Results 2,141-2,160 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Second Stage (26 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is good to see my comrade, Senator Warfield, in the role of Acting Chair. I congratulate Senator Higgins for this excellent well thought out legislation. I am quite taken aback by the comments made by Senator Pauline O'Reilly. She spoke about throwing about nonsense figures. The only figure mentioned was by Senator Boyhan, who suggested six months rather than 12. To make a comment...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: Colleagues were rightly outraged by the Beacon Hospital-private school vaccine scandal and I know they spoke about it on Friday. However, a related scandal which has not really received any airing over the past couple of years is the €91 million subsidy given to private schools each year by this Government. To be clear, I have no problem with parents who want to send their children...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (29 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank the Minister for coming in because I know he has an extremely busy schedule at the moment. This week is going to be crucial for him and the Government. There are a number of concerns and I will try to go through them as quickly as I can. The first is fundamental. As we know, the national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, has identified and prioritised 15 groups for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank all the witnesses. It has been a really useful discussion. I will take up from where the previous conversation finished, that is, with the issue of why the regulations changed in 2016. I think members of the general public will be genuinely quite shocked to hear that right now there is no obligation on employers to notify the HSA of Covid-19 cases. I wish to drill down into this....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: To be clear, if the 2016 change had not happened, would there now be an obligation on employers to report Covid cases?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: Would Dr. McGuinness like to comment on the fact that European countries have seen fit to regard Covid-19 as an occupational illness? They seem to have had no difficulty doing so. Dr. McGuinness may have seen the addendum to the ICTU presentation, which showed the European Union of Medical Specialists making reference to the need to make Covid an occupational illness. What is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: Perhaps we will try to tease this out with a real-life example because I am still struggling with this a little. Let us take a meat factory and two workers. The first worker contracts Covid in the community, at home. He goes to work because he is asymptomatic and then, unfortunately, passes it on to a second worker. What are the obligations of the employer in this example? Does it have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: Yes, but with respect - and I apologise for interrupting Dr. McGuinness but I am just very short on time - have we not just highlighted why there is a major problem with how this works, or indeed does not work, at the moment? What Dr. McGuinness is actually saying is that in a case in which one worker introduces Covid into a factory unknowingly and a further worker then gets it - and that,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: That is a huge gap, is it not?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: I ask Dr. McGuinness to help me out here. How would those first three ways of reporting highlight the workplace issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: Yes, but there is a problem here, is there not? What Dr. McGuinness told us two minutes ago is that there is no obligation on the employer to report the two cases in the example I gave her. That appears to me to be a major gap. How does it make sense for employers not to have an obligation to report employees with Covid in the workplace? That question is for the HSA.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (30 Mar 2021)

Paul Gavan: Dr. McGuinness mentioned the significant administrative burden. In cases where an employee has Covid, what process does the employer have to engage with? What is the significant burden if an employer has to report a case to the HSA?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank all the parties for their presentations and patience this morning. I want to start by referring to a report produced by MRCI last November. It is called Working to the Bone. It has a lot of crucial information on working conditions in the meat industry. It states: "This research reveals the systemic culture of poor and dangerous working conditions, with employers who put profit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is the results of the inspections that are of such concern, particularly the WRC inspections cited by my colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, which showed that one in two meat factories is consistently failing. I will move on because there is a shortage of time. I want to take up the question put by Deputy Paul Murphy. Does MII think it is acceptable that only 20% of workers are covered by a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: Mr. Carroll is clearly saying that MII is not prepared to act ahead of anything the Government might want to do, which is disappointing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: Mr. Carroll has made that point but I am conscious of time so I apologise and I do not wish to be rude. The rate of pay for general operatives on work permits is €22,423 per annum. Is that not an appallingly low rate of pay for the hard and back-breaking work that meat factory workers engage in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: There is a reason I hold that view. When I was a trade union official trying to organise meat factory workers, I found on each occasion that once we organised with activists, they were summarily fired, not once or twice but several times. In the short time I have left, I want to ask the MRCI for its reaction to MII's rejection of its Working to the Bone report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: I will be very quick. I am concerned about a comment made by Mr. Healy. The figures from SIPTU indicate that 25% of people, 3,850 of those working in these factories, have contracted Covid. Does he accept that figure? I do not accept that figure. I do not know the basis for it or the background to it but I do not accept that figure. We are engaged with the HSE on an ongoing basis on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: I apologise for interrupting Mr. Healy but I have only one minute left. There was a very disturbing report in the Irish Mail on Sunday relating to widespread abuse of employment law in the sector. Does Mr. Healy have any comment to make on those revelations?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Apr 2021)

Paul Gavan: With respect, that is not good enough. I am asking Mr. Healy to comment on the revelations.