IT crucial for recovery in recession

This is an interesting article on Verify Recruitment that appeared The Sunday Business Post yesterday. Verify Recruitment is a specialist recruitment agency that focuses on jobs in the IT sector that require experienced professionals.

The full article has been past in below but you can follow this link to the Sunday Business Post’s website #mce_temp_url#

IT crucial for recovery in recession
31 January 2010 By Carol Hayes

The middle of a recession may not seem like the most obvious time to launch a recruitment firm, but Cathal Grogan believes his new firm can change recruitment practices in the IT sector.

Grogan, the managing director of Verify Recruitment, decided to focus on IT because he sees it as crucial to the future growth of the economy.

‘‘It is one of the few sectors of the economy that is still expanding, and it is the engine that will drive the country out of the recession. For this to be achieved, we need to have experienced individuals with a track record of success in establishing, growing and expanding cutting-edge companies,” he said.

Grogan believes that traditional recruitment companies do not have the skills to deal with the changing requirements of employers in the IT sector.

To solve that problem, Verify has appointed a panel of executives who will advise the firm in sourcing, assessing and reviewing candidates before they are referred for a client’s vacancy.

The panel includes people from the financial services, telecommunications, retail and software sectors, according to Grogan. Verify will also specialise only in filling positions that for candidates with more than ten years’ professional experience.

‘‘The panel will review candidates from their own area of expertise, in order to verify the skills and experience of everyone we recommend and ensure they are the exact fit for our clients.

‘‘Expert skills can only be assessed by those who are experts themselves,” said Grogan.

Grogan studied biotechnology at Dublin City University, qualifying in 1990. However, he soon realised that he did not want to spend his career in a lab coat, so he looked at other sectors.

‘‘At that time, a lot of the IT consulting houses were offering graduate training schemes, whereby they offered positions to graduates from a diverse range of disciplines and gave them training on their IT technologies and methodologies. I joined EDS and went to work for them initially in Britain,” said Grogan.

He spent nine years with the company, working for them in England, Scotland, Germany and Ireland in a variety of roles, including engineering and project management.

He then moved to dotcom firm Enba, which was planning to launch Europe’s first internet bank.

‘‘Participating in the dotcom boom was an experience that couldn’t be bought,” according to Grogan. ‘‘I remember sitting in management meetings as the latest valuation was announced – €100 million, €300 million, €1 billion. It was a rollercoaster.”

However, Enba collapsed after the dotcom bubble burst.

Grogan moved on to Dublin software firm Point Information Systems, running its product management and marketing team. When Point was acquired by an American technology firm S1, Grogan’s next move was to AIB, where he worked on the bank’s phone banking business.

He remained with the bank until the middle of last year, when he set about creating Verify.

It works with people seeking jobs and companies that are hiring. The firm is focused on the Dublin area but plans to offer its services across the rest of the country next year.

‘‘We have worked with leading payment providers, e-commerce companies, global financial services organisations, large shared service centres and enterprise software vendors,” said Grogan.

‘‘Our typical client company is one that is either about to embark on a complex business initiative or is facing a particular complex technology. We also get approached when the role is confidential. There are a lot of unadvertised positions out there.”

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The VRT bullet has been bitten

I posted recently http://www.republicpr.ie/2009/08/24/revenue-increasing-vrt-on-the-sly/ about the Irish government’s tax scam, also known as VRT (Vehicle Registration Tax), and how despite the price of cars falling during the recession the government has increased what it determines as the ‘Open Market Selling Price’ of cars and thereby increased their tax take for VRT.

The illegality of VRT under the free trade laws of the EU are well documented so I don’t want to bang on about it again here as it will just make me angry, but the VRT post on my site has received more hits than any other post, so I thought it was only fair to outline to people that I have now bitten the VRT bullet on the ‘Republic ride’ and now have brand new WW country plates.

In the end I had to pay 12% more VRT than I would’ve paid when I originally got the motor. ‘Ha’ I here you laugh, but before you judge me consider that the tax on the UK reg was only €200 a year whereas it is now costing me €50 a month; the insurance is also way cheaper because of the huge competition in the market, so I have saved a lot and didn’t begrudge paying the VRT in the end. Well to say I didn’t begrudge paying it may be taking it a bit fair, but let’s just say when I considered the bigger picture I didn’t resent paying it as much.

The real light at the tunnel though is that there is a process to appeal the level of VRT I paid.  I was also told by the local Revenue Office that most appeals are successful. Now if I was being cynical I would view the Government’s approach to VRT as one of over charging residents with the knowledge that a large proportion won’t bother appealing. But, credit where credit is due to the government and the Revenue Commissioners, at least there is an appeals’ process.

