Results 1,001-1,020 of 1,580 for speaker:Marie Sherlock

Seanad: Passport Office: Motion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, for coming to the House. I warmly welcome the motion and thank An Seanadóir Ó Donnghaile and his Sinn Féin colleagues for bringing it forward. We in the Labour Party very much support it. As has been said a number of times, we have all seen the massive surge on the island of Ireland for Irish passports over the last 18 months in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the Minister and departmental officials for attending. This morning saw the publication of the report of the high level working group on collective bargaining. It is to be warmly welcomed, particularly because both trade unions and business sat around the table to formulate that report. In the Minister’s statement, he highlighted that our laws are weak when parties refuse...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: The directive was adopted yesterday by the European Council and, therefore, the time is ticking. We have two years at most to implement the directive on adequate minimum wages. I am conscious the Minister will need to apprise himself of the detail of what was approved yesterday, but what assurances can he give on that transposition? Importantly, with regard to unemployment law, Ireland has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: We had the heads of the right to request remote work Bill in January. In February, the Minister acknowledged that changes needed to be made. On 6 July, nearly three months ago to the day, the pre-legislative report from the committee landed on the Department’s desk and we still do not have the Bill. A number of clear recommendations came from the committee, particularly with regard...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: On the evidence of the lack of consensus, we agreed the recommendations on a cross-party basis. Employers who appeared before the committee were calling for a dramatic change in the heads of the Bill as published by the Department. I do not quite understand why there have been such delays. I am not assured by the language used today that the Department is still preparing. We are now in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: In regard to the new TBESS there is obviously quite a significant subsidy now to businesses for their energy bills, and rightly so. In the context of these significant subsidies, whereby if a company's energy bills double it may get 20% of the bill paid and if it trebles it will have 26% of the bill paid, is the Minister comfortable that a company could still enforce wage cuts or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I am not suggesting for a moment that businesses should not rightfully access these supports if they need them but, in the same vein, if they are accessing supports and still enforcing pay cuts or redundancies, there should surely be some conditionality in the scheme to at least try to prevent that or about the timing of that. Ultimately, while we are trying to save businesses, saving jobs...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: We need to hear some assurance that the Department is doing something because there are low-wage workers who are hearing nothing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: My issue is that the last time I checked the State had not come before the court to contest the injunction but had sat on its hands.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: That is a significant issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: The Minister referenced 20 different energy efficiency schemes. It is clear that comprehensive supports need to be put in place to help companies transition in their energy use. However, the fact there are 20 schemes is alarming. Is a review ongoing in the Department as to the range of schemes? Are these separate schemes? Is there a degree of overlap or deadweight loss? It looks like...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Update on Quarters 1 and 2: Discussion (5 Oct 2022)

Marie Sherlock: This is quarter 4 of the year and it feels like the Government is dragging its heels on this. It also seems wasteful that we have from the Minister’s Department a right to request remote work and from a separate Department a right to flexible work. Does the Tánaiste believe there is a distinction between remote work and flexible work, by which I mean flexibility with regard to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I thank the representatives of the Low Pay Commission and the Mandate trade union for being here. As a former union official who for years soldiered with Mandate on these issues concerning the minimum wage, I am delighted that the Mandate trade union is represented here today. My first question is for the Low Pay Commission. Some people perceive the minimum wage as a transient or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I am glad to hear that Mr. Courtney express his support for collective bargaining. As he will be aware, we do not have a right to be recognised for collective bargaining purposes in this country and I look forward to him giving me his support on that issue in the future. Mr. Courtney made an important point about the minimum wage being a stepping stone. That is how some people perceive...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: The commission's recommendation has two parts - a 30 cent and a 50 cent increase and I cannot see anywhere in the recommendation that we must wait until 2023 for the 80 cent in total increase to come into force. Did discussion take place with the Government on when the two components would be introduced?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: None of that appeared in the recommendations, Mr. Courtney. It is a real concern that the commission does not reflect in its recommendation that there may have to be future changes to the minimum wage rate. I wish to ask about engagement with research. Earlier Mr. Courtney said that the ESRI had forecasted an inflation increase of 4% for next year. Has the Low Pay Commission factored in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I am sorry, Chairman. Just to say clearly, the ESRI forecasting was inflation, between 2022 and 2023, of 11.4%.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: Go raibh maith agat.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: I will pick up on the ability to pay discussion. Mr. Courtney from the Low Pay Commission spoke earlier about the range of factors the commission has to consider when making its recommendation. I note the report states that the Low Pay Commission has previously recommended that data on firm output to profitability be made available to help monitor the impact of the changes in the minimum...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Cost of Living, Minimum Wage Increases and Report of Low Pay Commission: Discussion (28 Sep 2022)

Marie Sherlock: When was the request for data on firm output and profitability made? Has that been ongoing for a number of years or is it more recent? The Low Pay Commission has been operating for a considerable number of years - the best part of a decade - so it surprises me that we do not have these data yet. Is this a recent request or something more long-standing?