Results 2,181-2,200 of 2,815 for speaker:Tony Killeen

Seanad: Employment Rights: Statements. (24 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: I am interested in the website mentioned by the Senator and the green card issue in that context. I agree also with what he said about Irish Ferries. The Senator raised the question of extra resources for the labour inspectorate. That is one part of the whole aspect that needs to be dealt with but in the review I mentioned briefly there are many areas we must examine. For example, for the...

Seanad: Employment Rights: Statements. (24 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: I welcome this opportunity to advise the House of certain recent and impending developments in the area of employment rights, to give Senators some idea of the types of issue being encountered and to suggest how the changing working environment gives rise to new challenges in the area of employment rights enforcement. I also want to set out how my Department is addressing these issues and...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (23 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: Lump sums were paid from the social insurance fund to the former employees of IFI from 22 November 2002 to 27 October 2005. If the Deputy has further information concerning statutory redundancy payments for former employees of this company, he should pass it to the Minister who will ensure officials of the Department will follow up on the matter.

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (22 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: There are no restrictions under the safety, health and welfare legislation on a person who uses his or her own home to work from as a place of employment. However, it is important to point out that the employer concerned has a duty under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to ensure that the employee has a safe place of work. This duty on the employer applies irrespective of where...

Written Answers — Redundancy Schemes: Redundancy Schemes (22 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: The amount paid by the Department under the redundancy payments scheme in 2004 was €152,225,616. The amount paid under the insolvency payments scheme in the same period was €5.509 million. The combined total paid by the Department under the redundancy and insolvency payments schemes in 2004 is €157,734,616.

Written Answers — Industrial Disputes: Industrial Disputes (22 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: I have received correspondence from the person concerned regarding alleged breaches of labour legislation by the company concerned. The wages and employment conditions of workers employed in the construction industry are governed by the Registered Employment Agreement (Construction Industry Wages and Conditions of Employment) Variation Order, which is enforced by the labour inspectorate of my...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: My colleague the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, presented the background and context to this Bill on Tuesday. He summarised its contents up to and including section 20. I will resume the summary, beginning with section 21. A new section 21 was introduced on Committee Stage in the Seanad. The section transposes an optional...

Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed). (17 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: There will be ample time.

Reform of the Competition Act 2002: Motion (Resumed). (16 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: The Irish Competition Authority is one of the most proactive and successful enforcement agencies of competition law in Europe. I congratulate the authority on bringing proceedings in a very significant case to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court last Monday and on being the first enforcement agency in Europe to secure a criminal conviction for a competition offence. I would like to mention one...

Written Answers — Employment Rights: Employment Rights (15 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: The employment rights information unit, which is one of three business units that comprise the employment rights compliance section of the Department is responsible for the dissemination of information on the wide range of employment rights issues that are the remit of the Department. The other two units are the labour inspectorate and the administrative group that processes prosecution and...

Written Answers — EU Directives: EU Directives (15 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: Proposed draft regulations entitled European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2005, to transpose Directive 2003/105/EC, are with the Attorney General's office for legal settlement. The new regulations will transpose, for the first time, Directive 2003/105/EC on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances which...

Written Answers — Health and Safety Regulations: Health and Safety Regulations (9 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: The protection of workers in the use of visual display units is covered by Part VII, Regulations 29 to 32 and the Tenth and Eleventh Schedules to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 1993, SI 44 of 1993, relating to display screen equipment. Those provisions transpose into Irish law Council Directive 90/270/EEC of 29 May 1990 on the minimum safety and...

Written Answers — Company Closures: Company Closures (8 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: From inquiries made in my Department, 18 former employees of the company concerned were paid their statutory redundancy entitlements out of the social insurance fund. Two were refused on the ground that the claimants were not fully insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare Acts and, therefore, not entitled to statutory redundancy. The payments were made direct to the 18 former...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: A strong case was made by Senators Quinn and Costello with regard to the wording of this section. I am prepared, by means of amendments Nos. 29 and 32, to accept the proposals contained in amendment No. 30. The wording used in section 11 describes the systems of information and consultation that may exist under the Bill. I am conscious of the importance of being accurate and, on the advice of...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: My advice was that the phrase "to exercise the right to information and consultation through employees' representatives" was a better form of wording than "to be informed and consulted through their representatives" because the former mirrors the directive.

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: This matter is similar to the subject of the discussion we held a few moments earlier. As I outlined on Committee Stage, the directive leaves considerable discretion to member states in setting out national procedures. We used this discretion to tailor the legislation to Ireland's workplace culture. My policy approach in transposing the directive has been to provide maximum flexibility to...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: This amendment refers to section 12 of the Bill, which I have been examining in its entirety. I am satisfied that the section as it stands meets the requirement. I understand what Senators Quinn and Coghlan are trying to achieve but the directive contains broad wording with regard to this area. I am unwilling to tamper with the wording of section 12 because it is already capable of capturing...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: I made a promise to revisit this issue on Report Stage. A number of amendments were proposed by both sides of the House and an interesting discussion ensued. I have given considerable thought to a number of issues arising from these proposals. These amendments are grouped because they address the issue of protections given to employee representatives under the Bill. Provision is being made to...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: I only spoke about the parts of the amendment in the names of Senators McDowell and O'Toole that I was accepting; there are also the other two elements. The definition of what constitutes penalisation in the Senators' amendment is based on the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2004. The Act provides a dispute resolution mechanism in situations where it is not the practice of the employer...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Report and Final Stages. (3 Nov 2005)

Tony Killeen: To deal with the latter point first, on a point of principle, I have no difficulty in going to the other House, taking amendments there, and coming back to Seanad Éireann with them. I did that with a previous Bill and if it improves this one, I have no difficulty doing so again. I will look at that, but I am quite strongly of the view that what Senator Quinn is trying to achieve has already...