Results 10,521-10,540 of 11,114 for speaker:Damien English

Seanad: Sick Leave Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: The Senator can check the record and I stand to be corrected.

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: The group of amendments relate to the insertion of a new section in the Bill. Amendment No. 1 means that the Minister will be defined for the purpose of the Bill as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. It is required because of the new provisions we are inserting requiring a review of the Bill once it is enacted and in force for more than a year. The new section 9 provides a...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: In regard to the new section under 4D it provides that if an employer describes a mandatory charge as a "service charge" or a similar term in a tips and gratuities notice or, for example, on a restaurant menu, the employer must treat the charge as if it was a tip or gratuity received by electronic mode of payment. That means that the service charge must be distributed to staff in a fair and...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Industrial Relations (28 Jun 2022)

Damien English: The consultation process on the Retired Workers Access to industrial relations mechanisms for pension related issues which was conducted by my Department concluded a number of weeks ago. My Department officials have commenced the examination of submissions received. The outcome of the consultation will feed into the Government’s response to the proposals.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Exports Growth (28 Jun 2022)

Damien English: My Department, through the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), assists new businesses including entrepreneurs, early-stage promoters and small businesses looking to expand. The LEOs comprise a wide range of experience, skill and services to offer advice, information, training and support in starting or growing a business, or reaching new markets. Funding includes a Priming Grant available to...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Work Permits (28 Jun 2022)

Damien English: The employment permits system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages, in circumstances where there are no suitably qualified Irish/EEA nationals available to undertake the work and that the shortage is a genuine one.  The system is managed through the use of lists designating highly skilled and ineligible...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: When is the Senator going to start paying?

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I acknowledge the history of the Bill. I was certainly not rewriting Sinn Féin's Private Member's Bill. To be clear, I do not think it was opposed on the grounds of money. I think there were some technical difficulties at the time in 2017 or 2018. In Senator Doherty's absence, I wish to mention that when she was the Minister with responsibility for social protection, she brought...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I appreciate that is a bit of a mouthful, but we will try to deal with as much as we possibly can. Amendment No. 3 proposes that “mandatory service charge” be renamed “mandatory charge”. This reflects our decision to refine our approach to service charges and transparency. Again, the Tánaiste committed reviewing this since the Second Stage debate here in...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: The new section 4B contained in the Payment of Wages (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022 requires employers to distribute fairly and in a transparent manner tips that are received in electronic form, that is, through debit or credit cards. It also provides that employers may not retain any share of tips or gratuities received by the employer electronically, unless such retention is required or...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I will try to deal with this as best I can. Senators are keen to extend the Bill to cover all cash tips and gratuities. I understand this. We would all like to do this but it is exactly as Senator Casey has said. It is about what is possible to trace and manage in law. With respect, I cannot disregard what the Workplace Relations Commission recommends to us. It is the body that will be...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: Senator Buttimer need not worry. I am only slagging. I am the same. I see it in practise. Many people pay their bill electronically and then pay the tip in cash separately. The issue we would have, exactly, as Senator Casey said, is how the Workplace Relations Commission would trace the case. This legislation has to be workable and enforceable if we are to achieve what we want to...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I am sorry if I appear mean to the Senator but the WRC said it would be unenforceable.

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I am trying not to be. I was being generous earlier on.

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: If the Senator has some magic formula, I am happy to look at it when the Bill comes before the Dáil. There is no doubt about that. Of course, we all would like to achieve that. I must be black and white on this. If the WRC tells me something is unenforceable, I have to accept it. It is the body we will be asking to police this. We want this policed. I am assuming we are here...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: -----but I am working with a WRC which tells me that, because it is cash and because we cannot trace it, it is unenforceable. We have to also recognise where we are today. Although I do not have the percentages, I understand the majority are paying with card. It is a minority who are paying their restaurant bills with cash. If the Senator has any statistics on that, we would be happy to...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I thank the Senator for his amendment. He is right that I cannot accept it. I will explain why in a moment. There are two things I agree with. One is the whole area of a deterrent. The greatest deterrent is that one might be caught, more so than the fine itself or the punishment, in our view. That is my understanding of criminal legislation and legislation like this as well. I also...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I am not going to give a timeline because I cannot. It would be unfair because I need to consult Ministers and other Departments but I have listened to the Senator tonight and on other Stages, and listened to others as well, and it is something we should do. I certainly take on implementing that across Government but I cannot commit colleagues or the whole of Government to a timeline I want...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: Amendment No. 77 extends the power of a Workplace Relations Commission inspector under section 27 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 to businesses and places used by prescribed persons who engage contract workers at or through their premises. Section 27 normally applied only to places in connection with an employment relationship. This is necessary to allow the enforcement of section 4F...

Seanad: Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Damien English: I thank all of the Members for their support for the legislation and their genuine approach. We are all trying to make the legislation better and the amendments do this. We may have had different wording but the same intent was behind all of the amendments proposed on all sides and we are at one. If there are any issues that we can deal with in the Dáil, we will certainly do so. I am...