Results 48,901-48,920 of 51,063 for speaker:Micheál Martin

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: The Deputy made a big song and dance about being told something by the Minister of State in September. I am pointing out the very real difficulties that occur. We would like to provide a constitutional amendment. We are in discussions with the social partners.

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: As the Deputy will be aware, there are other issues in that some of the social partners put forward the idea that recruiting agencies or employment agencies should be designated as representing employers. I would have difficulty with this proposal because it is not logical. I do not think they could represent individuals who would employ people in this context. We have consulted the Labour...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: We will meet the migrant action group at some stage to discuss the matters they raised in the context of the Work Permits Bill which is currently going through the House. Part of the legislation relates to the positioning of key information on work permits in terms of wages, conditions of employment and so on which seeks to give added protection to workers, including issuing work permits to...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Through multilingual leaflets and a lo-call phone service whereby people from different countries can ring up and get a response in their own language on their rights and entitlements, what is available in terms of employment opportunities and so on. The Know Before You Go campaign aims to talk to people before they arrive in Ireland about their entitlements and so on. I recently launched...

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Of course we will meet with the group suggested by Deputy Howlin. I will come back to him on that. Second, I will organise for FÁS to brief the Deputies in the House on that campaign and the scale of it. The campaign is concentrating on the high volume countries — Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: We do not issue many work permits for this type of work. There may be a degree of unregulated employment in this area which would be illegal. If non-EU persons are working here without work permits that would contravene the law but it also makes it more difficult in terms of enforcement personnel dealing with the issue.

Job Protection. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I hope and trust we can reach an agreed solution between Government and the social partners on a broad approach to the enforcement of, and compliance with, our labour law. All of these issues are being actively discussed.

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: It is very difficult to provide evidence regarding the impact on wage levels of the increase in new European accession states' nationals working here. This is because it is not possible to conclusively isolate this impact from that of the various other factors that affect wage levels. It is true that a significant number of EU-10 nationals have joined our labour force since accession in May...

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: We have fairly robust legislation, above and beyond the minimum wage, in terms of sectoral wage agreements.

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: They exist and those areas are being explored in the context of the current talks. I am not saying what is our position on that but we are exploring the whole registered employment agreements, REAs, scenario. They are well developed in the construction sector and have been for quite some time. We have engaged in sectoral agreements. I have also asked FÁS to study the impact of economic...

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I certainly will do that. Overall, the evidence is not that there is a wholesale dramatic decline in wage levels.

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Yes, but wage levels generally have increased across the economy.

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I just made the point in the context of the construction industry, that they went up approximately 6.8%. Likewise the AIB analysis, published today, states the case remains to be proven or is not proven in terms of the issue.

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: That does not mean of course that we do not have to be vigilant about this. We must be vigilant because the Government's position is not to undermine living standards or drive down the earnings of people because we worked too hard to build the economy and to build the living standards and quality of life for all concerned. There are approximately 300 amendments tabled for the services...

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Much Irish employment is dependent on access to European markets.

Wage Levels. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: Only last week I was with a company announcing an extra 50 jobs. It employs 250 already. It is in the services side of the economy and is looking for markets overseas. It is looking to break down barriers and regulations to get into other markets. We cannot have it both ways but our agenda is to achieve liberalisation of the market whilst protecting our basic standards.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: My policy and that of the Government is to provide that both consumer and competition law operate in such a way that the economic well-being of the consumer is maximised. The objective of consumer policy is to provide consumers with the knowledge required to make informed choices, to provide protection from unscrupulous traders and to guarantee that consumer interests are reflected in the...

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: That is somewhat unfair.

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: I have some difficulty with the Deputy's presentation on prices generally. The National Competitiveness Council produced a clear analysis of where we are strong and weak in terms of competitiveness. It made clear that there was a lack of intense competition in the domestic markets, that the most productive side of the economy was the foreign direct investment side, and yet when we move to do...

Economic Competitiveness. (7 Feb 2006)

Micheál Martin: This is despite its identification by all concerned — those on the consumer and competition side and who advise us——