Results 2,061-2,080 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Local Authority Housing (26 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have to say I am deeply disappointed with it. It is almost a carbon copy of a response given to my former colleague, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, in November. I say with all due respect that the response will mean absolutely nothing to those working families who are locked out of public housing and locked out of the mortgage market. As I said,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I raise the issue of workers in Rehab Enterprises in Raheen, 37 of whom have been told they are going to be made redundant shortly. This is truly concerning because these particular workers suffer from a range of disabilities. Some have visual impairments, some have learning difficulties and some have Down's syndrome. These people have given decades of service to Rehab Enterprises in...

Seanad: Covid-19 (Aviation): Statements (26 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank the Minister of State for coming in this afternoon. She will not be surprised that I want to discuss Shannon Airport. We have had a number of conversations on the topic and I know she is well aware of the impact this crisis is having across all of the sectors. I want to acknowledge, in fairness, that supports have been put in place to date although, clearly, we will need to go...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I may quote Senator Mullen on that later.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: Like several other Senators, I wish to raise the issue of Ulster Bank. It is particularly concerning that 2,400 good jobs may be lost. There may be significant implications for mortgage holders and small businesses across the State. I was not encouraged by listening to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, this morning. He seemed to be speaking in terms of a hands-off approach. I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: Well said.

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (Resumed) (19 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I do not know how to deal with this matter in just six minutes, particularly as it involves such a history of evil collusion between church and State institutions. I want to begin by dealing with Manor House in Castlepollard because I am from a place just down the road from there. It is interesting to focus on how Manor House came into existence. It came into being because a local...

Seanad: Student Nurses (Pay) Bill 2021: Second Stage (19 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I am sharing time with Senator Warfield.

Seanad: Student Nurses (Pay) Bill 2021: Second Stage (19 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: The Minister is very welcome to the House. I congratulate my colleagues in the Labour Party on introducing this excellent, simple and straightforward Bill. This issue really should not be occupying our time because it should have been sorted out long before now. It is about fair, reasonable and sustainable rates of pay and allowances. This issue was first raised with the Minister for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank Ms Ward for her presentation. I want to begin by checking one point she made when she spoke to my colleague, Deputy O'Reilly. If I am misquoting her, she can correct me. I think Ms Ward said that issues like workers’ rights and a living wage do not come under the scope of this scheme. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I see. Can Ms Ward explain who sets the wages? Let us take the example she gave earlier of the agrifood workers on €23,000 a year, which is the princely sum of €423 a week to do some of the hardest, most back-breaking work that anyone ever does. Who sets that rate of pay?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I apologise for interrupting but we are under pressure as regards time. Let us talk about meat factory workers. Some 90% of workers in meat plants have no sick pay. Irish meat plant operatives work an average of 4.7 weeks per year more than their EU counterparts and they rank bottom of the list on actual hourly wages received. Those are statistics from the SIPTU trade union. My point is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I am told that is not a practical suggestion because the vast majority of the meat factories refuse to engage with trade unions, which, again, is a concern. Surely, that should be a threshold in regard to work permits. On another point, the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, MRCI, compiled a really devastating report, Working to the Bone, on the meat industry just last year. Has Ms Ward read...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I again apologise for interrupting and I appreciate Ms Ward's patience. As she has acknowledged, there are just 45 inspectors in the WRC. Again, another recommendation from this committee a couple of years ago was to ensure that the WRC was properly resourced but, to be frank, it is absolutely not properly resourced. We will probably find there are more dog wardens in the country than WRC...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank Ms Ward because it is within the Department's-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I thank Ms Ward for her patience. I wish to ask her about the various sectors where the work permits operate. Let us go back to the meat industry again. Does the Department take into account the profitability of the sector before granting work permits?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: That is no problem. I will repeat the question. Does the Department take into account the profitability of a particular sector before it agrees to introduce work permits? I mention the meat industry because we know, for example, that the biggest company in the industry had a turnover of €2.3 billion in 2019 and the second biggest company had a turnover of €2.2 billion. This...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: I appreciate that answer but I seek clarity on one aspect. What I asked was whether the Department examines the profitability of firms. It is well known that these factories are hugely profitable. In fact, their profits are often hidden offshore. Does the Department gather data on the profitability of these firms before sanctioning work permits because my concern is pretty simple; it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: We came back to the issue of the €22,000. It is an extraordinarily low sum of money. I certainly could not live on that amount of money per week, yet the Department seems happy to sanction work permits at that rate for one of the most profitable industries in the country. There is something distinctly unfair about that. I will move on because I am conscious of time. The nice word...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Employment Permits (Consolidation and Amendment) Bill 2019 (16 Feb 2021)

Paul Gavan: Clearly, Ms Ward is talking about agility in terms of employers having more options in hiring people, abusing the work permit process. In a point raised by Peter Rigney a couple of years ago, is there a danger that, despite having some fine people in the Department, it is really speaking for the sectors as opposed to the workers concerned? Is there a danger of regulatory capture? I do...