Results 2,161-2,180 of 6,435 for speaker:Gerald Nash

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: 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...

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

Gerald Nash: We will do our best.

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: Order of Business (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I respectfully disagree, and not for the first time, with some of the remarks Senator Leyden made earlier.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: He mentioned that he returned here after, I think, a ten-year hiatus from these Houses. To be frank, I think too much of Senator Ó Clochartaigh to wish that on him, and I mean that in the best-intended way.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: Senator Ó Clochartaigh has made a remarkable contribution to this House during his term. I had the opportunity to get to know Senator Ó Clochartaigh first when I was a Member of the previous Dáil and then probably even better when I became a Minister of State. On many occasions when I was here dealing with issues of industrial relations, pay policy and trying to improve the...

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House. Employment policy is at the heart of public policy. There are, of course, core issues to do with pay, such as how do we get weaker growth in take home pay and how do we best ensure wage growth is consistent with sustainable economic growth and economic competitiveness....

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: I thank the Minister. We are on the same page in our mutual determination to deal with issues surrounding precarious work, making sure work pays and that people's dignity in the workplace is not only respected but also properly vindicated. I accept, as does the Labour Party, that we do not have a monopoly of wisdom. Therefore, we will be pleased to work with the Minister and her officials...

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: We know this from our day-to-day work and various commentary. It is important that people have their employment status determined in an efficacious way. I mean no disrespect to the Department's scope section, but that is not happening in a timely and efficient way. People have contacted me in recent weeks who claim to have worked with the scope section for a number of years to get...

Seanad: Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: Second Stage (28 Feb 2018)

Gerald Nash: Next Tuesday.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: Hear, hear.

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: I welcome the Minister back to the House. I thank him for his remarkable contribution at the start of this debate. It really was a powerful statement from him and I know that, personally and politically, he has travelled his own journey in recent years to come to the conclusion he has arrived at in recent times. I want to thank him for that. Of course, we all have a job over the next...

Seanad: An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: An Dara Céim - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Second Stage (27 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: It is 20 seconds now.

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: Members will be aware that the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, AGSI, is having its annual conference. Serious concerns have been expressed by that body about the Government's foot dragging over responding to a landmark Council of Europe decision a couple of years ago relating to trade union rights for the AGSI, a right that should and could be very easily applied not just to...