Results 5,001-5,020 of 6,478 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Low Pay (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Nevin Institute's (NERI) Spring 2015 Quarterly Economic Observer outlines the Institute's latest expectations for the economic outlook in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and provides a profile of the earnings distribution and low pay in the Republic of Ireland. NERI concludes that the economic outlook differs for both parts of the island of Ireland. According to the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Low Pay Commission Establishment (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am aware of the report referred to by the Deputy and commissioned by the UK Labour Party who requested Alan Buckle, former‎ Deputy Chairman at KPMG International, to investigate how to restore the value of the UK minimum wage, ensure that where sectors can afford to pay more, they do, and promote the Living Wage. The report, published in May 2014, notes that the UK National...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: Ireland's strong commitment to protecting the rights of domestic workers was highlighted last July when we ratified the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention No. 189 on Domestic Workers. Ireland is among the small group of seventeen ILO member countries that have ratified this Convention to date. To mark the occasion of Ireland's ratification of the Convention and to help...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The premise of the Deputy's question is false. Since 2012, the Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) has put in place a comprehensive set of measures agreed by Government to promote job opportunities and employment growth in all parts of the country. Almost 90,000 more people are at work since the launch of the first Plan in 2012. This increase has been in full-time jobs rather than casual or...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: At the request of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Expert Panel was asked to re-engage with SIPTU and ICTU in relation to matters dealt with in its June 2014 report on its review the Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme (IASS), including the actuarial assumptions, and to provide clarity on those matters. There were also...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: A range of employment rights legislation is pertinent to the scenarios outlined by the Deputy in his question. These include, inter alia, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007, the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. In addition, legal principles established under case law may be of relevance to aspects of the issues raised...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU Funding (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) is an EU funding instrument, managed by the European Commission, which supports the development of innovative social policies and promotes labour mobility, as well as facilitating access to microcredits and encouraging social entrepreneurship. EaSI brings three EU programmes, which were previously managed separately, together under one...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (25 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: Ireland's strong commitment to protecting the rights of domestic workers was highlighted last July when we ratified the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention No. 189 on Domestic Workers. Ireland is among the small group of seventeen ILO member countries that have ratified this Convention to date. To mark the occasion of Ireland's ratification of the Convention and to help...

Topical Issue Debate: Industrial Disputes (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank Deputy Costello for raising this important matter and articulating very clearly the experiences of some of the employees, which he outlined earlier. A presentation was made to Oireachtas colleagues today by members of the Mandate trade union, many of whom are working in Dunnes Stores. I also want to acknowledge the Deputy's recognition of the work I have carried out with Government...

Topical Issue Debate: Industrial Disputes (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: In these type of circumstances, of course the question will be asked as to how the Government can help to address a situation like this where an employer refuses to engage with its workforce. It is to address these very kinds of circumstances that I am drafting new collective bargaining legislation which we will enact as a Government in mid 2015. Deputy Costello will be only too well aware...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank the Chairman for his kind invitation, which has afforded me the opportunity to present the general scheme of the low pay commission (national minimum wage) Bill 2015 for the purposes of pre-legislative scrutiny. The general scheme of the Bill was approved by Government in January, and, together with a regulatory impact assessment, has been published on my Department's website and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am satisfied that the Central Statistics Office, CSO, can do that without my or Deputy Calleary's assistance. Will the Deputy repeat his third question, as I did not catch it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Deputy will notice from the heads, the public commentary and the interventions I have made in recent times about the low pay commission that it will look at related matters. There is a range of different areas the low pay commission could potentially examine. I have asked the commission to focus exclusively over the next short period of time on the next rate of the national minimum...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: In the short term.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I find it extraordinary that while this is one of the most important initiatives any government has taken to address low pay, Deputy Tóibín and his party cannot find it in themselves to welcome it. That is shameful. Deputy Tóibín has chosen to make some political charges. The reality is that the Labour Party in government, and this Government in general, is committed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I cannot reiterate this strongly enough. Given the short timeframe, the work we have asked the low pay commission to do is exclusively on the minimum wage for the moment. However, it is clear to me, and we can all agree, that low pay, for example, is a large issue. There is no doubt that there is a gender element to it, and the low pay commission will be looking at issues to do with that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: -----of zero hour contracts. I do not want to pre-empt the outcome of the review of zero hour contracts. This is the first such review of this nature carried out by any Government in this State. We need to reflect on that because it illustrates the Government's commitment to making work pay and dealing with some of the more egregious issues we have all come across in recent years. We do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: That is exactly the situation. The statutory minimum wage was introduced only a few years ago. It is the floor beneath which nobody should be allowed to fall in a decent society. Most of us here would never recommend that an employer pay the minimum wage. The living wage is a very interesting concept which I have been exploring in detail recently. I had announced publicly several weeks...

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Votáil Uachtaráin) 2014: An Dara Céim [Private Members] - Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Presidential Voting) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (11 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: This is a short and significant Bill. It is significant for citizens resident inside and outside the State. There are few more important matters than the right to vote. It goes to the core of our democratic system and society. Debating this Bill tonight is timely as it follows on from the Government's recent announcements on diaspora policy. The debate allows us all - Government and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Disability Support Services (11 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I hope that the young woman to whom Senator Burke referred is doing well and that her health improves. I hope also that the situation improves for her from a range of different perspectives. On behalf of the Government and my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, who has responsibility in this area, I wish to highlight that one of...