Results 1,761-1,780 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Joint Labour Committees) Bill 2019: Second Stage (27 Nov 2019)

Paul Gavan: That is the fact of the matter. Members of the trade union movement are here to support the Bill and some of the most vulnerable workers in the State. As a former trade union official and a proud member of SIPTU, I know that when a trade union tries to organise people employed in hotels, they get fired.

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Joint Labour Committees) Bill 2019: Second Stage (27 Nov 2019)

Paul Gavan: When a trade union tries to organise people in restaurants, they get fired. JLCs were set up to protect certain sectors in which trade union density will always be low. My colleague, Senator O'Mahony, stated that the current system has served Ireland well. Whom in Ireland has it served well? Has it benefited hotel workers or people working in retail who must wait to see whether they will...

Seanad: Industrial Relations (Joint Labour Committees) Bill 2019: Second Stage (27 Nov 2019)

Paul Gavan: The voluntarist sector does not work. If the Minister of State knew people working in retail or hotels, not in management but on the floor, stacking the shelves or changing the beds, he would know the sector is completely wrought with poverty pay and insecurity. There is now an agency operating in Kerry supplying workers to make the hotel beds. Any worker who complains about an incredibly...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2019)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2019)

Paul Gavan: I want to bring up the issue of University Hospital Limerick. I know my colleagues in Limerick have raised it already this week but I had a public meeting on this issue last Monday and I would like to share some of the facts Members may not be aware of, while calling for a debate on the issue. The staff there told me that day that there was a new record of 85 patients on trolleys and they...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (28 Nov 2019)

Paul Gavan: Fianna Fáil seagulls.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: The last time I asked for a debate on equality or inequality in the Chamber, Miriam Lord wrote in The Irish Times the next day that there was some hope of ever having that. However, I have faith and I would ask the Leader that we have a debate on the issue of inequality in our society. I want to give two examples that popped up over the weekend. The first was the data on private fee-paying...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: Yes, it has. We saw no welfare rate increases and no pension rate increases.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: Senator Buttimer can say "Ah Jesus" but if he is up there, I do not think he would be impressed with Fine Gael lavishing moneys on the very wealthiest sections of our society. There is a €90 million subsidy to fee-paying schools. That is what Fine Gael stands for-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: -----while people struggle in their everyday lives. It is not good enough and I call again for that debate on equality.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: The Minister has just frozen it.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: I will take up that last point on the percentage of people that do not pay income tax, because it is trotted out by conservative politicians all the time. I respectfully remind the Minister of State that those people pay plenty of VAT. As the Minister of State knows, VAT is not correlated to income, so it is disingenuous to talk about people who do not pay tax. Everyone pays tax in this...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: The Minister of State forgot to mention that we also have the third-highest rate of low-wage earners in Europe. That is why they do not pay tax. Their wages are so bad that the State subsidises low-wage employers, to the tune of €300 million a year. We should be ensuring those employers pay a living wage. That is Sinn Féin's policy.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: The Government has now frozen it.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: That is the one.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: It is, for bad employers.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: It would not be necessary if workers were paid a living wage. That is the point I am making.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: In many cases it is a subsidy to low-wage employers. As it stands, the minimum wage law has an appeals mechanism in place whereby an employer who cannot afford to pay the minimum wage can appeal that and go through a process to agree it. The same practice would be possible with the living wage, and we have included that in our policies. What Fine Gael is doing at the moment is subsidising...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: I will reiterate the Senator's last point. The Minister of State mentioned good and bad employers. Let us be very specific here. The hospitality industry has refused point-blank to engage with trade unions or the industrial relations machinery of the State, specifically the Workplace Relations Commission, in order to work through a joint labour committee, JLC, process. The Government...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Paul Gavan: I do not.