IT was a warm, sunny day as CBS Primary School welcomed their new pupils on Thursday morning.
The boys and girls enjoyed their first day and, as usual, were well taken care of by junior infants teachers Laura Donoghue and Daire Quirke as they took their first steps on the education ladder.
The experience was made more special by the presence of two dogs in the school’s therapy programme, run in conjunction with My Canine Companion, which specialises in training autism and therapy dogs and works with schools throughout Ireland.
‘Daithí’ and ‘Zorro’ were very protective of the little ones as photographers took their snaps to capture the moment for posterity. Scroll down for photos…
Know Your Rights has been compiled by Kerry Citizens Information Service which provides a free and confidential service to the public…
You have a right to privacy in the workplace. However, your right to privacy is balanced against your employer’s rights to run their business and protect their company.
Your employer has an interest in protecting their business, reputation, resources and equipment. To do this, they may want to monitor your use of email, internet and phone. They may also want to use CCTV to monitor your workplace.
When your employer collects, uses or stores information about you – including monitoring emails, internet use or using a CCTV system – they must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.
Monitoring emails and internet use
Your employer should give you their policy on email and internet use in the workplace, including the use of social media.
This is known as an Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP). The AUP should clearly describe how much you can use company devices for your own personal or private communication. If your employer is monitoring your email and internet use, they must tell you their reasons for doing this.
They must tell you:
• Who is monitoring you
• What they are monitoring
• How they are monitoring you
• When they are monitoring you
• They must also tell you the procedures for how and when you will be told if you break the rules for internet and email use, and how you can respond to these claims.
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Is the monitoring necessary, legitimate and proportionate?
If your employer wants to monitor your internet use or emails, it must be:
Necessary
Your employer must be sure that monitoring is necessary. They should consider less intrusive ways of supervising you before deciding on monitoring. For example, blocking websites would be less intrusive – and generally more acceptable – than monitoring your internet search history.
Legitimate
The monitoring should have a legal basis. For example, to make sure employees are not using the internet to download pornography, or to disclose confidential company information to people outside the organisation.
Proportionate
Your employer’s monitoring must be proportionate to the risk of the perceived threat. Proportionality means it must be fair, measured and reasonable in terms of its objectives.
Monitoring all of your emails to make sure you are not passing on confidential information about the company would not be proportionate. However, monitoring your emails using an automated system to scan for viruses would probably be considered be proportionate.
Telling you when there is a concern
Your employer should tell you immediately if they believe you are misusing electronic communications, unless there are important reasons for continuing the monitoring. Your employer can use software such as pop-up warning windows to let you know that you are misusing the company’s systems.
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Using CCTV in the workplace
If your employer has CCTV in your workplace, they must display signs telling you where the cameras are located. The signs should be easy to read, well-lit and positioned in places where they can be easily seen.
The signs should also give contact details for someone you can discuss the processing of your data with. This could be, for example, the owner of the premises or the security company operating the CCTV system.
Your employer must clearly state why they are using CCTV if it is not obvious. For example, placing a camera at the entrance of a building to detect intruders is obvious.
However, if your employer is using CCTV to monitor your behaviour or performance, this is not obvious and the employer must tell you before recording for these reasons. Similarly, if CCTV is installed for health and safety reasons, this should be clearly stated and made known to everyone in the workplace.
Your employer should have a written CCTV policy including:
• The identity of the company holding the CCTV footage
• The reasons why the CCTV footage is being used
• Any third parties the footage may be given to
• How you can request to see the footage held of you
• How long the footage can be held for
• How the footage will be secured
Reasonable and unreasonable use of CCTV in the workplace
Your employer must have a valid reason to use CCTV to monitor your workplace. They must also consider if using CCTV is reasonable. For example, using CCTV to detect intruders, vandals or thieves may be reasonable.
However, using CCTV to constantly monitor employees would be intrusive and would only be justified in special circumstances.
It is very difficult for an employer to justify using CCTV to monitor areas where you expect privacy, for example, in bathrooms.
If your employer wants to do this, they must show that a number of security breaches have taken place in these areas. Even if your employer justifies using CCTV in a bathroom, the cameras should never be able to capture images from cubicles or urinal areas.
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Monitoring you without you knowing
Generally, it is against the law to collect someone’s data or monitor them without them knowing – this is called covert surveillance. This is only allowed in very special circumstances where the data will be used to detect, prevent or investigate crime, or to catch and prosecute offenders.
You should only be monitored covertly (without you knowing) if you or your workplace are relevant to a criminal investigation. Covert surveillance must be focused and can only last for a short amount of time. If no evidence is found within a reasonable amount of time, the employer should stop the covert surveillance.
A specific written policy must be put in place to allow for covert surveillance. This policy must explain:
• The reason and justification for the covert surveillance
• Details of the procedures, measures and safeguards that will be implemented while this type of surveillance is ongoing.
• The final objective of the covert surveillance should be the involvement of An Garda Síochána or other prosecution authorities who can investigate any alleged criminal offence(s). This should also be added to the policy.
Accessing the data that your employer holds about you
You can ask your employer to give you the data they have collected about you when monitoring your email or internet use. You can also ask to see the images they have captured of you on CCTV. This is called a Data Subject Access Request.
Your employer must respond to your request within 1 month. This can be extended by a further 2 months if your request is complex or if you have made numerous requests.
If you would like more information about this topic or have a query in relation to other rights and entitlements, you can call a member of the local Citizens Information Service in Kerry on 0818 07 7860. They will be happy to assist you and if necessary arrange an appointment for you.
