Patrick’s
5k Race through the Georgian Streets
of Dublin.
Wifi in Dublin city centre
We looked at this idea previously in
Councillor Naoise Ó Muirí is the
Lord Mayor of Dublin city since
June 2012
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dublin
2005/2006 but ran into a state-aid
related road-block. This time around
we have therefore adopted a different
approach by awarding a concession to
a partner. The city provides the base
infrastructure on which the service
is mounted (street lighting poles etc)
and the partner installs and operates
the service. It is an experiment for the
city but one which has huge potential.
The challenge now is to get the city,
businesses and citizens to develop
and utilise the service in innovative
ways. Dublin has major advantages in
its quest to be a leading Digital City in
the world but we cannot sit back on our
laurels.
Links with London
It has always amazed me that the
civic links with the capital of our
biggest trading partner remain under-
developed. Dublin was, after all, the
“second city of the Empire” many
years ago and a massive portion of
the population of greater London
acknowledges their Irish ancestry.
With this in mind, we will be building
on opportunities to positively celebrate
shared British/Irish heritage in years to
come.
Dublin on New Year’s Eve
This year New Year’s Eve in Dublin
proved greatly successful with a
combined attendance of nearly 43,000
people. 15,000 people attended the
countdown concert on College Green
alone. One of the big changes in the
organisation of the event was the family
focus of the celebrations. The Peoples
Procession of Light, for instance,
started at 6.30pm and the fireworks
over Stephen’s Green at 8pm. In my
opinion, making the needs of families
a priority contributed greatly to the
success of the night. Also encouraging
was the fact that a third of attendees
were visiting from outside of Ireland
and 93 percent of survey respondents
said they would recommend the event
to friends or relatives. Dublin is now on
the international map for New Year’s
Eve and hopefully this will continue.
Property Tax
In my view, the property tax is needed
and I will be paying it. It is something
which is a feature of most developed
European societies and can be put
to good use in funding local service
provision.
The renewal of Grafton Street
Some will class the renewal of Grafton
Street as a vanity project for the City,
but I disagree. It is the premium part
of our central business district and it
is vitally important that we present it in
the best light possible.
Living in the Mansion House
You get the option of moving in – and
how could you not? Dawson Street is
a busy street but St. Stephens Green
is some garden! The formal rooms are
all on the ground floor and the living
quarters (3-bed apartment) are on the
1st floor. The house dates back to 1705
and parts are rumoured to be haunted
– based on what we have seen thus
far I am inclined to agree with that
assessment.
“Dublin’s city centre
is safe and we have
worked very closely
with An Garda Síochána
to improve the situation,
particularly with respect
to O’Connell Street
and its environs.”
“In my view, the property
tax is needed and I will be
paying it. It is something
which is a feature of most
developed
European
societies and can be put
to good use in funding
local service provision.”
The Mansion House in Dublin has been the official residence of the Lord Mayor of
Dublin since 1715
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Cyber Bullying: New media, new risks
Following media reports of a number of high profile cases of cyber-bullying, Julie O’Neill looks at the issue of
cyber-bullying and legal recourse that exists for victims of cyber-bullying, against persons other than the bully, both
within and outside of the employment context
What is cyber-bullying?
There is no codified definition of cyber-
bullying in Ireland. However, the Office
for Internet Safety recently issued a
Guidebook on Cyber-Bullying which
defines cyber-bullying as:
“bullying which is carried out using
the internet, mobile phone or other
technological devices. Cyber-bullying
generally takes a psychological rather
than physical form but is often part of
a wider pattern of ‘traditional’ bullying.
It can take the form of sending nasty,
mean or threatening messages, emails,
photos or video clips; making silent
phone calls; putting up nasty posts or
pictures on a message board, website
or chat room; saying hurtful things in a
chat room; pretending to be someone
else in a chat room or message board or
text message and saying hurtful things;
or accessing someone’s accounts to
make trouble for them.”
What claims can an employer be
exposed to?
As of January 2013, and largely as
a reaction to the Phoebe Prince and
Megan Meier cases, sixteen US states
had introduced laws that directly
address cyber-bullying. However,
cyber-bullying is a developing area of
law in Ireland. In fact, most employees
are surprised to learn that there is no
single piece of legislation that makes
bullying, let alone cyber-bullying,
unlawful. Consequently, we are
required to look to recognised common
law principles and various pieces of
legislation to establish whether a victim
of cyber-bullying has a cause of action
against his or her employer.
Causes of action may include:
• Personal Injury
An employee may bring a claim for
damages arising from a psychological
/ psychiatric illness suffered as a result
of cyber-bullying. There have been
no direct cases in this area in Ireland.
However, it is likely that the Courts
will follow the established principles
for assessing whether an employer is
liable for personal injury arising from
stress, bullying and harassment as
follows:
• Has the employee suffered an injury
to his or her health as opposed to
ordinary occupational stress;
• Is that injury attributable to the
workplace; and
• Was the harm suffered by the
employee concerned reasonably
foreseeable?
• Defamation and vicarious liability
Where cyber-bullying involves
defamatory statements being made
about an employee, the employer
may be held vicariously liable for the
defamation. The concept of “vicarious
liability” provides that certain acts
done by a person in the course of his
or her employment may be treated
as done by that person’s employer,
whether or not it was done with the
employer’s knowledge or approval. The
ultimate question is whether there is a
sufficiently close connection between
the employment and the wrongdoing.
There is no case law in Ireland in
relation to this issue. However, the
High Court has recently held that an
employer was liable in defamation for
the acts of one of its employees in the
context of bullying. In his judgment
in the case of Browne v Minister for
Justice, Equality and Law Reform
and the Commissioner of An Garda
Síochána [2012] IEHC 526, Cross J.
awarded an employee €25,000 for
defamation.
• Breach of Statutory Duty
An employee may bring a claim to
the High Court alleging that his or her
employer has breached its statutory
duties under the Health, Safety and
Welfare at Work Act 2005 (the “2005
Act”) by failing to provide a safe place
of work. Statutory health and safety
obligations were expressly referred to in
the Supreme Court decision in Quigley
v Complex Tooling and Moulding [2008]
IESC 44 where the court stated that
“employers now have an obligation
to prevent their employees from such
that would cause mental injury, i.e.
stress, harassment and bullying in the
workplace”. Accordingly, it is possible
that a victim of cyber-bullying could
bring a claim for damages on the
grounds that his or her employer
breached its statutory rights.
“In fact, most employees
are surprised to learn
that there is no single
piece of legislation
that makes bullying,
let
alone
cyber-
bullying,
unlawful.”
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