In order to appeal you have to have paid the VRT first, so there is no getting around paying the extortionate amount. An appeal has to be made within two months of the date the car was registered in Ireland. In order to counter the Government’s open market selling price the appellant needs to include evidence contradicting their valuation, such as examples of similar cars for sale locally or on the internet, outlining what you believe you should have paid and what you feel you are owed. The appeal should be made to the office where you paid the VRT.

The appeals procedures can also be made against other aspects of VRT such as a refusal to grant exemption etc.

Here is a link to the Revenue’s website http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/leaflets/vrt6.html that outlines the appeals process from those nice people at the Revenue Commissioners. An aside I do find the tax gentleman and tax ladies of Ireland get a hard time that isn’t justified; I’ve always found them really very helpful and their advice invaluable (let’s just hope this post doesn’t jeopardise my appeal).

By far the hardest part of the whole process is actually getting your number plates to stick to car; they’ve fallen of countless times, a problem that has been exacerbated by the large number of potholes on my culchie roads.

Wish me luck. I will let you know how I get on.

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Desert Storm: government to act for Dubai investors

It seems one of the sub-editors didn’t quite read the article in yesterday’s Sunday Tribune correctly, this resulted in an inaccurate sub-title. The full article is below and relates to my client the Dubai Action Group, who are 200 investors that are taking legal action to recover funds from overseas property investments that appear to have gone wrong in Dubai.

The sub-title states that Foreign Minister Micheál is to meet with the Dubai government on behalf of the investors, but when you read the article this isn’t the case at all in. The Minister did meet the Group before their trip to Dubai and sent a letter of support, but at no time was he due to attend the meeting. The Government did however send the Irish Ambassador the United Arab Emirates.

This type of error can often happen in the hectic world of newspaper printing because the journalists who write the articles don’t do their own headlines, which are written by sub-editors. The sub-editors skim through the articles and think up a headline that will grab the reader’s attention. Unfortunately if they haven’t read the article properly they can often get the wrong gist of the piece, as with this article when they must’ve seen the Minister’s name and then read about a meeting in Dubai thus assuming that he was attending the meeting, which he was not. Anyone reading the article can see this. It’s a regular occurance and I’ve seen a lot worse, sometimes the headline bears no resemblance to the article. Thankfully, however, this the exception more than the rule.

Here is a link to the piece in all it’s glory – I have also pasted it in below: http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2010/jan/24/desert-storm-government-to-act-for-dubai-investors/

THE SUNDAY TRIBUNE (24th January, 2010.)

Desert storm: government to act for Dubai investors

Foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin is to meet with the Dubai government to seek refunds for Irish investors whose property was never completed

Mark Hilliard

THE fate of hundreds of Irish property investors in Dubai, who spents hundreds of thousands on property that was never completed, could be sealed this week with a high-level meeting in the emirate attended by Irish officials.

Foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin, junior minister Conor Lenihan and the Irish ambassador to the United Arab Emirates have all become involved in the ongoing stand-off.

Around 250 investors have contacted an organisation established to seek legal advice in relation to properties bought in the gulf state but which have never been completed.

Meetings in Dubai, to be held today and early this week, will seek full refunds from developers who have said that ongoing construction delays have been unavoidable.

Talks will surround four lavish developments – Eagle Heights, Bermuda Views, Profile Residence and Stadium Point – all located in the illustrious Sports City complex.

While investors have handed over considerable amounts of money, the status of their properties remains unclear and there are complaints that many of these developments are no more than holes in the ground.

Alan and Karen O’Neill from Knocklyon in Dublin sank their life savings into a €440,000 investment in four apartments but say they are being ignored.

“We borrowed, we put in our SSIAs, our cash savings and we remortgaged our home as well,” Alan O’Neill said.

Compounding the problem is the recent collapse of the Irish property agency Larionovo, currently in liquidation, which many blame for playing a major role in the disastrous deals.

Larionovo, while unable to go into any great detail due to its current situation, says it acted properly at all times and had tried to advise investors on what action to take.

This has not been a satisfactory response, however, for those who lost a lot of money on the eve of a global recession.

“Our initial problem was with the Irish company Larionovo. In some ways, our problem is not with the Dubai people, it’s with foreigners working in Dubai,” said Tony Hynes, chairman of the Dubai Action Group (DAG) which is in the Middle East for meetings this week. “We are basically getting government approval on all of this and Conor Lenihan has been very good,” said Hynes.

“On Tuesday, we are meeting, in effect, the Dubai government. The Real Estate Regulatory Agency is the land division of the government. They are supposed to have done their homework with the various developers and hopefully we will know more next week.

“We are saying that basically we are out of contract and we want our money back. The developers are saying that the delays have been outside of their control and there are clauses in the contract covering that.

“We will make our claims, they will investigate them and I imagine the developers will be given about two weeks to answer the queries.”

