Results 2,401-2,420 of 4,178 for speaker:Paul Gavan

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.

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

Paul Gavan: Why will they not engage with trade unions?

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

Paul Gavan: What the Minister of State has said is quite outrageous. The Irish Hotels Federation has point-blank refused and has stated with pride that it will not engage with trade unions or the industrial relations machinery of the State. I have cited that example several times in this Chamber. Will the Minister of State not condemn that? Has he nothing to say about it? I am very clear-----

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

Paul Gavan: I would suggest that he is somewhere to the right of the Tories.

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

Paul Gavan: I move recommendation No. 8: In page 50, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “29. Within 7 months of the passing of this Act, the Minister shall produce a report on the potential introduction of a financial transactions tax to include a consideration of— (a) the potential for Ireland to demonstrate European and global leadership on this issue, (b) the...

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

Paul Gavan: That is fine. I think it is a very reasonable proposition on the part of Senator Higgins to produce a report on the potential introduction of a financial transactions tax. It is very relevant and timely. It is funny; a few years ago when I was a trade union official I had an informal conversation with the leader of Fianna Fáil, who told me he was quite open to the idea of a financial...

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

Paul Gavan: I move recommendation No. 10: In page 93, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following: “Report on restoring cap on intangible assets 35. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on restoring the 80 per cent cap on intangible assets onshored between 2015 and 2017 that can be written off against profits...

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

Paul Gavan: I move recommendation No. 11: In page 94, after line 34, to insert the following: “Report on applying CGT to all sales of property by IREFs 39. The Minister shall, within 6 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on applying the full rate of Capital Gains Tax of 33 per cent to all sales of property by IREFs, as opposed to...

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

Paul Gavan: I will press this recommendation.

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

Paul Gavan: I move recommendation No. 14: In page 108, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following: "52. In line with the principal of economic externalities, all revenue generated through Solid Fuel Carbon Tax, Natural Gas Carbon Tax and the carbon component of Mineral Oil Tax shall form a ring-fenced climate action fund to be allocated by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the...

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

Paul Gavan: I welcome the Minister of State and my comrades from the trade union movement. Sinn Féin fully supports the Bill. I commend my colleague and friend, Senator Nash, on producing it. One of the good things about the Seanad is that Senators on the left tend to work together and have done so from day one. I am particularly proud of that. Perhaps there is a lesson there in terms of...

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

Paul Gavan: Sometimes there are moments of clarity in politics. Today is such a moment. I do not wish to be disrespectful to my good colleague from Fianna Fáil, Senator Davitt. I expected Fine Gael to oppose the Bill. It has always been for the bosses.

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...