Results 2,901-2,920 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

National Minimum Wage. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: I am asking this question at a time of rising unemployment. As the Minister of State knows, between 600 and 700 jobs are being lost in this country every day. More than 150,000 people have lost their jobs since the Tánaiste, Deputy Coughlan, became Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It is reasonably estimated that at least 500,000 people will be on the dole by the end of the...

National Minimum Wage. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: I understand that.

National Minimum Wage. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: We need to get real. If the Labour Court follows the terms of the Act by taking into account issues like employment and competitiveness, the only conclusion it will be possible for the court to reach will be to recommend a major reduction in the minimum wage. We have been losing jobs by the second since our competitiveness fell off a cliff. That is where the economy is. If the Labour...

National Minimum Wage. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: Then we are back to deflation.

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: I hope that sooner rather than later the country will have a Government and Ministers who will make decisions——

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: ——instead of trotting out legal advice. I know what is in the legislation, I can read it for myself,——

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: ——and I know what is in the Towards 2016 agreement, which the Government has already torn up, so I do not see why it should expect employers and employees to follow it. This is a disaster. This country is haemorrhaging jobs, we are on the edge of an abyss and it is possible that in a few months time we will not be able to make out debt payments or even pay our own salaries. At the...

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: ——if it wants to put all those people out of their jobs, we will make them vote for it and hold them responsible in every hotel and restaurant in Ireland.

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: The Government has already done that.

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: A biased chairman.

Employment Regulation Orders. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: Perhaps we should have a forum on the national deficit.

Price Controls. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: I was not referring to media comments but to the words of the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment in her interview on "The Week in Politics" with Deputy Joe McHugh in which she specifically threatened to introduce price controls. Those were her words and I do not care what was in the newspapers. These were threats made by her and she should not claim it was an...

Price Controls. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: The Government sets ESB and gas prices, taxi, bus and train fares, health charges and work permit prices. Nothing has increased more this year than government charges. Why should we trust the Government to fix prices when it is responsible for most of the inflation rises? Will the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment withdraw the slur she made against Irish retailers?...

Leaders' Questions (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: Did the Taoiseach ask whether it was true?

Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: The Government is happy to regulate the small people but it will not go after big ones.

Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: The Government will regulate a newsagent but not a bank——

Order of Business (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: Not for the first time Deputy McManus's comments are music to my ears. The Employment Law Compliance Bill is on Second Stage and the Taoiseach is aware that the Committee of Public Accounts recently published a report on the board of FÁS recommending that it be slimmed down and the automatic right of employees' and employers' representatives to representation at board level be removed....

Industrial Relations (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Bill 2009: First Stage. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend and extend the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2004; to provide for the composition and procedures of joint labour committees, to provide for the renewal of Employment Regulation Orders and to provide for connected matters.

Industrial Relations (Protection of Employment) (Amendment) Bill 2009: First Stage. (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Written Answers — Job Losses: Job Losses (24 Feb 2009)

Leo Varadkar: Question 130: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the prior knowledge she had with regard to the decision to close a company (details supplied); the efforts she made to secure employment at the facility; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7334/09]