Results 2,441-2,460 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: Covid-19 and the New Measures (Enterprise, Trade and Employment): Statements (7 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is nice to see the Tánaiste. He is very welcome. To begin I will deal with those new restrictions announced on Friday. I will not play politics with Covid-19 and we should follow the science. I appreciate the fact the Cabinet has moved to provide supports that are very badly needed. I have a couple of examples for the Tánaiste. I spoke to somebody in one of the major hotels...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is nice to see the Minister of State. I thank him for coming in. We are going to oppose this Bill, as I am sure he would expect us to. I will outline the reasons over the next few minutes. However, I will welcome a couple of aspects of it because I want to be balanced and fair, if I can. I particularly welcome the ring-fenced funding for childcare. My union, SIPTU, has campaigned for...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: I ask the Acting Chairperson to tell his Fianna Fáil colleague to allow me to speak.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: I know that I am hitting some sore points but that is okay. I ask the Minister of State to tell us why the Government has backed the special assignee relief programme that rewards existing millionaire executives with up to €110,000 each in tax relief? The Government has set this scheme in place now. The former Minister for Finance, Mr. Michael Noonan, introduced it originally and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: I have to raise the issue of University Hospital Limerick once again, regrettably. The number on trolleys in the hospital yesterday was 83; on Monday it was 82. Some 3,500 people have been treated on trolleys in the hospital in the past three months alone. A 96-bed unit is planned. From a meeting on Friday, I gather that a tender for that is still open and that the earliest - it is a very...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Report of the Commission on Pensions: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank the contributors and echo what others have said regarding the real value of this report on so many levels. It is a tremendous contribution to this debate on pensions and how we plan for the future. I will home in on the issue of the retirement age. I will declare an interest in that I have a trade union background and have worked with workers in meat factories, on construction...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Report of the Commission on Pensions: Discussion (Resumed) (17 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: It does. In terms of the potential savings of raising the pension age, I will go back to Mr. Duggan's point about being realistic. Realistically, a number of these people, if they are forced to work on to 68, will find themselves in receipt of some kind of social payment, rather than actual work. Age Action described this point very well last week in that we know once people get into their...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is nice to see the Minister. He is very welcome. The Bill is an important one and Sinn Féin will be supporting it. Like other speakers, I acknowledge the amazing work done by all the Oireachtas staff here every day, much of which goes unheard and unseen. Staff put in tremendous hours and their dedication and patience with us is incredible at times. It is very important we secure...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: I need to understand what the step change is going to be and I need to hear it from the Minister because he is the decision maker. He has the power to fix this. When he fixes it, he will be doing so not on Sinn Féin's behalf but on behalf of all of the political parties here. I do not believe there is any difference on either side of this Chamber in terms of what needs to be done for...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: Why have we not done that? Why have we not ensured that for the contract cleaning staff, who do an amazing job in this Parliament, day in and day out, year in and year out? Their employer group has just abandoned them. It has said it will just not bother with the most recent pay rise they were due. We can fix this by declaring this a living wage site. Why do we not do that and set a...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: That is just the Healy-Raes.

Seanad: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2021: Motion (8 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: The Senator is hardly very objective then.

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (9 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is nice to see the Minister again. It feels a little like Groundhog Day, to be fair. I will start by stating something that should be obvious to us all but perhaps it needs to be said anyway, that is, the vaccine programme is absolutely essential and everybody should get vaccinated. I was fortunate enough to get my third vaccine on Monday and I am delighted to have had it. I encourage...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is nice to see the Minister again. I believe we had a good exchange yesterday. It was refreshing too the way the Minister handled the exchange yesterday. He was very direct in his speech. I thought that was very candid and decent of him. He made it clear that the buck stops with him on this issue. That is important in terms of clarity. He answered an important question for me and I...

Seanad: Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill 2021: Second Stage (9 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: It is nice to see the Minister of State. He is very welcome. On behalf of my party, I welcome this significant legislation. The establishment of a corporate enforcement authority as a stand-alone entity replacing the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement is an extremely welcome step. We are on record as having welcomed this on more than one occasion. The ODCE has worked hard...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank both witnesses for their presentations. This is a very welcome discussion. Sinn Féin very much welcomes the introduction of a sick pay scheme. It is long overdue and it is good to see employers and unions working collaboratively to achieve this goal. Could both witnesses comment on why Ireland has been an outlier for so long when it comes to the provision of sick pay? We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Nov 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank Dr. Bambrick. The meat factory workers are an excellent example of how, unless we move to a limited period of self-certification, this sick pay scheme will not work. It will leave them out of pocket, as Dr. Bambrick has said. Clearly, that is not what any of us wants to achieve through this Bill. I have another concern that I want to raise with both parties, which is how we...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2021)

Paul Gavan: I support my colleague, Senator Higgins. We can agree to disagree with the Minister on the ideologies involved, but I am not clear as to why the Minister will not accept this reasonable recommendation. It asks the Minister to lay a report to investigate these matters. Given that we have a housing crisis which has happened entirely on Fine Gael's watch over the past 11 years in government,...