Results 1,261-1,280 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Proposed Legislation. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: Section 80 of the 2005 Act deals more than adequately with what would be required in the context of safety, health and welfare at work. When the debate on the legislation took place in the House, the consultation paper of the Law Reform Commission was all that had been published. The legislation came into effect in September of last year whereas the report was not published until October....

Company Registration. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: I share the Deputy's concern that individuals, whose status based on the application of the standard criteria may be more appropriate to that of an employee, may seek to register as self-employed in order to abdicate and avoid their rights and obligations under employment rights legislation. There are also, of course, tax and PRSI implications but these are matters for the Revenue...

Company Registration. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: Deputy Quinn may have misunderstood the distinction I drew between the roles of the various Departments. The Office of the Revenue Commissioners has responsibility for taxation matters as the Department of Social and Family Affairs has for PRSI matters. It is necessary in these instances to be clear as to who precisely has which responsibilities. In previous discussions in the House I...

Company Registration. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The strong advice we have received is that legislation is required in order for the joint investigation units to successfully prosecute in cases that are brought to their attention. It would be folly for the Department to embark on attempted prosecutions in circumstances where the legislative base was not sufficiently strong enough to sustain them in the courts.

Health and Safety Regulations. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The voluntary protection programme is an initiative in workplace safety which has its origins in an EU-USA meeting on safety in the workplace and was introduced to Ireland in 2004 as a joint pilot initiative between the Health and Safety Authority and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland. Since the pilot initiative was established, four companies have achieved the star safety...

Health and Safety Regulations. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: A number of initiatives have been undertaken by the Health and Safety Authority in conjunction with various sectors in respect of employment and health and safety in the workplace. We must bear in mind that this project is a pilot project and has not yet been evaluated by the board of the Health and Safety Authority. In the first instance, it appears sensible to conduct this evaluation and...

Health and Safety Regulations. (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: At that stage, it will be a matter for the Health and Safety Authority, the board of which consists of representatives of the social partners, to consider the possible benefits and whether it might run with this initiative in the future.

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 33 and 179 together. Ireland is not a party to the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1990. Nor has Ireland ratified this Convention. No other Member States of the European Union have signed or ratified this Convention either. This...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: I propose to take Questions Nos. 37, 55, 86 and 97 together. The existing staff complement of the Labour Inspectorate of the Department comprises 31 Inspectors and some 7 administrative support staff. As the Deputies will be aware, the Social Partnership Agreement "Towards 2016" sets out a number of commitments with regard to employment standards and compliance including a commitment to...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: Section 80 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 provides for individual responsibility by directors, managers or other similar officers of an undertaking. It provides that they be held responsible before the courts for any act that may constitute an offence under the 2005 Act or other relevant statutory provisions which may be attributable to connivance or neglect or was...

Written Answers — Bullying in the Workplace: Bullying in the Workplace (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Report of the Expert Advisory Group on Workplace Bullying was launched and published by me on the 17th August 2005 and it follows on from a 2001 Report by the Taskforce on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying. The recommendations of the 2001 Taskforce were implemented. One of the recommendations in the 2005 Report of the Expert Advisory Group was that a follow up survey on workplace...

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The Construction Federation Operatives Pension Scheme (generally referred to as CFOPS) has been established on foot of a Registered Employment Agreement for the Construction Industry. The terms of the agreement apply to a range of categories of workers in the industry. The Construction Industry Monitoring Agency was formed in 1989 under an agreement between the employers and Trade Unions in...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: In the last year the Oireachtas has enacted the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 which updates and amends the provisions of previous legislation. The Act is a result of the first major review of occupational health and safety since the 1980s which, inter alia, led to the setting-up of the Health and Safety Authority. The Act provides a modern legal framework to guarantee best...

Written Answers — Equality Issues: Equality Issues (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: At this stage it is difficult to arrive at any definite conclusions about the current numbers of people with disabilities who are in the labour force. The results for the 2006 Census, and the associated national disability survey, will, when published, provide definitive information of the level of progress that is being achieved in increasing the numbers of disabled workers who are now...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: Claims of discrimination on the grounds of race are covered by Employment Equality and Equal Status legislation. Complaints under these pieces of legislation should be referred to the Director of the Equality Tribunal. The Rights Commissioner Service of the Labour Relations Commission has no function in the matter. There are currently 9 Rights Commissioner posts in the Labour Relations...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2006 will come into effect on Monday 6th November 2006. The Health & Safety Authority has committed to carrying out over 7,000 inspections in the construction sector this year. On Monday last, 9th October, the Authority commenced a series of seminars and workshops aimed at getting the industry up-to-speed with the...

Written Answers — Industrial Disputes: Industrial Disputes (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: On 26 April 2006, the Labour Court made a recommendation regarding redundancy terms for Irish Sugar workers at the Mallow plant. The recommendation provided that redundancy should be 5 weeks' pay per year of service, where a week's pay would be defined as actual finishing salary, excluding overtime, plus statutory redundancy entitlement, plus a bonus payment for an orderly wind-down....

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The number of prosecutions initiated on behalf of the Labour Inspectorate under various pieces of employment protection legislation, in respect of the years 2004, 2005 and to date in 2006 is set out in the tabular statements. The primary function of the Labour Inspectorate is to seek compliance and rectification of any breaches identified, including payment of any arrears due to employees....

Written Answers — Social Partnership: Social Partnership (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: The mechanisms for implementation of the new social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, are broadly the same as applied under Sustaining Progress. The steering group representing Government and each of the social partner pillars will be reconvened to take overall responsibility for the management of the implementation of the ten-year framework agreement as it applies to the wider non-pay...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (11 Oct 2006)

Tony Killeen: As the Deputy will be aware, the Social Partnership Agreement "Towards 2016" sets out a number of commitments with regard to employment standards and compliance including a commitment to establish an Office of the Director of Employment Rights Compliance (ODERC). The Office, which will assume the functions of the Labour Inspectorate and Employment Rights Information and Prosecution units of...