Results 3,141-3,160 of 7,404 for speaker:Mick Wallace

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I have no problem with meeting the chairman. It still does not change the fact that unemployment is 18.4%. I have not been told about any direct actions that will happen. I was in here last week with the Minister for Social Protection who told me that I should be happy to hear that the number of people on the live register in the south east had dropped from 28,500 to 24,900. In fact, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Military Exports (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: For many years, Ireland has had a poor record on publishing data on its military and dual use exports. It was safer for Governments to pretend that we were not an exporter of arms to maintain our thin facade of neutrality. However, perhaps provoked by the Mark Thomas documentary, we got the Control of Exports Act 2008. In 2011 we got the first report on exports of arms and dual-use items....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: The Minister said we will be able to look after our own labour issues but in fact a corporation coming to a country in Europe will be allowed to use the investment court system to overrule domestic legislation. On 8 November the Minister said she had received advice to the effect that the investment court system model contained in CETA would effectively be a dispute resolution process which...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 9. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she is satisfied with the number of IDA site visits to County Wexford in the past two years; if she will provide details of long-term measures she has planned in order to counteract economic stagnation in the south-east region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39113/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: In regard to the previous question, less than 20% of the negotiations on CETA and TTIP concerned trade. I will now proceed to my question about jobs in Wexford. The national average unemployment rate is 7.2% while Wexford's unemployment rate is 18.4% - the third worst in the entire country. According to the South East Economic Monitor project, the south-east's economy continues to be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: IDA Site Visits (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I dispute the Minister's figures. The national average unemployment rate at the moment is 7.2%, the unemployment rate in the south east currently stands at 12.5%, while the unemployment rate in Wexford is 18.4%. It is a separate county, although I accept it is not classified as such, but not only is the south-east region badly served, Wexford is the worst served part of the south-east...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 8. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views regarding CETA's potential negative effects on workers' rights, particularly in view of the notable lack of penalties in the text for countries or companies that violate labour laws, as highlighted by Corporate Europe Observatory; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39116/16]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I have raised this issue previously with the Minister. Where will the safeguards be? As the Minister knows, we do not agree with this agreement. The Government keeps telling us that it likes the agreement, but how will workers' rights be impacted by it?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Trade Agreements (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: Most independent observers of CETA will point to excessive liberalisation and deregulation and its weakening of the Government's right to regulate in the public interest. Last month, 450 civil society organisations from the EU and Canada published an open letter urging legislators to vote against CETA in February. They were all in agreement that CETA's investment court system, ICS, granted...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Levels (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 22. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on unemployment rates in County Wexford and the south east region, which have been consistently higher than the national average; if she has read the South East Economic Monitor Report from June 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39112/16]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Job Creation Targets (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 26. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of the 40,000 to 45,000 new jobs she expects to deliver in 2017 that will be created in County Wexford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39115/16]

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Jobs Initiative (8 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: 32. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the specific measures, outside of the south east region action plan for jobs, being taken to create jobs in counties with high levels of unemployment and in County Wexford in particular; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39114/16]

Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I am not shocked at the Bill but I find it disappointing. I have found the Government's approach to the supply of housing and the construction industry to be very disappointing for the past six years.

Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: If the Minister of State wants to debate this in public with me I will have a debate at any time. Whether he likes it or not, I understand the industry. It annoys me that the people in this Government who make the decisions around the supply of housing do not seem to understand it. They do not even seem prepared to talk to the people who do understand it. I want to give credit to a few...

Other Questions: Transport Policy (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: The National Transport Authority and Irish Rail are believed to have earmarked five rail lines for closure, including the stretch of line between Gorey and Rosslare. It is unclear whether these threats, which have come about because of severe cuts to subventions, will materialise, but it is worrying that such closures are being contemplated. I wish to make a couple of points to the Minister.

Other Questions: Transport Policy (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: Passenger numbers on the section of line are increasing while the subvention cost per passenger is decreasing. Some 3,500 people commute from Wexford to Dublin and Wicklow each day. Wexford is 100 km closer to Dublin but the train journey time is the same. If improvements were made, many more people would use it and it is a very worthwhile service.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: I am looking forward to going to An Garda Síochána to complain about the quality of sex I had the night before.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: That is a fair point.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: It is the non-Garda phone.

Select Committee on Justice and Equality: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Dec 2016)

Mick Wallace: We understand the legislation is, supposedly, intended to empower sex workers, but their position will be empowered far less by it. A recent report by Amnesty International examines the issue in Norway. It is entitled, Norway: The human cost of 'crushing' the market: Criminalization of sex work in Norway. It explores the effect of similar legislation introduced in Norway in 2009. One of...