Results 12,941-12,960 of 13,254 for speaker:Seán Sherlock

Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I again seek clarity about the making of the regulations. There must be some thinking or draft document, even if it is a very early draft. There must be some paper available on what the regulations would look like. As was articulated by Deputy Daly, if the Minister of State has already set out very specific asks or points in section 148, one would assume the Department would have at least...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Primary Care Services (1 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: 300. To ask the Minister for Health the number of adults who are being treated for stage 1 and stage 2 hypertension within the primary care system; the cost of management of hypertension on an annual basis for 2022,2023 and to date in 2024 to the GMS scheme; and the public health programmes underway to highlight the need to raise awareness of hypertension. [19740/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tidy Towns (9 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: 2. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will request that the national judging of the Tidy Towns competition take place after the local elections in order to allow for any posters erected for the elections to be taken down in a timely manner. [20953/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tidy Towns (9 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: If it is within her gift, I ask the Minister to request that the national judging committee of the Tidy Towns competition allow for judging to take place a little later than normal, given the existence of posters which might serve as a mitigating factor in the judging criteria. I am unsure whether posters are such a factor but I am asking for a little bit of headroom while the election...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tidy Towns (9 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Minister for her reply. Tidy Towns committees throughout the country will take comfort from her reply insofar as there is that communication between the Minister's officials and SuperValu Tidy Towns. It will not be lost on Supervalu and the Musgrave Group that customers are voters and voters are customers, and I am sure they will allow for that . At least there is clarity of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Tidy Towns (9 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Minister. I stand before her as someone who will not be putting up any more posters on my own behalf. I wholeheartedly support the idea of postering. Perhaps it is easy for me to say this now, given that incumbency is a powerful thing, but when one is trying to get in the door of places like this, the poster is important, as is visibility, and there is a place for it. I share...

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: 317. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there is discretion on the part of the deciding officer for a late application for paternity benefit (details supplied). [20559/24]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: 596. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 264 of 28 September 2023, the reason an inconsistent policy of appeal was applied (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20659/24]

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I move amendment No. 1: In page 15, to delete lines 4 and 5 and substitute the following:“(a)a person nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and”. We welcome the Minister accepting the Oireachtas committee's recommendation in its pre-legislative scrutiny report to have employee and employer representatives on the board. That was recommendation 8. The absence of a...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I note the Minister's comments. While it may be the case that many workers are not members of trade unions - there are very many low paid workers, for instance, who may not be members of trade unions in private sector employment - but as far as I am aware, they are not represented by any known body. It is fair to say that although they may not be members of trade unions, I contend...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I move amendment No. 3: In page 34, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "(d) a review of the performance of occupational pension coverage from current employment,". While unions strongly support the move to automatic enrolment, recognising that the current voluntary approach to pension savings has failed, they are concerned that automatic enrolment risks displacing...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: If I understand the Minister correctly, when she states that there is no evidence of displacement, one cannot measure that in an Irish context just yet and I think she is speaking to a UK context. Is that correct? I just want to be clear on that.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I thank the Minister. I take and appreciate that point. I think what we are talking about here is good data and good transparency. We were mindful when putting forward the amendment that we would not seek to step into other terrain where no such mandate exists to do so. What we are talking about here is the collation of data with a view to ensuring that the risk of displacement is at...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I move amendment No. 5: In page 42, line 22, to delete “years 7 to 9” and substitute “years 4 to 6”. The Labour Party acknowledges that the authority will need time to draw up and apply standards to occupational and private pension contributions because it is not as simple as comparing like with like. For example, auto-enrolment contributions would be deducted...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I take it the Minister is not accepting my amendment.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: That is for the record. What I will have to do is take what the Minister is saying away and kick the tyres on it, if that is okay.

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: There is no point in making a counterargument if the Minister is not going to accept my amendment. For the purposes of being efficient with time, I will withdraw the amendment with a view to resubmitting it and having thought about what the Minister said, particularly in regard to the other factors that I am not entirely clear about. We will have a look at that. I will withdraw the...

Select Committee on Social Protection: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee Stage (8 May 2024)

Seán Sherlock: The core point for us is that there is still, what we call in economic terms, the opportunity cost foregone within the timeframe. I note that the Minister has said that they can have to the beginning of years 4 to 6. She said that it can happen up to year 6, if I am not mistaken in interpreting what she said. We are trying to instill within the legislation clearer timelines to have the...