The Government has applied to the EU for €20m in funding to support the 1,900 Dell workers made redundant in Limerick.

TWO thousand Dell workers and thousands of others who will also lose their jobs as a result of the computer giant’s move from Limerick to Poland could benefit from a €20 million EU fund to help them retrain and develop new skills.

The EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities was visiting Limerick today for meetings with local community representatives involved in the Moyross Regeneration project and with workers made redundant from the Dell plant.

THE European Commission said it hopes to quickly process the Government’s application for millions of euro to help retrain and find jobs for the Dell workers laid off over the past two months.

IRELAND can now draw money from the €375 million European Social Fund for training and education without having to put in matching funds this year and next, the European Commission announced.

Small businesses in Britain prepared to employ women “of child-bearing age” must be mad, a Euro-MPs said today.

IRISH women would have to work an extra 53 days to earn the same pay as their male colleagues, according to the latest statistics which show their wages, on average, are 17% less than men doing the same work.

THE EU will release funds early for retraining and upskilling Irish people unemployed as a result of the economic crisis, a delegation of training and employment bodies has been told.

Controversial plans by football’s world governing body to limit the number of foreign players do not breach EU rules, an independent report declared today.

WAGE bargaining at national level has improved the gender pay gap, wage inequality and in-work poverty, an EU report has concluded.

Senior Irish MEPs tonight said they were confident top European officials would sign-off on a multi-million euro handout to support laid-off Dell employees.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has received the support of the Football Association for their controversial ’six-plus-five’ proposal designed to limit teams’ use of foreign players.

FIFA are on a collision course with the European Union as they look set to press ahead with plans to impose their controversial ’six-plus-five’ proposal designed to limit teams’ use of foreign players.

Football’s world governing body has voted in favour of the ’six-plus-five rule’, which would put a limit on the number of foreign players each team could field.

Plans by world football's governing body FIFA to introduce nationality quotas on the football pitch were condemned as illegal by the European Commission today.

THE European Commission has abandoned plans to take Ireland to the European Court of Justice to stop religious schools and hospitals employing staff based on their faith.

URGENT action is needed by governments to improve working conditions for one million short-term contract workers working in another EU member state, the European Commission has said.

IRISH women languish close to the bottom of the scale, under-represented in politics and business and shut out of top posts, according to an EU report.

The European Commission has announced that Ireland will receive €375m from the European Social Fund (ESF) to upskill workers and create new employment in disadvantaged communities.

AN EU survey has found the Irish are the least likely to be paid untaxed, under-the-counter wages but more Irish than any other nationality refused to answer if they were working in the black economy.

IRELAND has a significant and persistent pay gap between men and women, according to a report from the European Commission.

A leading trade union today warned it would reject the new European Union treaty unless the Government endorsed the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The European Union will pressure the United States to commit to including all EU nations in its visa-waiver programme, officials said today.

IRISH women are being paid almost 20% less than men despite being better educated, a major report on gender equality across Europe has found.

FATAL accidents at work could be cut by a quarter inside five years under a strategy unveiled by the EU.

France and Britain were poised to clash today at European Union talks seeking to end London’s decades-old opt-out of the EU’s 48-hour maximum working week.

ONLY six out of 10 Irish workers are confident they will keep their job for the next two years, according to a survey of attitudes to work in the European Union.

THE European Commission has said companies are legally entitled to refuse employment to smokers.

TO VAT or not to VAT nappies is exercising the minds of the European Commission.

THE second anniversary of EU accession yesterday was marked by calls for increased protection for migrant workers as European nations remain divided over whether to open their borders.

Key European countries have opted to keep their doors firmly closed to workers from the newest EU member states, it was confirmed today.

The European Commission plans to set up a €50m gender institute and review all EU gender equality laws as part of a major drive to promote equality of the sexes across the 25-nation bloc, officials said today.

THE European Commission announced plans yesterday for an annual €500 million fund to help workers left unemployed by restructuring due to globalisation.

The European Commission today presented plans for an annual €500m fund to help workers left unemployed in the EU by restructuring due to globalisation.

IRELAND has had the largest influx of workers from the new EU member states since enlargement two years ago, according to new European Commission research.

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

Czech Prime Minister Stanislav Gross resigned today, ending weeks of political crisis sparked by a scandal over the financing of his luxury apartment.

Little progress has been made in terms of women’s equality in the workplace and portrayal in the media, a EU conference concluded today, on the eve of International Women’s Day.

IRELAND’S record on poverty, childcare and training for the low-skilled was sharply criticised by the European Commission.

CZECH Republic Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has announced he plans to resign this week and has already stepped down as chief of the governing Social Democratic Party.

A day after voting decisively to join the European Union, Czechs today began looking ahead to the benefits of integration – and the expected hardships.

People in the Czech Republic voted decisively to join the European Union, their referendum result confirmed today.

The Czech Republic opens a two-day referendum tomorrow on whether the country of 10 million people should join the European Union.

AS anti-war protesters rioted in the cradle of democracy, EU leaders finally rolled back the Iron Curtain yesterday by admitting 10 new members.