29/12 The Front Pages

'Public sector staff may be offered new redundancy scheme' - The Irish Times

Any departments who believe they have spare capacity “are free to make proposals around voluntary redundancies which will be considered by the Government", according to Minister of State for public service reform Dara Calleary.

The government launched a voluntary redundancy programme in the health service last month - the terms being three weeks wages for every year served. It was hoped that 5,000 would avail of it, but only 1,730 have so far.

'Running on empty' - The Irish Independent

Hundreds of thousands of people across Ireland face not having any water for several weeks, after burst pipes and leaks have drained the water supply. Some reservoirs in the Dublin region have hit rock bottom.

‘Thousands face start of 2011 without water’ - The Irish Examiner

Same story in the Examiner, which reports that water levels in Kildare, Dublin, Sligo, Kilkenny, Kerry, Cork and the midlands are “critically low”.

The Dublin City Council have described the last 48 hours, in which 130 million litres were lost, as the worst water shortage “event on record”.