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Companies can save thousands in software costs, says Openplain

It turns out that most companies are wasting thousands on software licenses that they don’t need for programmes they don’t use. In the current economic climate this is madness.  This research comes from software provider Openplain Limited (disclosure: yes they are a client) who have found that by monitoring a company’s software usage they can save them an average of 25-30% in software costs.

Openplain are an award winning software company, that is backed by Enterprise Ireland, who have been on a bit of a one company crusade recently to encourage businesses to cut their costs; in December they published data outlining that am average medium sized business can save €20,000 per year in electricity costs alone,  just by getting their employees to turn their computers off when they leave the office . Twenty grand wasted on leccy by absentminded staff is just insanity and that’s before you think about the amount of carbon being pumped into the ether to make energy for this pointless waste.

Anyway back to the software issue, it is due to two things, firstly the way the software industry is policed, and secondly, the way companies manage their IT usage. Software Licenses are important issues for providers, it ensures that companies are not pirating software and is a big earner. Recently as large providers have lost market share to open-source software they have been policing their software very strictly, so companies have reacted somewhat kneejerkingly (btw this isn’t a real word) and bought more licenses than they need. It can also be a hangover from mergers and aquisitions with needless overlaps left in the business. Our esteemed friends across the pond in the US even have a reward scheme for people who report the illegal use of software by companies.

In terms of the second issues it comes down to the business not being aware of how they use their IT. Businesses are changing all the time and so is technology so it can be difficult for companies to keep up. This problem can easily solved using LicenseMetrics, a service recently launched Openplain , which allows organisations greater insight into their use of software and locates overlaps in how applications are used by staff.  It can also determine the most efficient use of software licenses in order eliminate waste and reduce unnecessary spending.

While traditional Software Asset Management systems (sorry for the jargon) simply report what software is installed throughout an organisation, LicenseMetrics can immediately identify whether that software is being used or not. According to Openplain almost every organisation – from SMEs to multinational conglomerates – will have accumulated unnecessary licences for redundant and under-used applications. These licences add little or no value to a business – and more often than not are a silent drain on finances.

For anyone that wants more details on LicenseMetrics I posted a full press release here:

http://www.irishpressreleases.ie/2010/01/22/irish-companies-can-save-thousands-on-software-costs-says-openplain/

On average whenever Openplain have monitored software use in their clients businesses, without fail they have been able highlight where the the company being studied can cut their software costs by 25-30%. This is a huge amount that can be achieved very easily. Typically this process takes a couple of months of analysing the company with all the workplace analytics done off-site by Openplain.

I’m sure many people reading this would happily take a 25% cut in software costs but if you combine this with turning off your computers that’s a helluva (this isn’t a real word either) lot of dosh – so turn off and wise up people.

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You can be a Prince2

Verify Recruitment are stepping into the hole left by FÁS and offering cut price IT training at a 40% discount

Thankfully the IT sector, or ICT (information communications technology) sector as it is often called, remains bouyant in Ireland. I’d hate to think how bad the recession in Ireland would be without the strength of the IT sector keeping us going.

This sector is the going to be engine of the economy that will drive Ireland out of recession; it is vital to the future success of the country’s wellbeing and deserves the upmost focus from the government. It’s not just the big boys like Google, eBay, Microsoft and PayPal, who have their EMEA Headquarters in Ireland, but it is the IT starts ups, that Ireland is so rich in, that need vital assistance. For all these companies, access to suitably qualified staff is vital if they are to succeed. We have seen this in places like India where IT skills are given a huge focus, so it’s vital to ensure the training and education needs of job seekers are in line with the needs of the most important employers, that is, the IT sector.

This brings us neatly to our friends as FÁS, the Irish government’s training agency, where do you start when talking about the FÁS farce? One day a film will be probably made about the total and utter mismanagement at FÁS, with managers living the high life and sucking up the excesses of the Celtic Tiger. But there is a much more serious side to the problems at FÁS, issues that the new bigwigs appointed to the run the agency yesterday need to address quickly, it’s just that when the economy is struggling, and IT job seekers need FÁS the most, but they are being let down the agency who should be providing free access to important courses.

Sadly this means that job seekers are having to pay for their own IT training in courses such as the renowned PRINCE2 project management methodology. The deadline for first tranche of this year’s PRINCE2 course closes next week on 29th January. The gaping hole left by FÁS has meant that private sector companies like Dublin’s Verify Recruitment (disclosure: they’re a client, and very nice one at that too) are trying to fill the gap and help candidates.

Before you think this is some cynical spin to promote a money making service, I would like to point out that Verify are offer the PRINCE2 course at cost price, yes that means at the price they get it for. They’re offering access to PRINCE2 at €695, that’s a 40% discount off the regular cost of €1,050. They can do this because they have agreed a no-frills version of the course where the free extras, like slap up lunches are removed. There is also more of home study element of the course. So by studying at home and eating a packed lunch candidates can save €355. That’s nice little saving in anyone’s books.

