Results 481-500 of 1,262 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (25 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Amendments Nos 92 to 114, inclusive, are related. Amendments Nos. 106 to 114, inclusive, are physical alternatives to amendment No. 105. Amendments Nos. 109 to 114, inclusive, are physical alternatives to amendment No. 108. Amendments Nos. 92 to 114, inclusive, may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I will be quite brief because a number of the questions I was going to ask have been asked already and there is no point in repeating them. Ms Rogers said long-term unemployment is only at 1%, which is a record low. That is fantastic. Now is the perfect opportunity to delve into that and find solutions and things we could do. Disability was touched on as well. We have the lowest...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: If unemployment was high, those figures would be high too, so, irrespective, everything is at a record low. The point I am making is not that this is brilliant but that there is an opportunity to delve into what we need to do to improve opportunities for those people in that 1% or more than 1% cohort.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Unemployment Blackspots: Discussion (25 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: With most local authorities, there is allowance for two days per week at home. That is most public sector jobs.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Inheritance tax has been well flagged in the past number of weeks as something that might be considered in the budget. I really hope it will be because the threshold at the moment is quite low regarding what people have to pay capital gains tax on if family members leave them more than €335,000. Even if we make changes to the threshold and increase it to something like...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Will Dr. Coates repeat the numbers in terms of closures and reopenings in the hospitality sector? Will he also elaborate on what he means by the hospitality sector? Is it like for like in terms of opening and closures?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: What was the period?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I am sure Dr. Coates appreciates that we get the opposite from groups representing the hospitality sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: In his view, this would be very different from what they are saying. Are they exaggerating the situation that exists in the hospitality sector at the moment?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Does the Department not see an increase in the incidence of firm closures compared with last year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I appreciate that. If we compare it with January to May of last year, there is no significant increase in the number of closures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I appreciate that. It is interesting because that is very different from what we are getting from other groups. We are in a budget period, however, so it is understandable. The Low Pay Commission is recommending the abolishment of the payments for under-19s. In 2017, it recommended introducing this measure. What has changed? The commission knew all about the issues we are discussing in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I understand the then Minister asked for a review of it. It just seems like a total shift in opinion from the commission's previous recommendation. I cannot see anything that would not have been foreseen beforehand in the context of equal pay for everyone or people being paid less, the challenges that brings and the possibility of exploitation. I do not understand why the commission has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: I have one more question. It is hard to agree with 18- and 19-year-olds being paid a lower wage. I know education is a factor, but the majority of 18- or 19-year-olds are finished secondary school. As only 4% of 19-year-olds are being paid that wage, surely it would not be a big cost for the sector to give them full minimum wage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: And considering that employers are paying almost all of them full wages.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sub-Minimum Rates of the National Minimum Wage: Discussion (Resumed) (18 Sep 2024)

Garret Ahearn: It was stated that one of the arguments against changing the sub-minimal rates is that young people might be the first to go, which is an obvious possibility when an employer is making a decision. Do the witnesses have statistics on the increase in youth employment when this was introduced? Obviously an employer would have seen it as an incentive at the time to take on someone young at a...

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Now.

Seanad: Digital Services Levy Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Jul 2024)

Garret Ahearn: Tomorrow at 9.30 a.m.