Irish Life staff in new strike
IRISH Life workers are to strike again next Tuesday over a pension dispute.
Trade union Unite yesterday announced a second day of action at the financial company.
The row centres on the decision to close the Defined Benefit pension scheme on June 30 without the union’s agreement.
Almost 800 staff will join the 24-hour strike.
Unite’s Richie Browne wants to know “why the Irish Life scheme has been singled out for closure?” A BOY aged 15 has been spared jail after a loaded revolver and a semiautomatic pistol were found in his room.
Judge John O’connor yesterday said while he had no doubt the guns would have been used by someone else to murder, he noted the teenager had been under an “implied threat”.
He added: “It is a very chilling level of criminal that would stoop as low as to use a 15-year-old boy.”
The accused, who cannot be named because he is a minor, was sentenced to nine months’ supervised probation.
He had pleaded guilty to possession of a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol on a date last November. They were found in a bag in his North Dublin home by gardai and it was claimed the youth, who is in education, had them for 12 days.
He also admitted having rounds of ammunition. A garda agreed the boy had no previous convictions and came from a decent family. Pleading for Smith & Weston revolver leniency, a lawyer asked Dublin Children’s Court to note the boy has been found to be at a low risk of re-offending.
She said the pre-sentence report showed how the teenager had expressed remorse, adding the incident was a “significant blip”.
The judge warned him if he broke the terms of the order he would face a custodial sentence.