A call centre has delivered an early Christmas present of 250 jobs to an unemployment blackspot.

Some 250 new positions are being created in Waterford through the expansion of Irish company Eishtec.

PROPOSALS to make employers pay the first weeks of an employee’s sick leave have only been abandoned for this year but will be introduced before long.

Rental profits and dividends are being considered for additional tax in the budget, it has been

AS The Final Countdown blared around the call centre, staff at Talk Talk in Waterford yesterday gathered in huddles, chatting, reminiscing and looking towards an uncertain future.

CONSUMERS are increasingly nervous about losing their job as pressure mounts on the Government to offer some reassurance before budget day.

UP TO 500 jobs are believed to be under threat at the insurance giant Aviva Ireland as it moves to restructure its European business.

TWELVE representatives of the 575 employees of Talk Talk set to lose their jobs in a fortnight are to negotiate redundancy deals with the company.

TALK TALK gave their 575 employees in Waterford just 30 days notice that all jobs will be lost, but company bosses may have planned to quit Waterford for more than two years, it has emerged.

THE British-based call centre, Talk Talk, could be facing an investigation by the EU Commission over its controversial decision to shut down its Irish operations in Waterford in the space of 30 days.

JOBS Minister Richard Bruton has ordered state agencies to come up with a south-east employment action plan after admitting he is “not happy” with the Industrial Development Authority’s job creation performance.

CRITICISM of the Industrial Development Authority by Government ministers have been rejected by the investment promotion agency.

THE Industrial Development Authority needs to be “reined in” by the Government as its existing policy does little to create employment in small towns, a minister has said.

WATERFORD’s most senior Government TD John Deasy has highlighted a significant rift in the coalition over the future prospects of a university in the south east.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore is to travel to Waterford this afternoon to meet with workers and management at TalkTalk to discuss the company's closure.

TALK Talk workers booked into today’s staff party in England who fail to turn up may have to pay flight and other charges, it has emerged.

IT IS good to talk, according to those phone company ads.

THE Government has admitted it is powerless to prevent companies such as telephone giant Talk Talk from giving employees just 30 days’ notice before closing down.

THE company set to make 575 call centre staff redundant next month has insisted the Government did not express any anger over the news and that its discussions with them and the IDA were “constructive”.

“IT took them 10 minutes to lay off 600 people.”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has today accused management at Talk Talk of showing a lack corporate courtesy.

WORKERS at one of the south-east’s biggest employers have been left devastated at the announcement of 575 job losses with the closure of a telecommunications call centre.

Talk Talk have announced that 575 jobs are to go at their call centre in Co Waterford.

Up to 575 jobs are to go at the Talk Talk call centre in Co Waterford.

There are fears for some of the 575 jobs at a customer support centre in Waterford today.

BT today said the proportion of new broadband customers using its own service hit an eight-year high in the final three months of last year as profits at the telecoms giant exceeded half a billion pounds.

Sixty new jobs are to be created in Waterford by broadband and home phone provider Talk Talk.

MORE than 300 job losses have been announced in Cork and Sligo by two companies in the technology sector.

Carphone Warehouse has reported a near-10% fall in annual profits after the Talk Talk owner counted the cost of its troubled launch of free broadband.

Carphone Warehouse reported a near 10% fall in annual profits today after the Talk Talk owner counted the cost of its troubled launch of free broadband.

EMI shares fell to their lowest level in a year today after the recorded music giant warned profits would be less than expected.

Carphone Warehouse today said it had completed the acquisition of the UK’s third largest internet provider, AOL UK.

Carphone Warehouse said today that it had signed up 476,000 to its “free” broadband product Talk Talk and admitted its customer-service provision had not kept up with demand.

Carphone Warehouse continued its recent run of strong trading updates today with a forecast that it will improve half-year profits by around 35%.

R&B and hip-hop dominated the 2003 Billboard Music Awards with sultry singer Beyonce and R. Kelly each earning four awards.