Results 5,061-5,080 of 6,412 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (11 Nov 2014)

Gerald Nash: This is about standards in the industry. We have reached the stage where through the consultation process employers and trade unions, broadly, agree that we should put in place a new system to replace the old one but which would be more constitutionally robust and deliver the fairness employees expect. The requirement to have certain rates of pay for standards of qualification is important,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: General Scheme of Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2014: Discussion (11 Nov 2014)

Gerald Nash: I appreciate the opportunity to come before the joint committee to present the general scheme of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2014 for the purposes of pre-legislative scrutiny, an important stage of the process. As the committee knows, the general scheme of the Bill was approved by the Government last July. The scheme, together with the regulatory impact assessment, has been...

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: With limited specified exceptions, such a close family members, statutory apprentices and participants on JobBridge, the National Minimum Wage Act applies to all employees. The Act defines employee as a person of any age who has entered into, or works or has worked under, a contract of employment. A contract of employment means a contract of service or apprenticeship or any other contract...

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: The Deputy has raised a serious matter and I am glad she took the opportunity to put it on record. I have a personal interest in this area and keep an eye on trends of enforcement and prosecution. I understand NERA has carried out an inspection with regard to the issue raised by the Deputy. It is important that there is a strong message from the Parliament that, where there are suspected...

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: NERA works closely with employers and uses every opportunity to ensure employers are aware of their legal obligations and the legislative area that is of interest to me. It is important that employees, trade unions and public representatives remain vigilant about cases brought to our attention to use the appropriate channels to have these serious matters investigated and decided upon.

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: The living wage concept is grounded in the idea that a person’s wage should be sufficient to maintain a safe, decent standard of living within the community without the need for substantial recourse to the welfare system. The national minimum wage in Ireland is considered to be relatively high by international standards. The most recent figures published by EUROSTAT show that...

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: I want to reiterate the concept of the living wage, which is of deep interest to me and to Deputy Calleary and other Deputies. It is a concept that requires proper debate in this House and across society. There are considerable merits to having that debate. As the Deputy will be aware, I have already expressed my own views on the notion of a wage-led recovery and have called on employers...

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: Exclusively leftist.

Other Questions: National Minimum Wage (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: The low pay commission will be asked to consider a range of matters in the context of making recommendations to me as Minister for business and employment on the rate of the national minimum wage on an annual basis. I am sure that will be one of the items the commission will consider when it is appointed. To return to the concept of the living wage, it is an attractive concept and an issue...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: Investigations can only be completed and the issues fully examined with complete information. I appeal to everyone who claims to have information to bring it to the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, the Revenue Commissioners and other relevant agencies-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: -----and to work proactively with the inspectorate and bodies that are addressing this matter. Deputy Tóibín is right. With the construction industry starting to climb again, we have seen an increase in the use of subcontractors by the sector's major employers. I reiterate the importance of re-establishing the registered employment agreement, REA, system. Its collapse provided...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: I thank Deputy Tóibín for his question. As he will be aware, the ongoing programme that the Government is currently implementing to reform the State’s existing workplace relations structures is at quite an advanced stage. While considerable progress has been achieved to date on an administrative basis, the enactment of the workplace relations Bill is a crucial step in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Employment Rights (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: With all due respect to Deputy Tóibín, that is not the question he originally tabled, which asked about subcontractors engaged in exploitative work practices. That said, I am very happy to respond to the supplementary question he has just posed. I know that Deputy Tóibín has a particular interest in this case, as do I, and we discussed it briefly at a recent meeting of...

Written Answers — Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Employment Rights (16 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: The inspection of employers' employment records and workplaces to determine compliance with employment law and employee's statutory entitlements is carried out by Inspectors from the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). In 2013, NERA carried out over 5,500 such inspections including construction sites. The policy of NERA is to seek voluntary compliance where breaches of employment...

Financial Resolutions 2015 - Financial Resolution No. 3: General (Resumed) (15 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: This is a budget for working people, for families, for vulnerable groups and for those on low and middle incomes. It marks a turning point for our people, who, after seven years of economic hardship, tough decisions and sacrifices, can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. This budget aims to cement the hard-fought recovery, but it also aims to repair our society and ensure that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming EPSCO Council: Minister of State (7 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: I thank Deputy Lyons. I am well aware of the Deputy's interest in the youth area in general and specifically in youth unemployment and the youth guarantee. I know the Deputy has a particularly keen interest in the Ballymun pilot project. Clearly, the evidence suggest focused interventions such as this do work. I agree it is worth paying for them. We have to focus the resources we have on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming EPSCO Council: Minister of State (7 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: The insolvency piece is increasingly becoming familiar to us. Politicians were engaged in seeking a resolution of the dispute at the Paris Bakery, for example, which was very undignified for the workers caught up in that dreadful situation. Strictly, insolvency in that context is a matter for the Department of Social Protection. This is a very messy set of circumstances when it occurs; as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming EPSCO Council: Minister of State (7 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: I thank Deputy Tóibín. I will try to respond to the points he made in sequence. I am pleased that he has recognised the problems associated with undeclared work. It is a European-wide problem and an important issue in terms of our enforcement agencies. We can make some progress at EU level through mutual learning and sharing of experiences, and the responsible bodies must work...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Forthcoming EPSCO Council: Minister of State (7 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: I thank the Chair for her very kind welcome. I also thank her and the members for inviting me to appear before the committee. This is the first occasion on which I have had the opportunity to address them. I look forward to this and all of our subsequent engagements. I am here to discuss the agenda of the forthcoming EPSCO Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg on 16 October. This...

Direct Provision for Asylum Seekers: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (1 Oct 2014)

Gerald Nash: I thank everyone who has made a contribution to the debate on this important Private Members' motion. I am speaking on behalf of the Government when I say that everything that has been said over the past two days has been noted carefully and will serve to inform the discussions of the working group which the Government amendment to the motion commends to the House. I will not repeat what my...