Results 4,141-4,160 of 6,308 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I refer to the cost of the verification process in the Department. I have obtained information from the Mirroron foot of a freedom of information request on the response from the Department to a journalist last November. It stated the initial costs associated with producing the public services card were €18.284 million, ex-VAT, and that a further €1.5 million in costs were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I accept what Mr. Duggan is saying, that he never accepted that it was a requirement but he was obligated to do so because of the intervention of the Data Protection Commissioner. It appears to me, however, to be an absolute waste of the Department's resources and staff time for the reasons I outlined earlier. Nobody's card was invalidated because he or she did not contact the Department so...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I raised the prospect in my earlier contribution about a number of people who are walking around with the wrong card in their pocket. It may happen. There is no system that I am aware of that can provide 100% assurance and reliability that the card would get to everybody safely. Has the Department carried out any risk analysis? Has everybody who was due to receive a card received the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Public Services Card: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I asked a question about the reliability of the process, in other words, that all cards issued by the Department are correctly held by those who are supposed to have them. Has the Department engaged in a process to ensure that is the case? I accept that there will never be 100% reliability for any system. Sometimes cards may be sent out incorrectly and people may not return them. That is...

Seanad: Versatis Medicated Plasters: Statements (21 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: It is important we debate this issue of enormous public importance and concern. I welcome to the Visitors Gallery those who are affected by the denial of the opportunity to use Versatis in the future, as well as those who represent those experiencing chronic pain as a result of several conditions. I thank them for speaking out individually and collectively to raise public awareness of this...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I voice my support for Senator Grace O'Sullivan's expression of concern on Hinkley Point C plant. It certainly used to be the practice that successive Irish Governments would engage very actively on matters pertaining to nuclear power, nuclear energy and the location and development of nuclear reactors in the UK. I recall back in the mid-1990s, when my former colleague, the then Minister of...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: The reality, unfortunately, is something different.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: When I was sitting in the cinema and looking forward to the film, I was treated to a very skilled piece of material - I imagine that this wonderful set of graphics was fantastically expensive - telling me how great the national planning framework and the Ireland 2040 programme are. The reality as it pertains to my own town of Drogheda is something less ambitious.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: We have been treated to a range of commitments and promises that are designed to take the bare look off the draft plan, which neglects to mention Ireland's largest town.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: It is important that we have a debate in this House because this plan will dictate where investment goes over the next 20 to 30 years. It will prioritise where public investment in our schools, hospitals and public transport system goes as well. We need to get the Minister in to debate this pivotal plan for the future of Ireland. I propose that such a discussion should be facilitated this...

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: A lovers' tiff on Valentine's Day.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business to take No. 18 on the Supplementary Order Paper before No. 1. Bogus self-employment is a major issue. It is prevalent in the construction and agriculture sectors and it is becoming more prevalent in the ICT, financial services, legal, media and transport sectors.Anybody who is familiar with this phenomenon will know it denies workers of their...

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: First Stage (13 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I move:That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to declare the relationship between employer and employee to be a status relationship, to declare the question whether an individual is an employee or is self-employed to be a question of law to be independently determined, to provide that the description given by the parties shall not be conclusive in determining the true...

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: First Stage (13 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Jan 2018)

Gerald Nash: I wish to raise the long delays in the Government revising the 2005 rural housing guidelines as they apply to the local needs criteria. In 2007 the European Commission issued an infringement notice against Ireland in which a view was expressed that Ireland's local needs criteria for one-off rural houses are excessively restrictive and may be in breach of the treaties. The Flemish decree...

Seanad: Order of Business (31 Jan 2018)

Gerald Nash: I formally second the proposed amendment to the Order of Business.

Seanad: Emergency Department Waiting Times: Statements (31 Jan 2018)

Gerald Nash: I will be sharing one minute of my time with my colleague, Senator Byrne. This is an all too familiar problem. It is something we - the previous Administration, the ones before, and this Administration - have been dealing with year in, year out. Hundreds of citizens across the country are without hospital beds. Their dignity, as Senator Murnane O'Connor said, is compromised. Staff are...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Second Stage (24 Jan 2018)

Gerald Nash: With respect, Senator Buttimer must have been listening to a different contribution from Senator Higgins than the one I heard. If Senator Higgins can be accused of consistency, the consistency I would accuse her of it being consistently supportive of the low paid, in particular women who are low paid. I have developed a relationship with Senator Higgins over the years. I very much enjoyed...

Seanad: Special Needs Assistants: Motion (13 Dec 2017)

Gerald Nash: I welcome our colleagues from IMPACT, who represent so professionally the interests of SNAs across the education system in this country at primary and secondary level. I recognise their absolute right to fulfil their role as a professional trade union in the context of Irish legislation, and to represent professionally those who seek their representation. They do that job very...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2017)

Gerald Nash: I, too, pay tribute to my colleague and, more important, my friend, Senator Denis Landy, who has announced today his unexpected retirement from this House. Denis has made a huge contribution to local and national politics and to Labour Party politics in Tipperary, across Munster and across Ireland over almost 30 years in elected office of one description or another. As Senator Gavan said,...