CITY TRIBUNE
NUIG teaching staff ‘will not cooperate with unsafe work practices’
Unions representing teaching staff at NUI Galway have expressed deep concerns that social distancing will not be possible when classes return at the end of the month.
Guidance issued to third level institutes from the Department of Higher Education recommends that a physical distance of two metres during lectures should be maintained “where possible”, but adds that there will be situations where classes can only be delivered with less than two metres.
In this instance, no less than one-metre distance should be maintained, and face coverings should be worn.
However, over 100 staff members of teaching staff at the university who are members of SIPTU academic section unanimously passed a resolution last Wednesday in which they agreed that they would not cooperate with unsafe work practices.
“The members of SIPTU Academic Section resolve that members will not cooperate with unsafe work practices including one-metre centre-to-centre distancing in teaching venues for students and/or staff, in contradiction of best-practice two metre distance,” states the adopted resolution.
They noted the university’s commitment to ‘prioritise the health, safety and wellbeing of staff, students and the wider community above all other considerations’, but concerns remain.
They called on the university to adopt a more “sustainable, low-risk, welfare-based approach, which can be built on cautiously, where any agreed on-campus activity, including teaching and learning will be set at the standard two-metre distance as a default and any decisions on the amount and type of any face-to-face teaching are safety rather than target-driven”.
Their resolution states that SIPTU members are not compelled to work in an environment that jeopardises their safety, or that of the students.
Members resolved to withhold their cooperation until agreement on a physical design and working practice that supports a default two-metre distancing is arrived at and installed.
In a separate letter, sent to the Galway City Tribune from a lecturer who wished to remain anonymous, it’d claimed that NUIG was instructing staff to teach with one-metre distance “as standard, in classroom and theatre situations”.
“This is not about labs or any other scenario where distance is a factor in the practicality of teaching. It’s a gross distortion of the IUA [Irish Universities Association] guidelines, which themselves are an ambiguous stretch of the Government guidelines,” said the lecturer, referring to the IUA’s published interpretation of guidelines which state that only in “exceptional circumstances” should less than two metres be observed.
“Control and decision-making has been centralised; usually, decisions about teaching are made by College Boards, where every academic staff member has a vote, and the Registrar appears in person. There hasn’t been a College Board meeting since before lockdown,” the lecturer writes.
Meanwhile, SIPTU has called on the Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris to provide clarity on how the guidelines, which were published last month, should be implemented.
“Some colleges are proposing continued online learning and others are opting for ‘face-to-face’ learning with one-metre social distancing. It is important that there is a high degree of uniformity and clarity on these guidelines for the sector. Such a clear and coherent approach is all the more necessary in light of the increase in the rate of recorded cases of Covid-19 since the guidelines were first published,” said Adrian Kane, SIPTU’s Public Administration and Community Division Organiser.
A statement from NUIG to the Galway City Tribune outlined that the maximum number of people allowed in a class “will be in accordance with the prevailing public health guidance on indoor gatherings. This may change in accordance with the evolving Covid-19 situation nationally”.
“Our preparations include a range of procedures and protocols to ensure our community’s safety, including social distancing, along with a number of other important control measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
“As required by the ‘Implementation Guidelines for Public Health Measures in Higher Education Institutions’, space on campus, including teaching space will be ‘laid out and managed in order to safeguard the health of both staff and students’. A physical distance of two metres is maintained as default in all campus settings ‘where possible’.
“In all cases, without exception, staff and students will be required to take appropriate mitigation measures, including the wearing of face visors and face masks at all times in indoor settings on campus, as well as adherence to good hygiene etiquette. The university is engaging with academic staff representatives to reach agreement this week on planning parameters.”
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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