Results 581-600 of 1,637 for speaker:Marie Sherlock

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: This is quarter 4 of the year and it feels like the Government is dragging its heels on this. It also seems wasteful that we have from the Minister’s Department a right to request remote work and from a separate Department a right to flexible work. Does the Tánaiste believe there is a distinction between remote work and flexible work, by which I mean flexibility with regard to...

Seanad: Consumer Rights Bill 2022 - Second Stage (11 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: Beidh mé. Tá brón orm faoi sin.

Seanad: Consumer Rights Bill 2022 - Second Stage (11 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I have not seen him since his appointment to his current role. I wish him the best in that regard. I join with all Senators across the Chamber in welcoming the Bill. Online commerce has been with us for about a decade and a half and it has been very much the wild west with regard to consumer protection. Therefore, we welcome the Bill as an...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: Like so many others, I was overjoyed to see the women's team make a remarkable breakthrough in qualifying for the World Cup next year. I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Vera Pauw, Katie McCabe and all on the team. As has been said so many times, they are an inspiration to all girls in sport across this country. I refer in particular to the words Amber Barrett spoke last...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Second Stage (13 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: As we all know, more than 900,000 households are facing into fuel poverty this winter. Fuel poverty has been a permanent feature of this country through good times and now through bad. The choices facing this State, particularly when the public finances are in such a remarkably healthy situation, raise very serious questions about the extent to which the State is willing to go the extra...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, line 16, after “customer” ”, to insert “, subject to subsection (2),”. I will speak to amendments Nos. 3 and 7. Amendment No. 2 obviously relates to amendment No. 3. Amendment No. 3 refers to the whole issue of the non-principal private residence and where, in effect, an individual can be a final customer in two or...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I must invite him to Dublin 1 or Dublin 7 some time, where there are a number of households in which people are living in extremely overcrowded conditions. They pay rent to the landlord, who then charges them for electricity and other utilities on top of that. Ultimately, however, it is the landlord who puts though the payments for those...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (13 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: The Minister of State is fully capable of going beyond calling this a breach of natural justice and ensuring that it is set out in clear terms in the Bill. It is poor reassurance to any of these tenants to say that such practice is a breach of natural justice and they must go to the RTB. There will be an ambiguity if the matter is not set out clearly in the Bill. I ask the Minister of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Minimum Wage, Cost of Living and Low Pay Commission Report: Engagement with ICTU (12 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I thank Dr. Bambrick and Mr. Berney for being here for this important discussion. When we talk about low pay, there is an obvious focus on the national minimum wage but it is not the only tool to address low pay. I am conscious that while some 7% or 8% of people are on the national minimum wage, between one fifth and one quarter of all workers in the economy are classified as being low...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Minimum Wage, Cost of Living and Low Pay Commission Report: Engagement with ICTU (12 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I understand from that announcement that it is a once-off payment to the organisations and does not deal with the ongoing pay issue. What strikes me is the number of people who are stuck on the minimum wage. There is a perception that the minimum wage is a labour market entry wage or that people move off it fairly quickly but we know that 56% of those on the minimum wage are on it for 12...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Minimum Wage, Cost of Living and Low Pay Commission Report: Engagement with ICTU (12 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: It also reduces wage dispersion within organisations, which is really important.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Minimum Wage, Cost of Living and Low Pay Commission Report: Engagement with ICTU (12 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: Regarding the directive that will be transposed in this country over the next two years and the recommendations in the report published last week, which have three distinct parts, how do the witnesses see this playing out? There is the bit relating to joint labour committees, the bit relating to enterprise bargaining and the bit relating to good faith bargaining. How will it play out in the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I am delighted members of the St. Luke's bridge club are joining us. I welcome the eviction ban that was announced earlier, which comes after many months of our being told that it would not be possible. We were told about the possible constitutional challenges and the unseen legal advice and given warnings landlords would exit the sector. Landlords are already exiting the sector. The ban...

Seanad: Consumer Rights Bill 2022: Committee Stage (19 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I move amendment No. 1: 1. In page 31, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "Rights in relation to diagnosis, maintenance and repair of electronic equipment 26. (1) In relation to digital electronic equipment sold in the State, a manufacturer shall make available, for the purposes of diagnosis, maintenance or repair of the equipment— (a) to independent repair...

Seanad: Consumer Rights Bill 2022: Committee Stage (19 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. He articulated technical concerns about the wording of our amendment. We are very happy to work with him to improve or fix that wording. The spirit of the amendment is the crucial aspect. I hear what the Minister of State is saying about the EU initiative taking place and the potential for a strong, comprehensive set of harmonisation...

Seanad: Consumer Rights Bill 2022: Committee Stage (19 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I move amendment No. 7: In page 105, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: “(4) (a) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, where a trader supplies a service to subscribers, it is an unfair term of the contract under which the service is provided if the trader, in relation to provision of the same or substantially the same service, charges consumers who...

Seanad: Consumer Rights Bill 2022: Committee Stage (19 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I move amendment No. 8: 8.In page 139, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “Consumer complaints 159.The Consumer Protection Act 2007 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 66B: “Part 4B SUBSCRIBER COMPLAINTS HANDLING Interpretation and application of Part 66C.(1) In this Part— ‘complaint’—...

Seanad: Civil Registration (Amendment) (Certificate of Life) Bill 2022: Second Stage (20 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I thank Senators Doherty and Seery Kearney for introducing it. I pay tribute to Caroline and Martin Smith, who were in contact with us about Bill that was debated last year about reproductive health leave and the amendments tabled on Committee Stage earlier this year.I want to pay tribute to the tenacity, perseverance and work of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (19 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I pay tribute to the sterling work of Ms Lawlor and her team, Front Line Defenders, and Trócaire and the Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights. This will be a groundbreaking directive both for trade unionists throughout the world and those exposing environmental degradation if it is enacted in the spirit in which it was originally intended. As our guests detailed, there has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (19 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: Just to clarify, I used the phrase "outright ban", but I am thinking of that supply chain regulation. There is still a need for that. I did not mean to interrupt Ms Lawlor. We have touched a little on the protections in place with regard to retaliation, reprisals and retribution. I suppose it goes to the heart of the effectiveness of the directive, whenever it is enacted. I think Mr....