Results 881-900 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I was about to make the case for it.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Yes.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Why did the Acting Chairman ask if I was pressing the amendment if there is another speaker?

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The position is that we have to take this through as we see it. When students are making decisions about their future at leaving certificate stage, as Senator Ormonde said, they might change their minds many times along the way either before they make a final decision on filling in the form or when they make their choices afterwards. There are choices to be made at all times and we have to...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: That is the point I was making. I was looking at the precise terminology. The colleges of education are there for the single purpose of producing teachers. When I was in college there was a requirement that qualifying teachers commit to teaching in the State for at least the first five years of their career. This was seen as a payback for the costs of the development. The B.Ed. is a...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I move amendment No. 6: In page 9, between lines 42 and 43, to insert the following new subsection: "(6) Where before 1 April 2004 a person had been employed in the public service for a period of not less than 15 years, then that person shall not be treated as a new entrant if he or she resumes his or her office or position, or takes up another office or position within the public service on...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: What would be wrong with that arrangement? My proposal supports Government policy, yet all I hear from the Department of Finance is talk of a chasm. It is not a chasm. A chasm brings it down to some kind of Hell. I will not waste the time of the House. I have made my case, I am proudly on the record of the House. The answer given by the Department of Finance is the reason why that Department...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Let us hope that we are not driven by self-interest. Let us look at the people who are disadvantaged by it.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Section 2(6)(a) refers to the "same contract of employment". What exactly does the word "same" mean here? Does it mean similar?

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Does this apply to part-time workers who work for a certain number of months each year? When they come back into employment after being away for a year they are employed under the same terms of contract. It is not the same contract.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I know what the Minister of State is saying. It is much more complex than that. We are talking about a contract whereby somebody takes up employment in the Passport Office for example, for three months and returns the following year. Does that person's initial contract identify, relate to and cover the fact that he or she will be employed for three months each year?

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: This is a flaw in the Bill. I have no objection to this but I am trying to establish how it might relate to other factors.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The Minister of State is well down the chasm and he is swaying in the breeze on this aspect. This is a good idea but I assume the Minister of State recognises that it will have wider application, that the people who have come back into the identical terms and contract of employment they held when they left would also be covered by that section.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Exactly.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I accept that and have no argument with it. I know what the Minister of State has in mind but I want to know what it means. I am clear that it has a much wider application than he has just outlined. I am sure what he said is right and I have no objection to it. However, the term "the same contract of employment" is used twice in the Bill. The public service regularly has a contract of...

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Where are the details in writing about an established custom or practice?

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: The Minister is in the chasm. Is this a flaw in the Bill or a very good part of it?

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: Absolutely.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: As the Minister said, we do not mention rights here, as we do not want to get stuck in the chasm between rights, duties and responsibilities. However, people will return.

Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)

Joe O'Toole: I apologise for cutting across the Senator's point. If people who were in the Passport Office for three months during the peak period last summer were to return this year, would they not be considered to be new entrants?