Protest walkout at power station in Co Clare

More than 50 employees at Ireland’s largest power station at Moneypoint in Co Clare have staged a protest walkout in response to a management ban on all recreational walking and running at the site.

Local ESB management announced the ban on health and safety grounds.

It has been opposed by a large number of employees at Kilrush power station.

An organised protest walk took place last Friday afternoon when employees, all of whom were on their lunch break at the time, walked over two miles from the main power station to the gates of the facility and back again — in direct contravention to the orders of management.

A spokesperson from the Moneypoint Shop Stewards Committee said he expects employees to continue to flout the ESB’s ban: “A lot of people are employed here and many of them like to walk and run on the grounds during their break times, it is a health and wellbeing issue for us. After the meeting on Thursday, 50 of us walked to the main gates and back on Friday lunchtime as a protest. The walk was done in defiance of the orders from management.

“I can’t see any way that people will stop walking and jogging at the site. We are doing it on our own time — it’s during our breaks. There hasn’t been an accident or any incident from someone walking or jogging on the site for 30 years.”

The ESB claims that the policy change at Moneypoint is the result of a review of health and safety procedure at the power station.

“As part of a careful review of site traffic management, we have asked all personnel on site to refrain from recreational jogging and walking during lunch breaks and free time.

“As one of Ireland’s largest power stations, Moneypoint is a live and busy workplace and activities such as these do not align with modern health and safety practices,” an ESB spokesperson said.