Results 2,181-2,200 of 6,435 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Taxi Licences (29 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: I raise an important matter concerning the Taxi Regulator and the treatment of the next of kin of deceased taxi licence and plate holders. As the Minister will understand, taxi owners form an integral part of the public transport system. They are largely self-employed and work hard to earn what can only be described as very modest incomes. They comply with the law and pay their taxes and...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Taxi Licences (29 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: It is important in order to illustrate the point. This woman has spoken publicly and has no difficulty being referred to in the House. Her husband was a taxi driver for almost 30 years. When the business was deregulated in 2000, he bought his own plate like thousands of others. He worked hard for 17 or 18 years as the owner of that plate and met all of the industry regulations with which...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Taxi Licences (29 Mar 2018)

Gerald Nash: I thank the Minister for his response and I thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, for indulging me in permitting me to mention the two particular cases, with one of which I am especially familiar. I did so merely to illustrate the point and the human cost of this overly bureaucratic system and its impact on people on a regular basis. I tend not to mention individual cases in this House and I...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 May 2018)

Gerald Nash: I wish to be associated with the remarks on the great loss of the wonderful contemporary Irish playwright, Tom Murphy. He is a loss to the Irish arts community, Irish culture and the Irish nation. It is the job of a playwright to hold a mirror up to the nation and to give expression to the nation and, indeed, the dispossessed and marginalised in a nation. Tom Murphy did that skilfully and...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Removal of Sub-minimum Rates of Pay) Bill 2017: Second Stage (29 May 2018)

Gerald Nash: I am pleased to support this Bill. It is simple and straightforward legislation, which I believe can help to make our workplaces more equal. The statutory minimum floor is the floor beneath which no worker should be allowed to fall. The principle of a legal minimum rate of pay is a critical one and something that must be protected. The establishment of the Low Pay Commission in 2015 was a...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Removal of Sub-minimum Rates of Pay) Bill 2017: Second Stage (29 May 2018)

Gerald Nash: Unfortunately Fianna Fáil felt it necessary, on the instructions of those they invited into the country, to slash the rate of the national minimum wage by €1 per hour. Unfortunately, that calls into question Fianna Fáil’s supposed credentials as a social democratic party. Notwithstanding that, I recognise the contribution that Fianna Fáil did make regarding the...

Seanad: Community Banking System: Statements (30 May 2018)

Gerald Nash: If one can be found.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2018)

Gerald Nash: We will all be very excited to find out exactly what is happening with the boundary report. I agree with what Senator Boyhan said, as it seems to me that a number of people appear to have been briefed on the reality of what we will be facing, or at least those individuals who have a franchise in electing us. I received calls from a number of councillors across the country today requesting...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2018)

Gerald Nash: First Communion.

Seanad: 25th Anniversary of Decriminalisation of Homosexuality: Motion (19 Jun 2018)

Gerald Nash: I, too, want to share in the appreciation extended to our colleagues, Senators David Norris and Jerry Buttimer, of the extraordinary work they have done to promote LGBTI rights in this country. It is on days like this that I think of my colleagues in the parliamentary Labour Party from 2011 to 2016, former Deputies Dominic Hannigan and John Lyons, who made an enormous contribution-----

Seanad: 25th Anniversary of Decriminalisation of Homosexuality: Motion (19 Jun 2018)

Gerald Nash: -----to transforming attitudes in this House and introducing and supporting transformative legislation. It has made our country a better, fairer, more tolerant and more progressive place. I also welcome those who are present in the Public Gallery this evening. Campaigners for LGBTI rights have put their collective and individual shoulders to the wheel for decades to transform this...

Seanad: 25th Anniversary of Decriminalisation of Homosexuality: Motion (19 Jun 2018)

Gerald Nash: This is a day when we can be proud of our parliamentary democracy and I hope it is a day that will live long in the memory. It is a day too that I hope will mark another important turning point in our society and in our politics. It is an important reckoning with our recent history. This is a long overdue and sincerely extended apology from our national Parliament and from those who...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 Jul 2018)

Gerald Nash: I formally second it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Barnardos and Society of St. Vincent de Paul: Pre-Budget Discussion (12 Jul 2018)

Gerald Nash: I apologise for being late. I was attending a meeting between members of my parliamentary party and representatives of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on its pre-budget submissions. I am glad Deputy Joan Collins raised issues related to decent and quality work. During my short spell as the Minister of State with responsibility for business and employment, I started the process of...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Sep 2018)

Gerald Nash: I wish to raise an issue that pertains to the operation of small, community pharmacies throughout the State. It will also resonate with each and every Member in the House who understands how difficult it often is for independent pharmacies to survive in this kind of market. I understand that new rules have been developed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland that, if they are adopted...

Seanad: Order of Business (25 Sep 2018)

Gerald Nash: I did not say that.

Seanad: Scoping Inquiry into CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Statements (25 Sep 2018)

Gerald Nash: I am conscious we have limited time and that the Minister of State will want to respond, and he needs to respond to some of the remarks made by colleagues. Only a few short months ago the names of Vicky Phelan, Lorraine Walsh and Irene and Stephen Teap probably did not trip off the tongues of anyone other than the people in their own networks, families and communities. I am sure that is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Gerald Nash: I am glad that the Minister took the opportunity to clarify and confirm that a Christmas bonus would be paid this year. Experience from 2010 and 2011 tells us that it cannot always be assured. I understand the Minister may not be able to impart an answer to the committee today, which I understand in the context of the pre-budget discussions that she will be having with ministerial...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Gerald Nash: When there is a policy difference and a policy issue at stake-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Pre-Budget Discussion: Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (25 Sep 2018)

Gerald Nash: -----I have a responsibility to raise it for the people I represent.