Results 1,661-1,680 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I welcome the Minister of State. I say, "Fair play to him", because it has been a long debate. I will start by commending Senator Dolan. His was one of the best contributions I have heard in terms of analysing where this budget has fallen down, particularly in respect of the disabled. The Senator did it brilliantly. I hope there is somebody listening to what he said. Clearly, they have...

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I certainly will do that. Senator Conway-Walsh mentioned the wealth tax. I would love to hear it coming from other parts of the Chamber.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: We need to talk about a wealth tax. I am delighted to hear Senator Higgins endorse that once more. Some of the statistics relating to welfare are quite stark. Hopefully, the Minister of State will be familiar with these. If he is not, I do not blame him because there are many statistics flying around. The top 10% in this country own 54% of wealth. In other words, 10% of the people in...

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: It does.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I am proud of our ideology. We do not deny our ideology. We are on the left. We know where Senator Buttimer stands.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I thought the Leader would be more moderate this time.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: Let us move on to education. I have already seen the responses today from third level institutions. There is great disappointment. Basically the Government has kicked to touch again. We have costed proposals to reduce the student fees by €500 a year with the aim of phasing out fees over the next five or six years. The annual cost of that would have been €40 million. The...

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: Will Fine Gael run candidates in the North?

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: Is Senator Buttimer sure about that?

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: On a point of order, that is probably because we also have the largest portion of low-paid employees of any country in the EU.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: They are not. That is incorrect.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: He cannot state falsehoods. That is not right, and he knows it.

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: Good for who?

Seanad: Budget 2020: Statements (8 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I disagree.

Seanad: Free Education (Prohibition of Fees and Charges) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (9 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I congratulate my colleagues in the Labour Party. I fully support this Bill. I came over from England at a young age and my parents were quite shocked that free education did not really exist in this country. Unfortunately, it still does not really exist. It is important to appreciate the cross-party consensus in this Chamber. The Seanad works at its best when we are not adversarial but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (10 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: I thank the delegates for coming. It was nice to bump into Mr. Cummins before we came in. There is mention in the submissions of the lack of cases about tips. It is very simple. I speak as an industrial relations practitioner. Tips are not covered by employment law, which is why there have been no cases taken to the WRC. It is also why Sinn Féin has developed a Bill to make it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (10 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: What about the service charges?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (10 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: We have heard clearly from our guests that the decision as to where the service charge goes is at the discretion of the employer, as far as they are concerned. Customers will find that shocking. This must be viewed in the context of an industry that is rife with exploitation. I invite the guests to listen to the next group of speakers because they have new independent data on what is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: General Scheme of the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill 2019: Discussion (10 Oct 2019)

Paul Gavan: We are talking about workers' rights. We can see that the concern is shared right across this committee. Why do both of the organisations refuse to engage with trade unions? Why do they both refuse to engage specifically with the JLC, which could set up a sectoral employment order to put a floor of decency under the sector to ensure that tips are given over to staff and there is a decent...