For more details please contact: Cathal Grogan, Verify Recruitment on http://www.verifyrecruitment.com/ but hurry now, there’s not long left to sign up.

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DNA test proves Eritrean girl Martina Padwick is Irish

The Dublin solicitor Anthony Joyce (disclosure: he is a client) has been working on  an incredible case recently, the results of which are featured on the front page of today’s Sunday Times  (link and article below).  Martina Padwick is a six year old Eritrean girl whose Mother Martha has been trying to get her right to an Irish passport recognised by the Department of Foreign Affairs because her father is the late Martin Padwick who was a soldier serving with the Irish Amy in Eritrea.

DNA tests have now confirmed that Martina is Martin’s daughter and she can now rightly claim her Irish passport. This case has huge ramifications for the Irish Government and the Army – who knows how many other Irish children are elsewhere in the developing countries.

Anthony Joyce, Principal solicitor of Dublin based law firm Anthony Joyce & Co, who acted on behalf of Martina on a pro-bono basis and today issued this statement, says:

“Today’s Sunday Times featured a front page story on Martina Padwick the Eritrean girl who is the daughter of the late Martin Padwick, a former Irish soldier with the Irish UN peace keeping force in Eritrea. After a long battle for an Irish passport and citizenship of the Republic of Ireland, and following protracted negotiations with the Departmemt of Foreign Affairs, we are pleased to announce the Department of Foreign Affairs have now accepted that Martina is the daughter of the late Martin Padwick entitling her to an Irish passport.

“For all of her life Martina has been living in poverty in Eritrea and her mother Martha has suffered discrimination for being the mother of a foreign child. Their situation was so desperate that Martina was close to having to give her daughter to a local orphanage to ensure her wellbeing. Following the conclusive proof that she is now an Irish citizen she will be entitled to an Irish passport. Martina is now able to come to Ireland where she can be educated, have proper healthcare and other benefits of being an Irish Citizen.

Anthony will be commenting on these issues in more detail shortly.

Here is a link to the story and it is also pasted in below.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6991201.ece

DNA TEST PROVES ERITREAN GIRL IS IRISH

A six-year-old African girl is to be given an Irish passport following DNA tests that prove she is the daughter of an Irish soldier who died before she was born.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had refused to accept that Martina Padwick was the daughter of Martin Padwick, a soldier from Cork who died in December 2002 shortly after returning from a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Asmara, the Eritrean capital.

The Irish government may now be required to offer her protection and make provision for her education, as all Irish children are legally entitled to free primary schooling.

The existence of the child, born in June 2003, has been known to the DFA since 2004, but officials refused to issue a passport on the basis that Martha Woldu Hagos, her mother, needed to “establish by formal means” the father’s identity. She met Padwick while working in the kitchen at the UN compound in Asmara.

The DFA agreed to carry out a DNA test last October after The Sunday Times highlighted the case.

Hagos said: “The DFA wrote to me last week to say the DNA test had proved that Martin was Martina’s father. I don’t know what to say, I am so happy. Actually I am the happiest woman in the whole of Eritrea right now.”

Anthony Joyce, a Dublin-based solicitor who represents Hagos and her daughter, claimed they had suffered while waiting for the government to recognise Martina as an Irish citizen. “Martha suffered discrimination in her community as a result of having a white child. She was living in poverty, and at one stage she considered putting Martina into an orphanage where she could be guaranteed food and shelter,” said Joyce.

“Martina’s case should send a warning to the DFA. In certain circumstances the government is obliged to have ‘due regard for the natural and imprescriptible rights of the child’ under the constitution. This case highlights the need for the state to prioritise applications for Irish passports from minors living abroad.”

Brian O’Shea, the Labour party spokesman on military affairs who raised Martina’s plight in the Dail, criticised the DFA’s handling of the case. “No Irish citizen should ever be treated in such a manner,” he said.

“This child was forced to live in what can be best described as adverse conditions in Eritrea for years, although she was an Irish citizen. The state had a responsibility to Martina, but didn’t fulfil its obligations to this girl. Any proposal by this child and her mother to come to Ireland should be treated as sympathetically as possible.”

Billy Timmins, the Fine Gael spokesman on foreign affairs, called on Micheál Martin, the foreign affairs minister, to introduce new procedures to ensure similar cases were dealt with more compassion.

John Weakliam, country director for Vita in Eritrea, an Irish charity that helped Hagos, believes there may be other children living in Asmara who were fathered by Irish peacekeepers. “God knows how many soldiers fathered children who still await their birth rights,” he said.

“There is a popular perception in Ireland that African women are queuing up to conceive and become a burden on our state. On the contrary, these mothers and their children suffer discrimination at home.”

Neil Nolan, a spokesman for the defence forces, said the military was aware of the case, but was unable to intervene. The DFA refused to comment.

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