Results 3,181-3,200 of 4,608 for speaker:Joe O'Toole

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: That is a fair point and I thank the Minister of State for clarifying it. I was not aware of that. I fully accept the point made and I am glad the Minister of State is not as resistant to change in this matter as Senator Kett. I hope people will not take advantage of this position. It is important to have the point on the record.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I move amendment No. 15: In page 9, before section 7, to insert the following new section: "7.—Section 13 of the Principal Act is amended by the addition of the following paragraph after subsection (2)(f): (g) persons involved in a same sex relationship who act in the role of parent of the child.". Senator Norris and I have worked together on this and he asked me to propose this amendment...

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I thank the Minister for that outline. I was particularly interested in the last part. Section 13(2)(f) of the 1998 Act allows the Minister to specify other groups. Under that section, there would have to be an order or statutory instrument to allow force majeure leave to be available to same sex couples. Can the Minister confirm that he is prepared to recommend that to the Government? Is...

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: Yes.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I certainly appreciate the points the Minister is making and his advisers' efforts to bring all this together. The importance of the outstanding issue that can be addressed under section 13(2)(f) is as follows. Let us take an elderly couple in a same sex relationship, sexual or otherwise, who have lived together for years. It may be a gay or lesbian relationship, or they may be sharing for...

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: Where is the charge?

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: If a child has a schoolyard accident, perhaps involving a broken limb, and a parent is called and goes to the school or has to be away for less than half a day, it should not count as a day's pay. This is a charge on the worker.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: That is a most unfair ruling.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I have a long record of making hard choices.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I would like to explode a few myths about what the Minister has just said. I have a long record of taking unpopular decisions, selling them and sticking with them. If our Government took the same line with IBEC, we would have far fewer difficulties. The Minister received one-sided advice on costs. It may well cost €200 million to give full pay for the full period of time if everyone took...

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I will sit down and the Minister can stand up and tell us how he made the calculations. If he made it any other way, then we do not know what he is doing. There is no other calculation to be made. It is either more or less than that amount. The number of births is multiplied by the number of parents by the number of weeks by the cost per week. There is no other way to make the calculation....

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I thank the Acting Chairman for the lecture.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: The Senator might vote with us.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: She might.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: One cannot be in Fianna Fáil without being a socialist. If the Taoiseach hears the Minister of State saying he is not a socialist, he will be out of a job.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: It is the Minister of State's own business whether he is a socialist. That is a private matter between him and his party leader.

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: I refer to the reason France, Germany and Italy have trouble in this area. It is not a coincidence that Ireland has the best strike record in Europe. In other words, there are fewer strikes than in any other European country. There was no strike in the public service over the past two years, which is the prize we aimed for in the benchmarking deal. It was a superb strategic and tactical...

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: The Minister of State said the Government could not afford to make places available. He also referred to Michael Smurfit but I do not know whether he would avail of State support on this issue, although I could design a structure which would prevent him from doing so if the Minister of State let me at it. He need not worry about it. I would exclude Tony O'Reilly and JP McManus through...

Seanad: Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (9 Feb 2005)

Joe O'Toole: Investment should be made in this regard to look after people. The Minister of State's party should show a little generosity and adopt a little socialist thinking.