ANXIOUS Revenue Commissioners staff have met with their union representatives amid fears that employees who have been stationed in Clare for 20 years or more, could be forced to move to Limerick.
The issue was raised after staff working in the accounting general section of the Revenue offices on the Kilrush Road in Ennis, received an email alluding to the possibility of their being deployed to other offices.
It is thought that up to 100 staff could be affected, some of whom have worked in the Ennis operation for 20 years or more.
Members of the Civil and Public Service Union and the Public Service Executive Union, met with their members to discuss the issue. Staff are concerned about the implications of the move for people who are living and working in Ennis, pointing out that many set up home in the county town on the basis that it is also their place of work.
A move would involve staff who live in Ennis in a commute of almost 80km a day.
A spokesperson for the Revenue Commissioners confirmed that the Commissioners are continuing an ongoing review of its various offices as part of the Public Service Agreement 2010-2014 Action Plan.
A CPSU official explained to the Limerick Post that the difficulty at the moment is that there is a staff shortage in certain grades in the revenue offices in Limerick.
“The redeployment list for Limerick is exhausted. There is no civil servant who wants to go to Limerick at the moment, because those that wanted to go there have already gone and we have had no recruitment in clerical staff for four years.
“Add to that, that there may be changes on the way with a plan to centralise payroll and that would mean the work being done by people in the accounting general section in Ennis would be gone,” the official said.
The payroll proposal is still in its infancy and the union will be insisting that the first measure must be to find work for the Ennis staff and bring it to them where they are.
“A move to Limerick would be a last resort, but there is concern, particularly for people who may already spent years working in Limerick waiting for a transfer back to Ennis,” he said.