Kerry HELPLINE 0818 07 7860
Monday to Friday from 10am -4pm. Alternatively you can email on tralee@citinfo.ie or log on to www.citizensinformation.ie
The National Phone Service is available on 0818 07 4000 Monday to Friday 9am – 8pm.
Children from the local area starting in junior infants received a lovely welcome to Moyderwell Mercy Primary School on Thursday and immediately looked at home in the wonderful atmosphere created by the staff and pupils.
Teachers Ciara O’Sullivan and Una Geaney immediately made the children feel at ease on what was a daunting but momentous day for the little ones.
It was also a very special occasion for Principal Moira Quinlan, who saw the last of the new arrivals under her watch settle in before her retirement at the end of the month. Scroll down for photos…
Mary O’Donnell of the Cosmetic and Hair Restoration Clinic at the Bon Secours in Tralee has all you need to know about the Venus Bliss treatment at the clinic…
September is a great time for self-care.
At CHRC, two of our most popular treatments available to target stubborn fat are skin tightening and fat reduction.
What can be done for stubborn fat on the abdomen?
We have two treatments for the tummy area which help to tighten, sculpt and contour.
The first one is fat reduction and the second is skin tightening.
Both treatments are very safe and comfortable and part of our FDA approved Venus Bliss device which is non-surgical and non-invasive.
How does the fat reduction work?
Fat reduction uses laser technology and is for stubborn pockets of fat at the waist, back and abdomen. It improves body contours without surgery, scars or downtime. It selectively breaks down fat cells which are naturally eliminated by the body.
How does the skin tightening work?
Skin tightening uses advanced radio frequency technology to tighten the skin and reduces circumferences to contour the body. The applicator has a deep effect on the tissue and the skin will be firmer and smoother.
How many treatments will I need?
A consultation will determine how many treatments you will need.
A course is recommended and the treatment time is usually 30 minutes per treatment.
Does it hurt?
The treatment area will feel quite warm and will stay that way for up to two hours after your treatment.
What areas can be treated?
Along with the abdomen area, other areas that can be treated are the back, thighs, arms and legs.
Contact us to discuss the best treatment options for you and to schedule an appointment.
Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has the pick of the films on TV today…
Spartacus (Saturday 2.15pm RTE1) is, without doubt, a classic film and a classic story.
The film tells of the Roman slave Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), who toils for the Roman Empire while dreaming of freedom.
He is sentenced to death after biting a Roman guard, but spared by Peter Ustinov, as Batiatus, a trainer of gladiators for the arena fights.
After being forced to a fight to the death merely for the amusement of senators’ wives, Spartacus leads a slave revolt that eventually spreads over half of Italy, taking him to the brink of victory against badly led Roman legions.
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However, the slave rebellion is also being used by senators for their own political and personal ends, against a background of an empire folding in on its decadent lifestyle.
Starring amongst others are Lawrence Olivier, Jean Simmons and Tony Curtis as well as the aforementioned Kirk Douglas (who also produced) and Peter Ustinov, who steals every scene he is in and collected an Oscar for his role.
Directed by the 31 year old Stanley Kubrick, Kirk Douglas effectively broke the Hollywood McCarthy blacklist by giving Dalton Trumbo a screen credit for the screenplay rather than make him hide behind a pseudonym.
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On the other side of the cinematic spectrum comes Scoob!(Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) where Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever — a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world.
Starring the vocal talents of Will Forte, Mark Wahlberg, Zac Effron and Amanda Seyfried among others, and with characters from all around the Hanna–Barbera world including Dick Dastardly and Muttley, this is a veritable smorgasbord of animation.
The penultimate Daniel Craig Bond film Spectre(Saturday 9.20pm RTE1) is concerning 007 going rouge in an unauthorised mission in Mexico City.
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There is also a final mission from his former Boss that sets him on the trail of a secretive criminal network – the clue is in the title!
While his MI6 colleagues face more threats at home, Bond is on a globetrotting journey in search of the mastermind behind the syndicate, who, it turns out, may have personal links to 007.
Also starring Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, and Lea Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Dave Bautista and Christoph Waltz and directed by Sam Mendes, this is great fun.
There are two biopic films with a crossover in characters and events – Malcolm X(Saturday 9.00pm RTE2) and Ali(Saturday 9.25pm TG4).
Spike Lee directs Denziel Washington as Malcolm X, the controversial militant activist who led the fight for civil rights in America in the 1960’s.
Michael Mann directs Will Smith as Muhammad Ali, covering his life from the 1964 fight with Sonny Liston to the Rumble in the Jungle with George Forman ten years later, as he converts to Islam, has a conflicted friendship with Malcolm X and refuses to fight in the Vietnam War.
TWO ladies from Kerry have just embarked on a 24 hour swim in 17 counties in aid of the Kerry Cancer Support Group.
Rachel McCann from Leith, just outside Tralee, and Kathy O’Mahony Roberts from Ballyfinnane, aim to swim in each coastal county around Ireland in 24 hours this Saturday in aid of the Kerry Cancer Support Group to fund a wheelchair accessible bus which takes people to cancer related appointments.
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“Unfortunately we both had family members whom availed of treatment in Cork and Dublin and now we want to help make this wheelchair accessible bus a reality,” said Rachel.
“We are making our start at 5am Saturday morning and our first swim will take place in Limerick at Kilteery Pier. We would love the support of anyone would be around to do our final swim with us,” said the ladies. For more, see their fundraising page here.