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Archives for May 2010

Pfizer Layoff Plans

18 May 2010 | Ireland | No Responses

Post updated , see below : Today at 2pm Pfizer (www.Pfizer.com) is announcing their plans to reduce their workforce. They plan to make their announcement with the opening of the New York Stock exchange. They will hold meetings at their various sites in Ireland at 1:30pm today. With the takeover of Wyeth (www.wyeth.com) last year, there is definitely an over lap in staffing, and this is what is going to be addressed today. Pfizer / Wyeth employs 5,000 people in Ireland, with sites in Dublin, Cork , Kildare, Limerick Sligo at 11 different locations. Internal rumours expect that 800 jobs could go, but they expect it to be on a voluntary basis.

Update : Pfizer plans to lay off 275 staff at their Newbridge, Co. Kildare plant. In Cork, the plants at Loughbeg, Co Cork (225 jobs) and Shanbally Co. Cork (75 jobs) will are ear marked to be sold out over 18 months, and a similar fate is in store for the plant at Dun Laoghaire (210 jobs) in Co Dublin. If a buyer is not found these, 510 jobs could also be lost. Pfizer plans to cut their global workforce by 18% or 6,000 jobs in the next 5 years.

Airtricity add 200 jobs

18 May 2010 | airtricity, newjobs | 1 Response

News today comes that Airtricity (www.Airtricity.com) latest move into the gas market is to add 200 new jobs in Ireland. Airtricity is to add 100 new jobs in their headquarters in Sandyford, Dublin while a further estimated 100 jobs will be created in for sales and customer service which will be provided by an outsourcing partner.

The new jobs will be added in the coming year and will focus on Airtricity entering the domestic gas market. This comes a year after Airtricity entered the electricity market and has achieved over 200,000 customers to date. They will be in direct competition with An Bord Gáis (www.bordgais.ie), and plan to sell their gas plans at a 10% discount.

Airtricity is owned and operated by Scottish & Southern Energy (www.scottish-southern.co.uk), a UK based energy company.

Working break entitlements

7 May 2010 | Ireland | 3 Responses

Your employer is required to give you adequate breaks during your working day. If they fail to provide you with enough or any breaks during your working day then they are in breach of Irish employment law. It’s important that you know your rights when it comes to taking breaks at work, and hopefully after reading this article you will feel more confident on this topic. These rules have been outlined in the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.

Break Entitlements Chart

  • Under 4.5 hours : there is no legal requirement for employees to be provided with a break if they are only working a short shift
  • Between 4.5 – 6 hours : you are entitled a 15 minute break (unpaid).
  • Over 6 hours : you are entitled to a 30 minute break (unpaid).

Further to these legal requirements for breaks during your working day there are also rules for time off outside work

  • Between 2 shifts / working days you should have at least 11 hours of a recovery period after your last shift.
  • In a 7 day period there should be 24 hours between shifts (after the above recovery period of 11 hours).


These are of course guidelines, and in certain jobs you may be ask by your employer to take longer or more frequent breaks. Depending on your job this might reduce the risk of RSI (Repetitive Strain Industry) or other occupational injuries.

New Cork Hospital to bring 650 jobs

5 May 2010 | Ireland | 5 Responses

There has been some great news from the jobs sector in Cork today and in the healthcare sector. A new €80 million private hospital project has just received it’s official planning permission from the Cork County Council. It is reported that this will result in 650 jobs. From the news release it is unclear whether these jobs will be in the construction of the hospital or are to do with the general operating of the hospital.

The development will be done by O’Callaghan Properties.

Not all good news for hospitals

This news today comes just as Beaumont hospital has announced that with 2 weeks it will close up to 52 beds. They cite budgetary reasons as the cause for this closure.

Intune Networks to add 80 jobs

4 May 2010 | Ireland | No Responses

Dublin’s telecoms equipment design company, Intune Networks (www.intunenetworks.com), has announced that they will add a further 80 jobs to their operations. The announcement comes with an investment to the tune of €5 million from the Irish government. These jobs will be targeted towards an ‘Exemplar communications test bed‘ which promises to offer an energy efficient communications network. Current technology for high speed networks, while being dependable and useful, come with large electricity bills and the associated environmental aspect.

Intune Networks has offices in both Dublin and Belfast.

Current open positions at Intune Networks can be found on their careers page (www.intunenetworks.com/site/jobs/). Right now their website says they are looking for Senior Software Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, and Senior Software Test Engineers, but sadly this information states that these jobs are their recruitment effort for September 2009.