Compass Group Plc

The Phoenix Restaurant Maynooth is owned and operated by Compass Group PLC – one of the largest contract food service companies in the world.

Headquartered in the UK, Compass has operations in more than 50 countries worldwide and employs some 470,000 people as of 2012. With an impressive 90 of Fortune 100 companies listed as their clients, Compass has established itself as a world-class provider of quality breakfasts, lunches and dinners to a diverse array of customers, including office workers, college students, senior living communities, sports enthusiasts and even employees of remote mining camps and offshore facilities.

Compass’ operations are not simply limited to the provision of tasty and affordable meals, their ultimate goal is to meet the dietary requirements of their customers on case-by-case basis. For example, their corporate based services are aimed at “refreshing tired minds and refuelling the productivity of people at work” while their educational based services are aimed at “helping boost the concentration of young minds at school and college”. It is this unique emphasis on meeting the specific nutritional needs of their diverse customer base that has helped distinguish Compass from it closest competitors.

While Compass may serve approximately 4 billion customers per annum, the wide variety of food offerings available in the Phoenix Restaurant (ranging from a full Irish breakfast to Italian style pizzas) are emblematic of the company’s desire to provide students with a wide variety of choice. With tailor-made menus created by award-winning chefs and ingredients sourced directly from suppliers, it is little wonder that more and more organizations are choosing to outsource their food service to Compass.

Given Compass’ proven record of meeting the highest health, safety and environmental standards, it comes as little surprise that more and more organizations are now depending on the company to provide a range of support services such as cleaning, logistics and transport, security and building maintenance. Despite the global economic downturn, Compass Group’s long-term objective of delivering value for its shareholders and customers looks certain to continue through the growth-focused development of their existing expertise within the food industry and the expansion of their international support service capabilities.

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Fiscal Pact Referendum – A Decisive Moment for Ireland in Europe

Pictured above – French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Taoiseach Enda Kenny

On Tuesday 28th February, Taoiseach Enda Kenny made the somewhat surprising announcement that the government (acting on the advice of the attorney general) will put the revised European Union Fiscal Compact Treaty which aims to tighten budgetary controls on EU members states  to a referendum.  The compact, agreed at an EU summit last month, proposes tough new budgetary disciplines on each eurozone state, including near-zero budget deficits. Twenty-five of the European Union’s twenty-seven countries have signed up for the treaty, with only the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic opposed. In a time when support for the European Union has cooled in Ireland following the financial crisis, the Fiscal Treaty has already ignited a firestorm of political debate across Ireland and is bound to become an increasingly divisive issue over the coming months as groups on both sides of the argument continue to jokey for positions.

Having read the treaty and watched developments in Europe over the past number of years, I am firmly of the opinion that this treaty is effectively a political rather than an economic document and one which offers very few concrete solutions to Ireland’s current economic woes. From my perspective the treaty represents one large steps towards a fully federalized Europe, whereby the democratic right of national parliaments to decide their budgets shifting to the unelected European Commission and European Court of Justice. step by step significant powers are being given to the Commission which weaken national governments. EU officials will be able to demand spending cuts, with the threat of fines. By restricting a country from running a structural budget deficit of no more than 0.5% of GDP, the treaty essentially outlaws all forms of expansionary fiscal policy and will institutionalize austerity in Ireland and across Europe. Given the permanent implications of the treaty, a “YES” vote would represent a fundamental and irreversible transfer of power away from elected governments. It is anticipated that in order to save the single currency full fiscal union and eventual political union will follow. Such changes would be huge and in my opinion against the wishes of most ordinary European citizens.

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Extreme Right-Wing Parties On The Rise – A European Dilemma

Pictured above – Sweden Democrat leader Jimme Akesson

Having spent a significant amount of time working and traveling throughout Scandinavia in recent years, I am here to inform you that Northern Europeans are not quite the open-minded and tolerant quasi-socialists that Lonely Planet might have you believe. While Scandinavia’s internationally recognized reputation as a leading champion of human rights cannot be denied, mass immigration has led to increased levels of workplace discrimination, race-related attacks and perhaps more significantly – a rapid rise in the popularity of right- wing political groupings.

The trend to the right is not a distinctly Scandinavia phenonmenon though, with many other European states experiencing similar trends in recent years, most notably in the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom. Despite high-levels of immigration over the last two decades and a more recent economic downturn, Ireland is a notable exception to this trend, with right wing parties failing to gain a modicum of public support. Even where they have not triumphed electorally, far-right parties have forced more mainstream politicians like French President Nicholas Sarkozy and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to echo their xenophobic rhetoric and implement policies to placate their supporters.

See link from “Business Insider Europe” for more detailed examples of European countries where extreme right-wing parties are on the rise: http://www.businessinsider.com/rise-of-far-right-populist-parties-can-derail-the-eu-2011-6

Right-wing populism itself isn’t anything new. It has been a fixed entity for about 30 years in many European countries, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. What is new, however, is that the right-wing populists have discovered an issue that is much more appealing to voters than the usual anger against foreigners and the political class. They have found a powerful new issue in resistance against the growing visibility of Islam in Europe (most right wing parties are thus staunchly opposed to Turkey’s entry into the European Union). They portray themselves as the defenders of European values, and yet both they and their voters seem to care very little that some of those values, such as freedom of religion, are being trampled on in the struggle.

In recent years, right-wing populist parties have thwarted majority governments in three European Union countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and, most recently, Sweden. Although right-wing populists in the latter country only captured 5.7 percent of the vote, it was enough to deprive the incumbent center-right coalition of an absolute majority. All three countries were long known for their liberalism, but now political parties are gaining influence that see Islam as “our biggest foreign threat since World War II,” as Jimmie Akesson, the 31-year-old chairman of the Sweden Democrats, puts it. Akesson represents another somewhat disturbing trend among many right-wing figures – He is young, charismatic, highly educated and of an upper middle class background.

Akesson’s party (which now has more than 20 members of the Swedish parliament), have capitalised upon the internet and social media to circumvent censorship from the mainstream media and to spread their message. During their recent election campaign, the Sweden Democrats had a television ad showing an elderly woman who, as she is struggling along with her wheeled walker, is almost run over by women in burqas pushing their strollers. The women in burqas are hurrying toward a desk labeled “Government Budget.” “On Sept. 19, you can pull the immigration brake — and not the pension brake,” says a voice. (see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkRRdth8AHc). While this video is clearly playing on people’s worst fears, it is definitely memorable in its simplicity and impact.

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