Results 4,821-4,840 of 6,307 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I find in my day-to-day work as a constituency Deputy that it is often the case there is a misunderstanding by SMEs and micro-enterprises about the way in which they might approach public tendering processes. This is why it is so important that our State agencies work with business representative organisations to break down any of those barriers and misconceptions. It is misleading of the...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: They are getting more than a shrug; they are getting contracts. Public procurement provides an opportunity in the domestic market for Irish enterprises, with annual expenditure by the Government sector of €8 billion on goods and services. Policy responsibility for public procurement rests with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. However, my Department and its agencies...

Other Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: We are considering all the time how we can improve opportunities for SMEs and micro-enterprises in order that they can engage with the Office of Public Procurement to win public contracts. The evidence from the 2013 figures which represent the first analysis of its kind undertaken shows that the performance of SMEs in winning public contracts is very strong. By comparison with the position...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am pleased the Deputy raised the issue of zero-hour contracts. As he acknowledged, I have been doing work in that area because I am concerned that the recovery we are experiencing should not be characterised by a race to the bottom. We have engaged the University of Limerick to carry out a major study into the prevalence and extent of zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts in this...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: Nobody likes taking industrial action of any description, in particular workers who depend on their jobs for their income. It is never in the interests of a business to experience strike action either. I reiterate the call I made in this House just two days ago for all sides to engage and to use the professional expertise of the very well respected professional labour relations institutions...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Industrial Disputes (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I understand that the current dispute concerns a range of issues, including the introduction of banded hours contracts, individual and collective representational rights and a review of the use of temporary contracts. The union is seeking to engage with the company on these issues and the matter was referred by the union to the Labour Court under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Low Pay Commission Establishment (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The establishment of a Low Pay Commission is one of the key commitments in the Statement of Government Priorities agreed in July last. The General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill was approved by Government in January. The General Scheme, together with a Regulatory Impact Assessment, has been published on my Department's website and forwarded to the Joint...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I understand that the current dispute concerns a range of issues, including the introduction of banded hours contracts, individual and collective representational rights and a review of the use of temporary contracts. The union is seeking to engage with the company on these issues and the matter was referred by the union to the Labour Court under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I understand that the current dispute concerns a range of issues, including the introduction of banded hours contracts, individual and collective representational rights and a review of the use of temporary contracts. The union is seeking to engage with the company on these issues and the matter was referred by the union to the Labour Court under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Low Pay (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Nevin Institute's (NERI) Spring 2015 Quarterly Economic Observer outlines the Institute's latest expectations for the economic outlook in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and provides a profile of the earnings distribution and low pay in the Republic of Ireland. NERI concludes that the economic outlook differs for both parts of the island of Ireland. According to the...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Low Pay Commission Establishment (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am aware of the report referred to by the Deputy and commissioned by the UK Labour Party who requested Alan Buckle, former‎ Deputy Chairman at KPMG International, to investigate how to restore the value of the UK minimum wage, ensure that where sectors can afford to pay more, they do, and promote the Living Wage. The report, published in May 2014, notes that the UK National...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: Ireland's strong commitment to protecting the rights of domestic workers was highlighted last July when we ratified the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention No. 189 on Domestic Workers. Ireland is among the small group of seventeen ILO member countries that have ratified this Convention to date. To mark the occasion of Ireland's ratification of the Convention and to help...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The premise of the Deputy's question is false. Since 2012, the Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) has put in place a comprehensive set of measures agreed by Government to promote job opportunities and employment growth in all parts of the country. Almost 90,000 more people are at work since the launch of the first Plan in 2012. This increase has been in full-time jobs rather than casual or...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: At the request of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Expert Panel was asked to re-engage with SIPTU and ICTU in relation to matters dealt with in its June 2014 report on its review the Irish Aviation Superannuation Scheme (IASS), including the actuarial assumptions, and to provide clarity on those matters. There were also...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: A range of employment rights legislation is pertinent to the scenarios outlined by the Deputy in his question. These include, inter alia, the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007, the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003. In addition, legal principles established under case law may be of relevance to aspects of the issues raised...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU Funding (26 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: The Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) is an EU funding instrument, managed by the European Commission, which supports the development of innovative social policies and promotes labour mobility, as well as facilitating access to microcredits and encouraging social entrepreneurship. EaSI brings three EU programmes, which were previously managed separately, together under one...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (25 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: Ireland's strong commitment to protecting the rights of domestic workers was highlighted last July when we ratified the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention No. 189 on Domestic Workers. Ireland is among the small group of seventeen ILO member countries that have ratified this Convention to date. To mark the occasion of Ireland's ratification of the Convention and to help...

Topical Issue Debate: Industrial Disputes (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank Deputy Costello for raising this important matter and articulating very clearly the experiences of some of the employees, which he outlined earlier. A presentation was made to Oireachtas colleagues today by members of the Mandate trade union, many of whom are working in Dunnes Stores. I also want to acknowledge the Deputy's recognition of the work I have carried out with Government...

Topical Issue Debate: Industrial Disputes (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: In these type of circumstances, of course the question will be asked as to how the Government can help to address a situation like this where an employer refuses to engage with its workforce. It is to address these very kinds of circumstances that I am drafting new collective bargaining legislation which we will enact as a Government in mid 2015. Deputy Costello will be only too well aware...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Discussion (24 Mar 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank the Chairman for his kind invitation, which has afforded me the opportunity to present the general scheme of the low pay commission (national minimum wage) Bill 2015 for the purposes of pre-legislative scrutiny. The general scheme of the Bill was approved by Government in January, and, together with a regulatory impact assessment, has been published on my Department's website and...