Results 181-200 of 951 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I appreciate that. If we compare it with January to May of last year, there is no significant increase in the number of closures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I appreciate that. It is interesting because that is very different from what we are getting from other groups. We are in a budget period, however, so it is understandable. The Low Pay Commission is recommending the abolishment of the payments for under-19s. In 2017, it recommended introducing this measure. What has changed? The commission knew all about the issues we are discussing in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I understand the then Minister asked for a review of it. It just seems like a total shift in opinion from the commission's previous recommendation. I cannot see anything that would not have been foreseen beforehand in the context of equal pay for everyone or people being paid less, the challenges that brings and the possibility of exploitation. I do not understand why the commission has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I have one more question. It is hard to agree with 18- and 19-year-olds being paid a lower wage. I know education is a factor, but the majority of 18- or 19-year-olds are finished secondary school. As only 4% of 19-year-olds are being paid that wage, surely it would not be a big cost for the sector to give them full minimum wage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: And considering that employers are paying almost all of them full wages.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: It was stated that one of the arguments against changing the sub-minimal rates is that young people might be the first to go, which is an obvious possibility when an employer is making a decision. Do the witnesses have statistics on the increase in youth employment when this was introduced? Obviously an employer would have seen it as an incentive at the time to take on someone young at a...

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: For clarity, we are talking about someone doing work experience for the rate of €450 where someone else in that same company is working the same amount of time but getting the higher rate of pay. If they are doing work experience, they are not doing the same work as a full-time employee. If they are qualified to do that work, they would take on full employment. It is similar to...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: What the Senator is saying just does not make sense. No person who works in the Department of Social Protection will send someone on work experience if they are fully qualified for that role. A chef, for example, might lose his or her job for whatever reason and go into the social welfare office to look for guidance and to engage with social protection on how he or she should go forward and...

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: That absolutely makes no sense. Essentially, what the Senator is saying is that for anyone who is out of work, the Department of Social Protection will look at people who are fully qualified chefs to go into-----

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: -----to go on work experience to be chefs. That is just not going to happen. The Senator's statement then means that the Department is denying people the opportunity to transfer into a new career because there are people who are fully qualified who are-----

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: -----unemployed at the moment but are looking to move into another area.

Seanad: Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Every case is looked at individually and is not compared to how everybody else is or are qualified, no matter how many people are out of work. It is looked at very individually. The argument cannot be made that someone who is fully qualified, for example to be a chef, and someone who then comes in on work experience and worked in some other area or other profession, should be paid the same....

Seanad: Civil Registration (Electronic Registration) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the Chamber. I thank the Minister of State for the work that he and the Department have done on this Bill. I am covering for Senator Paddy Burke, who could not be here. The Bill will have the support of the Fine Gael Party. As the Minister of State said towards the end of his speech, the Bill is essentially just to modernise the system....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. I did not get the opportunity last week to congratulate the Deputy Leader on his elevation. I wish him well in his new role. I am not sure how long it will last or how long we will be here but I know he will conduct himself in a very fair way for everyone in the House. Many people in Clonmel woke up this morning to news of rising costs in childcare...

Seanad: Digital Services (Levy) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: The Cathaoirleach might not be aware but we have been joined by 20 Tipperary people. I have great company with me.

Seanad: Digital Services (Levy) Bill 2024: Second Stage (2 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I do not normally have this sort of back-up when I speak. I will be brief. I congratulate the Minister of State on his elevation last week, which was well deserved. I look forward to continuing to work with him. I am delighted he will remain within this portfolio, which will be important for the next number of months. The Minister of State has addressed most of the points and I would...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Childcare Services (26 Jun 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber today to take this Commencement matter. Before I speak about childcare and childminders, it is important to acknowledge the incredible work the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has done in his Department to reduce childcare costs for parents right across the country. In budget 2023, there was a reduction of 25% and in budget 2024 there was a...